1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
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12 * New modules (see the manual for details)
14 ** The `(ice-9 i18n)' module provides internationalization support
16 * Changes to the distribution
18 ** Guile now uses Gnulib as a portability aid
20 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
21 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
23 ** A new 'memoize-symbol evaluator trap has been added. This trap can
24 be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code coverage.
26 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
27 This slightly improves program startup times.
29 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
30 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
32 * Changes to the C interface
34 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
35 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
39 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
43 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
44 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
46 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
47 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
49 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
50 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
52 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
53 lead to a stack overflow.
55 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
56 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
57 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
58 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
59 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
60 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
61 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
63 * Changes to the distribution
67 We've started collecting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), and will
68 distribute these (with answers!) in future Guile releases.
71 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
75 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
76 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
77 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
78 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
79 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
80 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
81 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
82 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
83 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
84 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
85 system and library calls.
86 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
87 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
88 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
89 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
90 uniform vectors on AIX.
91 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
92 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
93 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
94 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
95 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
97 * New modules (see the manual for details)
101 * Documentation fixes and improvements
103 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
105 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
106 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
108 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
110 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
112 * Changes to the distribution
114 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
116 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
117 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
118 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
120 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
122 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
125 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
127 * New modules (see the manual for details)
134 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
135 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
136 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
137 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
138 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
139 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
140 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
142 * Implementation improvements
144 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
145 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
149 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
151 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
153 ** set-program-arguments
158 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
159 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
160 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
161 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
162 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
163 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
165 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
166 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
167 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
168 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
169 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
170 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
171 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
172 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
173 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
174 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
175 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
176 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
177 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
178 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
179 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
180 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
183 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
185 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
187 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
189 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
190 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
191 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
192 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
193 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
194 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
200 * New `(ice-9 i18n)' module (see the manual for details)
204 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
206 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
208 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
210 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
212 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
214 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
216 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
217 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
218 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
220 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
222 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
224 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
225 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
227 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
229 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
230 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
232 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
234 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
236 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
238 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
240 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
242 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
244 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
246 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
248 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
250 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
251 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
252 file was on a different device.
255 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
257 * Changes to the distribution
259 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
261 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
263 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
265 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
267 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
269 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
272 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
274 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
275 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
276 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
277 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
278 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
279 items like the versioned share directory name
280 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
282 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
283 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
284 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
285 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
286 with each micro release during a stable series.
288 ** Thread implementation has changed.
290 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
291 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
292 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
293 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
294 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
297 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
298 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
299 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
300 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
303 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
304 in which case "null" threads are used.
306 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
307 "Blocking", and others.
309 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
311 This is a milder form of deprecation.
313 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
314 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
315 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
316 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
317 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
319 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
320 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
322 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
324 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
325 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
327 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
330 This SRFI is always available.
332 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
334 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
335 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
336 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
337 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
340 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
342 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
343 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
344 parameters without currying.
346 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
348 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
349 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
351 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
352 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
355 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
356 with a renaming import, for example.
358 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
360 The official version is good enough now.
362 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
364 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
365 provided. Use 'make html'.
367 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
369 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
370 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
371 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
372 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
374 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
376 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
379 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
381 ** New command line option `-L'.
383 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
385 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
387 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
388 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
390 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
392 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
393 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
395 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
397 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
398 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
401 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
404 (define-module (demo)
408 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
411 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
413 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
415 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
416 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
417 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
419 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
421 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
422 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
424 ** New function hashx-remove!
426 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
428 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
429 barriers and dynamic states.
431 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
432 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
433 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
436 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
437 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
438 Barriers" in the manual.
440 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
441 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
443 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
445 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
446 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
447 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
450 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
452 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
453 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
455 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
456 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
457 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
459 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
460 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
462 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
463 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
464 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
466 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
467 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
468 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
471 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
472 substrings and read-only strings.
474 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
475 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
478 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
480 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
489 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
490 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
491 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
493 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
494 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
495 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
498 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
499 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
502 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
504 See the manual for details.
506 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
508 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
511 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
513 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
514 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
515 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
516 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
518 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
519 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
520 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
523 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
525 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
526 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
537 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
541 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
546 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
550 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
554 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
557 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
558 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
559 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
560 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
562 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
563 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
566 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
569 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
573 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
575 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
576 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
577 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
580 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
583 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
585 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
588 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
589 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
597 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
598 has been detected is to
600 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
601 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
602 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
605 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
608 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
610 to your .guile init file.
612 ** New define-module option: :replace
614 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
617 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
618 for the core binding `format'.
620 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
622 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
623 a prefix to all imported bindings.
626 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
628 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
631 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
633 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
634 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
635 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
637 ** New function: effective-version
639 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
640 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
641 to the distribution" above.
643 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
645 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
646 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
648 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
650 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
651 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
653 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
655 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
656 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
659 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
661 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
663 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
665 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
666 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
667 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
670 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
671 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
672 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
675 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
676 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
678 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
679 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
680 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
683 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
685 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
686 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
689 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
690 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
692 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
693 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
694 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
695 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
696 level for the current thread.
698 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
700 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
702 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
703 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
706 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
708 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
710 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
713 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
715 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
718 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
719 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
720 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
722 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
723 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
724 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
725 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
736 ERROR: Numerical overflow
738 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
741 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
743 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
744 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
745 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
756 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
758 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
759 them is also done exactly, of course:
764 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
767 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
768 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
770 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
772 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
773 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
774 equal to a floating point number. For example:
776 (inexact->exact 1.234)
777 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
779 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
781 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
784 ** New function 'rationalize'.
786 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
787 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
789 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
792 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
793 result when both its arguments are exact.
795 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
797 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
798 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
799 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
801 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
803 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
804 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
805 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
807 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
810 ** pretty-print has more options.
812 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
813 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
814 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
816 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
818 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
819 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
820 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
822 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
824 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
825 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
827 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
829 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
830 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
833 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
835 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
836 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
837 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
838 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
839 without the soft port blocking.
841 ** Deprecated: undefine
843 There is no replacement for undefine.
845 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
846 have been discouraged.
848 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
849 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
850 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
853 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
855 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
857 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
858 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
859 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
860 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
863 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
864 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
865 be removed in the next major Guile release.
867 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
869 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
870 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
871 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
872 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
873 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
874 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
876 * Changes to the C interface
878 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
879 take a 'delete' function argument.
881 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
882 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
884 This is an incompatible change.
886 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
888 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
889 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
890 --disable-deprecated.
892 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
894 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
895 Scheme values has been added.
897 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
898 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
903 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
904 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
906 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
908 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
909 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
912 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
914 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
915 scm_from_int for ints.
917 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
918 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
919 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
921 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
923 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
924 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
925 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
928 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
930 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
932 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
934 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
935 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
936 following alternatives.
938 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
939 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
940 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
941 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
943 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
944 do the validating for you.
946 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
947 have been discouraged.
949 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
950 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
953 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
955 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
956 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
959 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
961 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
964 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
967 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
969 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
970 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
972 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
973 scm_truncate_number should have.
975 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
976 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
978 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
981 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
982 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
983 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
985 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
986 easier to use from C.
988 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
989 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
991 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
992 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
993 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
996 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
997 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
998 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
999 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
1002 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
1003 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
1004 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
1005 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
1006 and is thus quite efficient.
1008 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
1010 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
1011 about the character encoding.
1013 Replace according to the following table:
1015 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
1016 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
1017 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
1018 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
1019 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
1020 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
1021 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
1022 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
1023 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
1025 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
1026 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
1028 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
1030 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
1031 now also available to C code.
1033 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
1035 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
1036 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
1037 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
1039 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
1042 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
1044 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
1045 unceremoniously removed.
1047 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
1048 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
1049 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
1051 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
1052 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
1053 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1054 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1055 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
1056 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
1059 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
1061 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
1062 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
1063 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
1064 manual for more details.
1066 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1067 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1069 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
1070 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
1071 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1073 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
1075 Migrate according to the following table:
1077 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
1078 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
1079 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
1080 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
1081 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
1082 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
1083 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
1085 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
1086 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
1087 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
1088 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
1089 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
1090 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
1091 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
1093 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
1095 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
1096 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
1098 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
1099 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
1100 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
1101 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
1103 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
1105 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
1106 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
1107 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
1109 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
1110 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
1112 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
1113 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
1114 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
1115 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
1117 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
1119 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
1120 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
1121 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
1122 prevent a potential memory leak:
1129 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
1131 mem = scm_malloc (100);
1132 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
1134 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
1135 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
1142 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
1143 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
1147 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
1149 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
1151 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
1152 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
1153 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
1155 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1156 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
1158 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
1160 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
1162 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
1163 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
1164 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
1166 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
1167 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
1169 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
1170 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
1171 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
1172 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
1175 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
1177 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
1178 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1179 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
1181 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
1183 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
1184 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
1186 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
1188 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
1189 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
1191 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
1193 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
1194 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
1195 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
1197 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
1199 You should not have used them.
1201 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
1203 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
1204 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
1206 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
1208 This macro is not intended for public use.
1210 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
1212 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
1214 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
1216 Use scm_is_real instead.
1218 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
1220 Use scm_is_complex instead.
1222 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
1224 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
1225 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
1227 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
1228 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
1230 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
1231 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
1233 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
1235 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
1238 ** New function: scm_effective_version
1240 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1241 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1242 to the distribution" above.
1244 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
1246 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
1247 arguments are now passed directly:
1249 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
1251 This is an incompatible change.
1253 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
1255 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
1256 function in the init section.
1258 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
1260 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
1262 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
1263 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
1264 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
1265 stays roughly constant.
1267 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
1268 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
1269 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
1270 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
1271 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
1274 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
1275 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
1276 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
1277 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
1279 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
1280 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
1281 objects for every type.
1284 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
1286 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
1288 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
1290 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
1291 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
1292 initializes a new cell (see below).
1294 ** New functions for memory management
1296 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
1297 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
1298 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
1299 cause aborts in long running programs.
1301 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
1302 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
1304 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
1305 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
1306 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
1307 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
1308 details and for upgrading instructions.
1310 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
1311 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
1312 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
1314 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
1316 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
1317 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
1318 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
1319 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
1320 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
1322 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
1323 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
1324 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
1326 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
1327 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
1329 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
1331 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
1332 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
1333 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
1334 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
1335 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
1337 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
1339 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
1342 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
1344 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
1346 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
1348 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
1349 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
1351 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1353 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1354 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1356 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
1357 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
1359 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
1361 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
1363 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
1364 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
1365 blocking it is not well defined.
1367 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
1369 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
1370 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
1371 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
1372 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
1373 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
1374 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
1375 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
1376 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
1377 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
1378 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
1379 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1380 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
1381 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
1382 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
1383 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
1384 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
1385 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
1386 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1387 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1388 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1389 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1390 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1391 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1392 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1393 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1394 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1395 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1396 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1397 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1398 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
1399 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
1401 * Changes to bundled modules
1405 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
1406 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
1407 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
1408 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
1409 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
1412 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1414 * Changes to the distribution
1416 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1418 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1420 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1421 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1422 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1423 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1424 indicate major changes in Guile.
1426 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1427 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1428 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1429 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1431 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1432 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1433 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1434 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1435 micro version number.
1437 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1439 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1441 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1442 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1444 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1446 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1447 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1448 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1450 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1452 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1453 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1454 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1457 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1459 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1462 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1464 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1465 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1467 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1469 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1470 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1473 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1475 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1478 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1481 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1483 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1485 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1486 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1487 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1489 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1491 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1493 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1496 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1498 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1500 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1502 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1503 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1504 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1506 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1508 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1510 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1511 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1520 See README there for more info.
1522 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1523 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1526 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1528 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1530 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1532 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1533 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1534 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1536 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1538 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1539 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1540 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1542 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1543 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1545 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1548 (oop goops describe)
1550 (oop goops active-slot)
1551 (oop goops composite-slot)
1553 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1554 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1555 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1557 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1559 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1560 in the default environment:
1562 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1563 %read-line write-line
1565 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1566 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1568 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1570 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1573 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1574 can be used for similar functionality.
1576 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1578 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1579 it defines two procedures:
1581 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1583 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1584 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1585 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1588 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1590 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1591 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1592 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1593 write large strings.
1595 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1597 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1598 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1600 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1602 for complete documentation.
1604 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1606 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1607 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1608 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1609 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1611 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1612 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1616 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1617 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1618 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1621 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1624 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1625 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1627 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1628 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1631 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1634 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1636 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1638 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1640 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1642 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1643 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1644 Scheme programs easier.
1646 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1647 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1648 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1649 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1650 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1653 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1654 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1656 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1659 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1661 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1662 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1663 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1666 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1668 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1670 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1671 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1672 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1673 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1674 was also ASCII, for example.
1676 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1678 tag - no replacement.
1679 fseek - replaced by seek.
1680 list* - replaced by cons*.
1682 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1686 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1687 (define m (make-safe-module))
1688 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1689 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1690 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1692 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1694 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1695 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1696 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1698 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1700 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1701 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1702 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1703 from the issues related to the module system.
1705 *** New function: load-extension
1707 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1709 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1711 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1712 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1713 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1715 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1717 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1718 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1719 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1720 support dynamic linking).
1722 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1724 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1725 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1726 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1727 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1730 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1731 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1732 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1733 library and initialize it explicitly.
1735 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1736 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1738 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1740 (define-module (foo bar))
1742 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1744 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1746 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1747 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1749 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1750 (null-environment 5)
1751 (interaction-environment)
1757 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1759 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1760 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1761 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1762 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1764 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1765 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1766 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1767 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1768 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1769 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1770 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1771 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1772 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1773 one eval to the next.
1775 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1776 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1777 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1778 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1779 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1781 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1782 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1783 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1784 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1785 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1786 used in a lexical environment.
1788 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1789 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1790 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1791 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1792 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1793 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1795 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1797 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1798 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1799 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1800 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1801 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1803 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1804 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1805 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1807 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1808 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1810 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1811 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1812 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1814 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1815 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1817 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1818 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1819 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1820 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1823 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1824 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1825 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1826 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1828 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1829 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1830 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1832 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1833 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1834 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1835 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1836 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1838 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1840 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1841 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1842 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1844 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1845 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1846 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1848 See manual for more info.
1850 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1852 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1853 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1854 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1856 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1858 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1859 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1860 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1862 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1863 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1864 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1865 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1867 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1869 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1870 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1872 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1873 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1874 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1875 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1876 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1879 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1880 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1881 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1882 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1883 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1884 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1886 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1887 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1888 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1889 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1890 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1892 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1893 objects are usually permanent.
1895 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1896 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1898 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1900 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1901 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1904 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1908 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1913 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1915 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1916 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1917 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1918 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1920 ** New function `make-object-property'
1922 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1923 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1927 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1928 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1932 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1933 source properties eventually.
1935 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1937 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1938 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1939 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1941 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1942 will be removed in the next release.
1944 ** New define-module option: pure
1946 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1951 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1954 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1956 Export names NAME1 ...
1958 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1959 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1963 (define-module (foo)
1965 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1968 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1973 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1975 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1977 ** New function: port? X
1979 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1980 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1982 ** New function: file-port?
1984 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1986 ** New function: port-for-each proc
1988 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
1989 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
1990 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
1991 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
1992 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
1994 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
1996 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
1997 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
1998 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
1999 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
2000 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
2003 ** New function: close-fdes fd
2005 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
2006 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
2007 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
2008 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
2011 ** New function: crypt password salt
2013 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
2016 ** New function: chroot path
2018 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
2020 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
2022 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
2025 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
2027 Get or set the priority of the running process.
2029 ** New function: getpass prompt
2031 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
2034 ** New function: flock file operation
2036 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
2038 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
2040 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
2043 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
2045 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
2046 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
2047 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
2048 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
2049 of the temporary file.
2051 ** New function: open-input-string string
2053 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
2054 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
2055 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
2057 ** New function: open-output-string
2059 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
2060 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
2062 ** New function: get-output-string
2064 Return the contents of an output string port.
2066 ** New function: identity
2068 Return the argument.
2070 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
2071 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
2073 ** New function: inet-pton family address
2075 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
2076 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
2077 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2080 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
2081 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
2083 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
2085 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
2086 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
2087 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2090 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
2091 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
2092 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
2096 Use `identity' instead.
2102 ** Deprecated: return-it
2106 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
2108 Use `string-length' instead.
2110 ** Deprecated: flags
2112 Use `logior' instead.
2114 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
2116 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
2117 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
2118 port-for-each is more flexible.
2120 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
2121 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
2122 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
2124 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
2126 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
2128 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
2130 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
2132 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
2134 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
2135 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
2137 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
2138 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
2140 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
2141 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
2143 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
2145 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
2146 Removed function: builtin-bindings
2148 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
2149 Use module system operations for all variables.
2151 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
2153 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
2156 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
2158 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
2159 The following bugs have been fixed:
2161 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
2162 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
2165 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
2166 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
2167 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
2169 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
2170 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
2172 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
2173 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
2176 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
2177 The expansion used to be like so:
2179 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
2181 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
2183 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
2185 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
2186 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
2188 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
2190 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
2191 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
2192 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
2196 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
2197 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
2199 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
2204 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
2205 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
2207 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
2208 and `d', other keywords allowed.
2209 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
2211 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
2214 * Changes to the C interface
2216 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
2218 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
2219 with "_t". What a concept.
2221 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
2223 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
2225 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
2229 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
2230 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
2232 *** C Functions removed
2234 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
2235 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
2236 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
2237 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
2238 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
2239 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
2240 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
2242 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
2244 Use scm_mem2string instead.
2246 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
2248 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
2250 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
2251 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
2253 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
2255 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
2258 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
2260 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
2262 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
2264 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
2265 Evaluation" in the manual.
2267 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
2269 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
2270 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2272 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
2274 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
2275 Constructors" in the manual.
2277 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
2279 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
2280 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
2282 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
2284 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
2286 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
2287 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
2288 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
2290 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2292 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
2294 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
2295 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
2296 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
2299 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2301 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
2303 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
2304 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
2306 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
2308 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
2309 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
2310 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
2311 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
2313 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
2314 scm_primitive_property_ref
2315 scm_primitive_property_set_x
2316 scm_primitive_property_del_x
2318 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
2319 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2321 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2323 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2324 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2325 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2326 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2328 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2330 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2331 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2332 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2333 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2334 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2335 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2336 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2338 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2339 scm_remember_upto_here
2341 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2343 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2345 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2346 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2348 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2350 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2352 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2354 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2356 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2358 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2359 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2360 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2361 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2362 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2363 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2365 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2367 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2369 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2370 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2371 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2373 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2375 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2376 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2377 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2379 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2381 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2382 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2385 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2388 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2389 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2392 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2394 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2396 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2398 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2400 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2402 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2404 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2405 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2406 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2407 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2408 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2409 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2410 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2411 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2412 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2413 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2414 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2415 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2416 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2417 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2418 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2420 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2421 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2422 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2423 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2424 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2425 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2426 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2427 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2428 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2429 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2430 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2431 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2432 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2433 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2434 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2435 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2436 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2437 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2438 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2439 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2440 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2441 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2442 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2443 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2444 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2445 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2446 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2447 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2448 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2450 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2452 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2454 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2455 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2457 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2459 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2461 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2463 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2465 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2467 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2469 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2471 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2473 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2476 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2477 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2479 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2481 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2483 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2485 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2487 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2489 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2491 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2493 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2496 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2498 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2500 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2502 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2503 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2505 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2506 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2508 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2510 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2511 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2512 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2514 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2516 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2518 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2519 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2521 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2522 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2523 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2524 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2526 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2527 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2528 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2530 Use the new ones from above instead.
2532 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2534 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2535 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2536 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2538 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2539 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2541 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2542 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2545 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2546 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2548 Use the new functions instead.
2550 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2553 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2555 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2557 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2560 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2562 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2565 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2567 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2570 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2571 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2572 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2574 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2576 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2577 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2579 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2580 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2581 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2582 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2585 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2587 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2588 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2589 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2590 inexact for an exact.
2592 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2593 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2594 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2597 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2598 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2599 accept an inexact argument.
2601 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2602 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2604 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2607 ** New number validation macros:
2608 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2612 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2614 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2615 scm_unprotect_object.
2617 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2619 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2621 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2624 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2626 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2630 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2632 * Changes to the distribution
2634 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2636 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2637 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2638 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2639 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2640 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2641 obtain these programs.
2642 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2643 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2645 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2646 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2647 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2648 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2649 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2651 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2652 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2653 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2654 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2658 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2661 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2662 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2663 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2664 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2666 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2668 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2670 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2671 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2673 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2674 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2676 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2677 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2679 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2680 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2681 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2682 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2684 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2686 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2690 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2691 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2693 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2695 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2696 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2698 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2699 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2700 number of objects of that kind.
2702 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2704 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2705 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2706 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2707 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2708 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2710 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2712 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2714 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2716 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2719 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2721 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2723 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2725 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2727 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2729 ** New command line option --debug
2731 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2733 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2735 ** New help facility
2737 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2738 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2739 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2740 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2741 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2742 (help) gives this text
2744 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2745 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2747 Examples: (help help)
2749 (help "output-string")
2751 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2753 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2755 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2756 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2759 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2760 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2761 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2764 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2765 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2766 use absolute filenames when possible.
2768 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2769 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2770 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2773 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2775 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2776 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2777 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2778 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2780 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2782 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2784 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2785 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2786 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2788 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2789 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2790 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2792 (read-enable 'positions)
2793 (debug-enable 'debug)
2795 ** Backtraces in scripts
2797 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2801 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2803 at the top of the script.
2805 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2806 The second enables backtraces.)
2808 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2810 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2811 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2812 substantially faster than before.
2814 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2815 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2817 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2818 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2820 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2822 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2823 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2824 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2826 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2827 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2828 when this hook is run in the future.
2830 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2831 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2833 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2835 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2836 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2839 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2840 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2841 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2843 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2844 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2846 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2847 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2849 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2850 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2851 in order not to need further allocation.)
2853 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2856 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2857 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2858 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2859 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2861 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2863 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2866 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2868 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2871 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2872 GC in percent of total heap size
2875 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2876 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2878 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2880 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2881 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2883 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2885 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2886 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2888 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2890 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2891 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2895 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2896 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2898 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2900 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2902 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2904 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2906 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2908 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2909 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2911 (simple-format port message . args)
2912 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2913 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2914 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2915 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2916 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2917 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2918 Does not add a trailing newline."
2920 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2922 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2923 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2925 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2926 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2928 ** Deprecated: list*
2930 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2932 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2934 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2935 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2937 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2938 is returned as result.
2940 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2942 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2944 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2946 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2947 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2950 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2952 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2954 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2955 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2957 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2959 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2961 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2963 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2965 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2967 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2969 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2971 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2972 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2973 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2975 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2978 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2980 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2981 the readability of argument checking.
2983 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2985 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2987 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
2989 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
2990 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
2991 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
2992 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
2993 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
2994 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
2995 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
2997 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
2999 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
3001 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
3002 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
3004 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
3006 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
3007 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
3010 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
3012 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
3013 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
3014 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
3016 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
3017 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
3018 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
3020 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
3021 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
3022 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
3023 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
3024 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
3025 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
3026 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
3028 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
3029 scm_end_input (object);
3030 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
3031 ptob->flush (object);
3033 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
3034 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
3037 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
3039 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
3041 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
3042 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
3043 removed in a future version.
3045 ** The format of error message strings has changed
3047 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
3048 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
3049 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
3050 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
3052 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
3053 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
3055 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
3058 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
3060 in your configure.in.
3062 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
3067 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
3073 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
3075 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
3079 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
3080 (define make-message string-append)
3082 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
3084 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
3088 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
3093 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
3097 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
3099 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
3100 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
3102 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
3104 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
3105 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
3106 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
3107 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
3108 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
3109 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
3111 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
3112 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
3113 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
3115 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
3116 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
3117 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
3120 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
3121 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
3122 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
3123 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
3124 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
3126 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
3127 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
3128 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
3129 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
3130 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
3131 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
3132 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
3134 Destructors are not yet implemented.
3136 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
3137 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
3138 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
3140 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
3141 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
3142 KEY in the calling thread.
3144 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
3145 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
3146 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
3147 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
3148 associated with the key.
3150 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
3152 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
3153 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
3155 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
3157 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
3158 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
3159 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
3161 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
3163 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
3164 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
3166 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
3168 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
3170 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
3171 returned is undefined.
3173 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
3174 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
3175 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
3177 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
3178 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
3179 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
3181 ** New C level GC hooks
3183 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
3185 scm_before_gc_c_hook
3188 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
3189 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
3190 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
3192 scm_before_mark_c_hook
3193 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
3194 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
3196 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
3197 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
3200 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
3202 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
3203 allocation parameters
3205 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
3206 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
3207 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
3211 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
3212 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
3213 scm_default_max_segment_size
3215 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
3217 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
3218 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
3220 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
3222 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
3223 object and count on the object being protected until
3224 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
3226 The functions also have better time complexity.
3228 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
3229 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
3230 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
3231 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
3232 are no longer needed.
3234 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
3236 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
3237 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
3238 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
3239 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
3241 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
3243 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
3245 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
3247 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
3248 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
3249 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
3250 until this issue has been settled.
3252 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
3254 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
3256 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
3259 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
3261 * Changes to system call interfaces:
3263 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
3264 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
3265 descriptors were checked.
3267 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
3268 atomically written to a pipe.
3270 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
3271 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
3272 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
3273 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
3274 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
3275 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
3276 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
3279 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
3280 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
3281 is changed without calling tzset.
3283 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
3285 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
3286 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
3287 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
3289 (define write-network-long
3290 (lambda (value port)
3291 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3292 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
3293 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
3295 (define read-network-long
3297 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3298 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
3299 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
3301 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
3302 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
3304 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
3305 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
3306 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
3307 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
3309 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
3310 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
3311 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
3312 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
3316 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
3318 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3322 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3323 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3324 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3330 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3331 for a description of available commands.
3333 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3334 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3335 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3337 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3339 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3340 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3342 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3344 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3346 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3347 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3348 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3349 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3350 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3351 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3354 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3356 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3357 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3358 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3359 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3361 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3362 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3364 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3366 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3368 ** Readline support has changed again.
3370 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3371 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3372 to activate readline is now
3374 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3377 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3379 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3380 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3381 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3384 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3385 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3386 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3389 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3390 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3391 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3392 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3393 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3394 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3396 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3397 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3399 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3401 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3402 object it receives is the same string passed to
3403 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3404 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3405 string, not the suffix.
3407 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3408 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3409 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3411 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3413 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3414 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3415 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3416 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3419 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3421 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3423 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3424 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3425 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3426 appear from left to right.
3428 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3431 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3433 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3434 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3436 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3440 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3442 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3444 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3446 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3447 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3448 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3450 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3452 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3454 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3456 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3459 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3461 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3462 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3463 mentioning it here anyway.
3465 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3467 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3468 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3469 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3470 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3473 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3475 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3477 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3479 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3480 otherwise return #f.
3482 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3484 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3485 returned by `opendir'.
3487 ** New function: using-readline?
3489 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3491 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3493 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3494 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3496 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3498 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3500 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3501 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3502 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3504 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3506 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3507 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3509 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3511 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3512 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3513 documentation slots are not yet used.
3515 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3517 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3518 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3519 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3524 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3525 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3526 (string-append x y))
3528 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3529 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3531 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3532 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3533 be made in a clean way.]
3535 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3537 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3539 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3541 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3542 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3544 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3546 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3548 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3550 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3552 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3553 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3554 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3555 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3558 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3560 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3562 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3564 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3566 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3567 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3569 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3571 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3573 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3575 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3577 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3578 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3579 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3580 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3581 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3582 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3584 This should not make any difference for most users.
3586 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3588 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3589 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3591 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3593 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3594 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3595 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3596 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3597 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3599 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3601 It is now replaced by:
3603 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3605 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3606 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3608 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3610 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3611 This might change when we get the new module system.
3613 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3617 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3619 * Changes to mailing lists
3621 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3623 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3626 * Changes to the distribution
3628 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3630 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3631 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3632 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3633 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3634 you explicitly specify it.
3636 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3637 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3638 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3639 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3640 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3643 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3644 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3645 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3646 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3648 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3649 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3650 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3653 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3655 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3658 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3660 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3662 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3663 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3664 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3665 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3667 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3668 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3671 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3673 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3674 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3675 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3676 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3677 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3678 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3679 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3680 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3692 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3693 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3694 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3695 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3696 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3701 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3702 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3710 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3715 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3716 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3719 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3720 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3721 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3722 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3724 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3726 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3728 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3729 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3731 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3733 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3735 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3736 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3738 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3741 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3743 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3745 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3747 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3749 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3751 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3753 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3754 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3755 when the hook was created.
3757 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3758 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3759 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3760 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3761 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3762 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3763 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3764 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3765 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3767 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3768 the dlopen family of functions.
3770 ** New function `provided?'
3772 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3773 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3774 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3775 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3777 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3779 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3780 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3781 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3782 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3785 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3786 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3787 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3788 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3790 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3791 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3792 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3795 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3796 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3797 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3798 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3799 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3800 but with the flag set.
3802 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3804 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3805 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3807 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3808 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3809 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3810 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3811 available Scheme format implementations.
3813 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3814 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3815 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3816 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3817 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3818 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3819 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3820 output is to the current error port if available by the
3821 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3824 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3825 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3826 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3827 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3828 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3829 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3830 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3831 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3833 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3834 be executed at a time.
3837 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3839 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3840 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3841 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3843 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3844 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3845 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3846 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3847 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3848 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3849 general form of a directive is:
3851 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3853 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3855 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3857 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3858 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3859 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3862 Any (print as `display' does).
3866 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3870 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3874 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3880 print number sign always.
3883 print comma separated.
3885 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3891 print number sign always.
3894 print comma separated.
3896 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3902 print number sign always.
3905 print comma separated.
3907 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3913 print number sign always.
3916 print comma separated.
3918 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3923 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3927 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3930 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3933 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3936 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3941 prints `y' and `ies'.
3944 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3947 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3952 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3956 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3959 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3960 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3962 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3965 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3966 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3968 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3971 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3973 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3975 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3978 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3980 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3982 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3985 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
3988 The sign appears before the padding.
3996 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
3998 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
4003 print N page separators.
4013 newline is ignored, white space left.
4016 newline is left, white space ignored.
4021 relative tabulation.
4027 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
4029 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
4032 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
4034 converts by `string-capitalize'.
4037 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
4040 converts by `string-upcase'.
4043 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
4045 jumps N arguments forward.
4048 jumps 1 argument backward.
4051 jumps N arguments backward.
4054 jumps to the 0th argument.
4057 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
4059 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
4060 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
4062 take argument from N.
4065 true test conditional.
4068 if-else-then conditional.
4074 default clause follows.
4077 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
4079 at most N iterations.
4082 args from next arg (a list of lists).
4085 args from the rest of arguments.
4088 args from the rest args (lists).
4099 aborts if N <= M <= K
4101 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
4104 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4107 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4113 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
4115 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
4117 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
4118 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
4119 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
4120 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
4121 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
4122 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
4126 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
4130 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
4136 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
4139 Print a `#\space' character
4141 print N `#\space' characters.
4144 Print a `#\tab' character
4146 print N `#\tab' characters.
4149 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
4150 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
4151 must be a positive decimal number.
4154 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4155 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4156 be processed by `read'.
4159 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4160 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4161 be processed by `read'.
4164 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
4167 prints format version.
4170 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
4171 and format it accordingly.
4173 *** Configuration Variables
4175 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
4176 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
4177 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
4178 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
4181 format:symbol-case-conv
4182 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
4183 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
4184 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
4185 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
4186 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
4188 format:iobj-case-conv
4189 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
4190 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
4193 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
4196 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
4202 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
4203 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
4204 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
4205 `format' padding style.
4208 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
4209 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
4210 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
4211 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
4215 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
4216 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
4217 directive parameters or modifiers)).
4220 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
4221 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
4222 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
4223 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
4224 parameters or modifiers)).
4227 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
4229 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
4231 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
4232 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
4234 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
4235 string-downcase! functions.
4237 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
4238 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
4240 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
4243 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
4246 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
4247 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
4249 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
4251 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
4252 the symbol had be read by `read'.
4254 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
4255 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
4256 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
4257 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
4258 would if STRING were input.
4260 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
4262 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
4263 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
4264 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
4265 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
4268 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
4270 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
4271 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
4274 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
4276 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
4277 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
4279 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
4280 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
4282 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
4283 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
4284 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
4285 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
4287 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
4288 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
4290 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
4291 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
4292 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
4294 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
4295 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
4297 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
4298 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
4299 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
4300 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
4301 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
4303 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
4304 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
4305 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
4306 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
4307 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
4308 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
4310 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
4311 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
4312 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
4315 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
4316 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
4317 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
4318 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
4319 the following grammar:
4320 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4321 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4322 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4323 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4324 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4325 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4326 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4327 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4328 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4329 last option in its combination)
4331 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4332 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4333 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4334 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4336 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4337 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4338 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4340 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4341 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4342 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4344 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4345 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4346 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4347 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4348 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4349 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4350 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4351 ordinary argument strings.
4353 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4354 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4355 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4356 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4358 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4359 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4361 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4362 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4363 - a required option is omitted
4364 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4365 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4366 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4367 - an option predicate fails
4372 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4375 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4376 (verbose (required? #f)
4379 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4380 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4381 (predicate ,string?))))
4383 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4384 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4386 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4387 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4388 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4389 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4392 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4394 It will be removed in a few releases.
4396 ** New syntax: lambda*
4397 ** New syntax: define*
4398 ** New syntax: define*-public
4399 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4400 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4401 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4403 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4404 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4405 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4406 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4407 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4409 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4410 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4411 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4413 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4415 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4416 and examples for `lambda*':
4419 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4421 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4422 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4423 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4424 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4425 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4426 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4427 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4428 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4430 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4432 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4433 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4434 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4435 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4437 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4438 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4439 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4440 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4441 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4442 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4443 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4444 and until the procedure is called.
4446 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4448 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4449 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4450 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4451 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4452 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4453 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4454 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4455 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4456 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4457 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4459 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4460 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4461 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4462 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4465 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4467 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4468 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4469 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4470 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4472 ** New syntax: and-let*
4473 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4475 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4476 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4477 (<variable> <expression>)
4480 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4481 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4482 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4485 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4486 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4487 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4488 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4489 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4490 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4491 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4493 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4494 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4495 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4496 shadow earlier bindings.
4498 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4500 ** New sorting functions
4502 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4503 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4504 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4505 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4507 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4508 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4511 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4512 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4513 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4515 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4516 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4517 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4518 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4520 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4521 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4522 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4523 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4524 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4527 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4528 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4529 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4530 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4531 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4532 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4534 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4535 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4536 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4538 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4539 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4540 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4543 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4544 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4545 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4547 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4548 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4550 ** New built-in random number support
4552 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4553 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4554 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4555 returned have a uniform distribution.
4557 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4558 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4559 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4560 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4561 effect of the `random' operation.
4563 *** New variable: *random-state*
4564 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4565 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4566 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4567 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4568 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4571 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4572 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4573 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4574 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4575 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4577 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4578 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4579 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4580 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4581 initialized using SEED.
4583 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4584 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4585 range between 0 and 1.
4587 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4588 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4589 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4590 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4591 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4592 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4593 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4595 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4596 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4597 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4598 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4599 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4600 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4602 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4603 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4604 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4605 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4607 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4608 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4609 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4610 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4612 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4613 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4614 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4616 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4618 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4621 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4622 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4625 ** New function: make-guardian
4626 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4627 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4628 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4629 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4630 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4632 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4633 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4634 one object if at all.
4636 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4637 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4638 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4640 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4641 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4642 read again in last-in first-out order.
4644 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4645 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4647 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4649 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4650 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4651 file position is used.
4653 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4654 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4655 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4657 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4658 redefined using seek.
4660 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4661 size is not supplied.
4663 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4664 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4666 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4667 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4669 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4671 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4672 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4673 and returns the contents as a single string.
4675 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4676 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4677 lists in serial order.
4679 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4680 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4681 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4683 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4684 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4685 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4686 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4688 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4689 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4690 and #f if an error occured.
4692 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4694 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4695 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4696 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4697 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4699 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4701 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4704 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4706 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4709 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4713 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4714 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4716 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4717 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4721 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4723 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4725 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4726 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4728 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4730 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4731 might change when we get the new module system.
4733 ** The smob interface
4735 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4736 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4738 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4740 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4744 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4745 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4746 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4747 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4748 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4749 will be freed by the default free function.
4751 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4752 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4753 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4754 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4756 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4757 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4758 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4759 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4761 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4763 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4764 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4768 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4769 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4770 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4772 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4773 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4774 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4775 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4777 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4778 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4779 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4781 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4782 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4783 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4784 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4786 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4787 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4788 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4790 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4794 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4796 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4797 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4798 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4800 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4801 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4802 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4804 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4805 a string port's buffer.
4807 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4808 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4809 function pointers which together define the current random number
4810 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4811 number library functions.
4813 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4816 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4817 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4820 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4821 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4823 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4824 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4826 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4827 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4830 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4831 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4832 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4833 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4835 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4836 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4837 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4838 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4839 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4840 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4841 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4843 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4844 by libguile and the application.
4846 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4847 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4848 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4849 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4851 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4852 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4854 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4855 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4856 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4858 ** Random number library functions
4859 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4860 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4861 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4863 The default random state is stored in:
4865 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4866 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4867 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4872 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4874 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4875 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4876 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4877 isn't a random state.
4879 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4880 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4882 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4883 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4884 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4885 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4887 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4888 Return 32 random bits.
4890 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4891 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4893 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4894 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4896 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4897 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4899 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4900 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4902 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4903 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4904 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4908 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4910 * Changes to the distribution
4912 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4913 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4914 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4917 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4918 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4919 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4921 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4922 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4923 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4924 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4927 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4928 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4929 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4931 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4933 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4935 *** Function: batch-mode?
4937 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4940 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4942 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4943 case has not been implemented.
4945 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4946 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4947 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4950 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4951 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4953 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4955 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4957 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4959 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4960 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4963 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4964 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4965 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4966 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4969 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4971 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4972 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4973 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4974 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4975 find those libraries.
4977 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4978 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4981 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4983 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4984 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4985 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4986 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
4988 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
4989 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
4990 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
4994 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
4996 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
4997 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
4998 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
5001 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
5002 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
5003 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
5004 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
5006 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
5007 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
5010 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
5011 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
5012 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
5013 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
5014 compiler where to find the libraries.
5016 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
5017 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
5018 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
5020 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
5021 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
5022 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
5023 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
5024 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
5028 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5030 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
5031 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
5032 internationalization support.
5034 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
5035 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
5036 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
5037 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
5038 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
5040 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
5041 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
5042 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
5043 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
5044 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
5046 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
5047 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
5048 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
5049 any GNU mirror site.
5051 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
5053 ** New function: add-history STRING
5054 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
5055 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
5056 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
5058 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
5060 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
5061 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
5062 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
5065 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
5066 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
5067 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
5069 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
5071 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
5074 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
5075 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
5078 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
5079 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
5080 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
5081 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
5082 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
5083 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
5085 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
5086 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
5087 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
5088 of the form mentioned above.
5090 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
5091 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
5092 returned in the special `rest' list.
5094 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
5095 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
5097 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
5099 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
5101 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
5103 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
5104 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
5105 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
5106 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
5107 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
5108 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
5109 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
5110 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
5113 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
5115 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
5117 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
5118 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
5121 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
5122 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
5123 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
5127 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
5128 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
5129 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
5130 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
5131 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
5132 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
5133 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
5134 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
5137 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
5139 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
5140 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
5141 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
5143 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
5145 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
5146 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
5148 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
5149 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
5150 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
5152 Why do we have this function?
5153 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
5154 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
5155 primitive, and display it differently, and
5156 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
5157 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
5160 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
5161 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
5164 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
5165 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
5166 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
5167 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
5169 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
5170 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
5173 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
5174 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
5176 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
5178 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
5179 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
5180 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
5181 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
5182 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
5183 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
5184 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
5187 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
5189 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
5190 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
5192 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
5193 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
5194 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
5195 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
5196 properly continue the print chain.
5198 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
5199 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
5200 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
5201 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
5202 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
5203 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
5204 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
5205 print-state, it is simply ignored.
5207 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
5208 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
5209 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
5210 safest to not check for these pairs.
5212 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
5213 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
5214 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
5215 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
5217 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
5219 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
5220 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
5222 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
5224 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
5226 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
5227 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
5228 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
5230 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
5231 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
5232 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
5234 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
5235 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
5236 the following functions and macros:
5238 Function: make-fluid
5240 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
5241 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
5242 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
5243 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
5244 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
5246 Function: fluid? OBJ
5248 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
5250 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
5251 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
5253 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
5254 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
5256 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
5258 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
5259 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
5260 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
5261 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
5262 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
5263 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
5264 modified by `with-fluids*'.
5266 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
5268 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
5269 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
5270 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
5271 should evaluate to a fluid.
5273 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
5275 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
5276 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
5277 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
5278 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
5279 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
5281 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
5284 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
5286 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
5288 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
5290 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
5293 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
5294 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
5295 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
5296 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
5297 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
5300 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
5301 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
5302 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
5304 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
5305 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
5306 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
5308 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
5309 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
5310 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5311 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
5313 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
5314 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
5315 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5316 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
5318 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
5319 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5320 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5321 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5323 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5324 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5325 their revealed counts set to zero.
5327 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5328 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5330 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5331 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5333 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5334 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5336 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5337 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5338 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5340 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5341 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5342 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5344 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5345 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5346 default environment inherited by child processes.
5348 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5349 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5350 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5352 The return value is unspecified.
5354 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5355 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5356 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5357 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5358 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5360 The return value is unspecified.
5362 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5363 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5371 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5372 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5375 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5378 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5379 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5380 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5382 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5383 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5384 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5385 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5388 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5389 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5391 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5392 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5393 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5394 the `environ' procedure.
5396 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5397 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5400 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5401 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5403 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5404 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5405 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5406 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5408 *** procedure: times
5409 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5410 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5411 return a selected component:
5414 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5418 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5421 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5425 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5426 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5430 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5431 terminated child processes.
5433 ** Removed: list-length
5434 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5435 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5437 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5439 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5441 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5443 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5444 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5445 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5446 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5448 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5449 extra complexity it introduces.
5451 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5452 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5454 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5455 variable to any non-empty value.
5457 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5458 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5460 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5462 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5463 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5465 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5467 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5468 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5470 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5472 ** vector handling routines
5474 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5475 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5476 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5477 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5478 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5480 ** pair and list routines
5482 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5485 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5487 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5490 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5492 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5494 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5495 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5496 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5497 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5498 site-specific initialization code.
5500 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5501 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5502 initialization processes.
5504 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5505 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5506 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5507 initialized properly.
5509 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5510 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5511 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5513 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5514 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5515 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5516 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5517 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5519 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5521 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5522 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5523 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5524 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5525 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5527 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5528 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5529 which look like this:
5532 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5534 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5535 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5538 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5539 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5542 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5544 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5545 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5546 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5548 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5549 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5550 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5551 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5552 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5554 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5555 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5557 int (*free) (SCM port);
5558 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5559 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5560 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5564 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5565 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5566 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5568 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5571 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5572 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5573 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5575 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5576 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5577 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5580 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5584 struct timeval *timeout);
5586 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5587 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5588 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5589 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5590 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5591 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5593 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5594 scm_catch_body_t body,
5596 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5599 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5600 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5601 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5602 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5603 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5604 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5606 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5608 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5611 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5612 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5613 spawning threads from application C code.
5615 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5616 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5617 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5618 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5619 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5620 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5622 ** Removed functions:
5624 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5625 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5627 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5629 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5630 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5632 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5634 ** mbstrings are now removed
5636 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5637 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5639 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5641 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5642 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5643 their new names and arguments:
5645 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5646 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5647 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5648 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5651 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5653 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5655 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5658 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5660 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5661 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5662 pass a #f arg to catch.
5664 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5666 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5667 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5670 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5671 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5672 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5673 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5674 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5675 reclaim its storage.
5677 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5678 worrying that some other function you call will call
5679 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5680 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5681 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5682 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5685 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5687 * Changes to the distribution
5689 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5690 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5693 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5694 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5696 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5697 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5699 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5701 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5702 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5703 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5705 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5707 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5708 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5709 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5710 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5711 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5712 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5714 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5715 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5716 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5719 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5720 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5721 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5722 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5724 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5725 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5726 libraries to your link command:
5728 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5729 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5730 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5731 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5733 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5734 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5735 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5737 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5739 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5740 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5743 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5745 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5746 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5747 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5748 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5749 searched is system dependent.
5751 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5753 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5755 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5757 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5758 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5760 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5762 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5763 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5764 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5765 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5766 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5769 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5771 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5772 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5773 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5774 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5775 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5777 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5779 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5780 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5782 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5784 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5785 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5786 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5789 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5791 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5792 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5793 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5794 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5796 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5797 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5799 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5801 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5802 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5804 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5806 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5807 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5815 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5817 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5818 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5819 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5820 a more informative way.
5822 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5823 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5824 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5825 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5826 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5827 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5829 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5830 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5833 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5834 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5835 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5838 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5839 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5840 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5841 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5842 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5843 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5845 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5846 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5847 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5848 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5851 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5852 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5853 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5854 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5855 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5856 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5858 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5859 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5860 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5861 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5862 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5864 *** regexp functions
5866 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5867 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5868 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5870 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5871 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5872 with SCSH regular expressions.
5874 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5875 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5876 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5877 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5879 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5880 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5881 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5882 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5884 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5885 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5886 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5887 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5888 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5889 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5891 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5892 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5893 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5894 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5895 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5897 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5899 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5900 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5901 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5902 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5904 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5905 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5906 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5908 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5909 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5911 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5914 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5915 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5916 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5918 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5919 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5920 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5922 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5923 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5924 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5925 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5926 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5929 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5931 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5932 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5933 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5934 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5935 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5936 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5938 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5939 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5940 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5942 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5943 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5946 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5947 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5949 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5950 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5951 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5952 may be one of the following arguments:
5954 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5956 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5958 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5959 the regexp match is written.
5961 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5962 following the regexp match is written.
5964 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5965 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5968 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5969 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5970 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5971 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5972 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5973 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5975 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5978 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5979 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5980 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5981 written out to PORT.
5983 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5984 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5985 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5986 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5987 will return after processing a single match.
5989 *** Match Structures
5991 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
5992 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
5993 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
5994 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
5995 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
5996 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
5999 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
6000 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
6001 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
6002 information about the original target string that was matched against a
6003 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
6005 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
6006 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
6007 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
6009 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
6010 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
6011 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
6012 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
6013 number N did not match, return `#f'.
6015 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
6016 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
6018 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
6019 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
6021 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
6022 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
6024 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
6025 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
6027 **** Function: match:count MATCH
6028 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
6029 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
6030 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
6032 **** Function: match:string MATCH
6033 Return the original TARGET string.
6035 *** Backslash Escapes
6037 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
6038 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
6039 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
6040 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
6041 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
6042 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
6044 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
6045 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
6046 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
6047 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
6048 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
6049 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
6050 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
6051 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
6053 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
6054 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
6055 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
6056 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
6057 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
6058 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
6059 each match a single backslash in the target string.
6061 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
6062 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
6063 return the resulting string.
6065 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
6066 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
6067 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
6068 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
6069 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
6070 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
6071 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
6072 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
6073 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
6074 translated to the single character `*'.
6076 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
6077 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
6078 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
6079 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
6080 consecutive backslashes:
6082 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
6084 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
6085 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
6086 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
6088 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
6089 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
6090 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
6091 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
6092 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
6093 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
6095 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
6097 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
6098 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
6099 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
6100 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
6101 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
6102 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
6103 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
6104 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
6105 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
6106 cumbersome escape syntax.
6108 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6110 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6112 * Changes to system call interfaces:
6114 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
6117 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
6119 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
6121 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
6124 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
6125 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
6126 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
6127 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
6128 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
6130 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
6131 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
6132 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
6133 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
6134 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
6135 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
6136 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
6139 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
6140 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
6141 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
6144 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
6145 `force-output' on every port open for output.
6147 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
6148 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
6149 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
6150 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
6151 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
6152 installed, you can say:
6154 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
6157 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6159 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
6160 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
6161 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
6162 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
6163 new dynamic roots and threads.
6166 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
6168 * Changes to the distribution.
6170 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
6172 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
6173 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
6174 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
6175 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
6176 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
6177 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
6178 programming language. These are packaged together because the
6179 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
6181 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
6184 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
6185 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
6190 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6192 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
6193 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
6195 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
6196 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
6197 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
6198 the (command-line) function.
6199 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
6200 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
6201 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
6203 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
6204 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
6205 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
6206 command line arguments
6207 -ds do -s script at this point
6208 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
6209 -h, --help display this help and exit
6210 -v, --version display version information and exit
6211 \ read arguments from following script lines
6213 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
6214 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
6216 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6219 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6223 (main (command-line))
6225 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
6227 ekko a speckled gecko
6229 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
6230 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
6231 following list of command-line arguments:
6233 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
6235 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
6236 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
6237 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
6238 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
6239 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6241 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
6243 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
6245 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
6246 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
6249 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
6250 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
6251 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
6252 SCSH) for circumventing them.
6254 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
6255 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
6256 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
6257 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
6259 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
6263 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6267 If the user invokes this script as follows:
6269 ekko a speckled gecko
6271 Unix expands this into
6273 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
6275 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
6276 read from the second line of the script, producing:
6278 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6280 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
6281 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6283 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
6284 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
6285 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
6286 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
6287 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
6288 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
6289 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
6290 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
6291 it only terminates the argument list.)
6292 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
6293 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
6294 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
6295 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
6296 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
6297 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
6298 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
6299 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
6301 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6303 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
6304 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
6305 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
6306 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
6307 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
6309 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
6310 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
6311 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
6313 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
6315 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
6316 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
6317 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
6318 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6321 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6322 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6323 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6325 * Changes to Scheme functions
6327 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6328 and disabled by default.
6330 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6331 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6332 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6333 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6335 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6337 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6339 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6340 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6342 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6343 (read-set! keywords #f)
6345 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6346 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6347 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6350 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6351 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6352 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6355 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6356 support for Scheme functions.
6358 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6359 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6360 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6361 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6364 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6365 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6366 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6369 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6370 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6371 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6374 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6375 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6376 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6377 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6378 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6379 display the result as a prompt.
6380 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6382 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6383 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6384 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6387 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6388 procedure of zero arguments.
6390 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6391 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6392 argument is bound in the current module.
6394 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6395 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6396 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6397 public bindings into the current module.
6399 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6400 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6402 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6403 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6405 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6406 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6408 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6409 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6411 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6412 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6414 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6415 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6416 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6417 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6418 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6420 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6421 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6422 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6423 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6425 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6428 ** Changes to I/O functions
6430 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6431 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6432 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6434 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6435 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6436 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6438 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6439 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6441 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6442 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6443 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6444 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6446 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6448 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6449 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6451 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6452 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6453 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6454 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6455 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6458 'trim omit delimiter from result
6459 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6460 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6461 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6463 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6465 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6466 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6468 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6469 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6470 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6471 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6472 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6474 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6475 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6476 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6478 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6479 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6480 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6481 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6483 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6484 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6486 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6487 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6489 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6491 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6492 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6493 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6494 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6495 a delimiting character.
6496 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6498 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6499 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6500 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6501 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6502 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6503 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6505 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6506 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6508 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6509 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6510 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6512 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6513 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6514 the array to read and write.
6516 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6517 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6520 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6522 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6525 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6526 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6527 Values for COMMAND are:
6529 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6530 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6531 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6532 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6533 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6534 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6535 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6536 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6538 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6540 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6541 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6542 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6543 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6544 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6545 corresponding return set will be the same.
6547 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6550 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6551 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6552 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6553 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6554 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6555 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6556 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6557 special file being created.
6559 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6560 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6562 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6563 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6564 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6565 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6566 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6567 and originating address.
6569 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6570 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6571 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6573 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6576 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6577 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6580 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6581 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6582 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6583 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6584 this function returns #f.
6586 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6587 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6588 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6591 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6592 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6593 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6596 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6597 a valid STATUS value.
6599 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6601 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6602 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6604 Component Accessor Setter
6605 ========================= ============ ============
6606 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6607 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6608 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6609 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6610 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6611 year tm:year set-tm:year
6612 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6613 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6614 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6615 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6616 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6618 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6619 describing the host system:
6622 ============================================== ================
6623 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6624 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6625 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6626 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6627 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6629 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6630 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6631 system's user database:
6634 ====================== =================
6635 user name passwd:name
6636 user password passwd:passwd
6639 real name passwd:gecos
6640 home directory passwd:dir
6641 shell program passwd:shell
6643 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6644 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6645 system's group database:
6648 ======================= ============
6649 group name group:name
6650 group password group:passwd
6652 group members group:mem
6654 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6655 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6659 ========================= ===============
6660 official name of host hostent:name
6661 alias list hostent:aliases
6662 host address type hostent:addrtype
6663 length of address hostent:length
6664 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6666 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6667 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6671 ========================= ===============
6672 official name of net netent:name
6673 alias list netent:aliases
6674 net number type netent:addrtype
6675 net number netent:net
6677 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6678 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6682 ========================= ===============
6683 official protocol name protoent:name
6684 alias list protoent:aliases
6685 protocol number protoent:proto
6687 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6688 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6692 ========================= ===============
6693 official service name servent:name
6694 alias list servent:aliases
6695 port number servent:port
6696 protocol to use servent:proto
6698 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6699 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6702 ======================================== ===============
6703 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6704 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6705 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6706 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6708 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6709 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6710 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6712 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6713 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6715 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6716 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6718 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6719 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6721 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6723 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6725 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6726 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6727 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6729 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6730 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6731 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6732 return the remaining characters as a string.
6734 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6735 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6736 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6738 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6740 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6742 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6745 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6748 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6749 and returns the array
6751 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6752 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6753 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6755 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6757 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6758 symbol's value from C code:
6760 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6761 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6762 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6763 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6765 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6766 without assigning them a value.
6768 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6769 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6770 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6772 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6773 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6774 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6776 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6777 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6779 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6780 doesn't actually care about that.
6782 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6783 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6784 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6786 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6787 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6788 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6789 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6790 which we have just created and initialized.
6792 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6793 should one occur. We call it like this:
6794 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6796 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6797 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6798 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6799 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6800 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6801 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6804 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6805 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6806 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6807 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6808 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6809 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6810 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6813 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6814 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6815 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6816 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6817 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6820 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6821 scm_internal_catch, except:
6823 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6824 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6825 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6826 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6829 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6830 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6831 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6833 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6834 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6835 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6836 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6839 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6840 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6841 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6843 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6844 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6845 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6846 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6847 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6849 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6850 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6851 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6853 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6854 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6855 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6857 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6858 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6860 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6861 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6862 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6865 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6866 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6867 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6868 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6869 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6870 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6871 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6874 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6875 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6877 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6878 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6879 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6880 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6881 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6884 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6885 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6887 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6888 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6891 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6892 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6894 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6897 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6898 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6899 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6900 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6901 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6902 given the following arguments:
6904 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6906 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6908 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6910 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6913 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6914 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6915 command-line arguments.
6917 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6918 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6919 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6920 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6921 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6922 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6925 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6928 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6929 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6931 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6932 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6934 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6935 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6936 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6937 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6939 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6940 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6942 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6943 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6944 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6945 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6947 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6948 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6950 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6951 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6953 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6955 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6956 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6957 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6960 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6961 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6963 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6964 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6969 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6972 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6974 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6975 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6976 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6977 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6979 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6981 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6983 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6984 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6985 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6986 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6987 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
6988 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
6989 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
6990 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
6991 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
6992 for more information.
6994 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
6995 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
6997 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
6998 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
6999 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
7000 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
7001 following two lines at the top of the file:
7003 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7006 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
7007 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
7008 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
7010 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
7012 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7014 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
7017 (display (car args))
7018 (if (pair? (cdr args))
7020 (loop (cdr args)))))
7023 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
7024 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
7025 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
7026 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
7027 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
7028 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
7032 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
7035 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
7038 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
7040 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
7041 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
7042 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
7043 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
7044 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
7047 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
7048 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
7049 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
7050 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
7051 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
7054 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
7057 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
7058 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
7059 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
7062 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
7063 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
7064 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
7066 to see a backtrace, and
7067 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
7068 to see them by default.
7072 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
7074 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
7076 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
7077 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
7080 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
7081 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
7082 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
7083 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
7086 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
7087 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
7088 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
7089 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
7090 functions which inspired them.
7092 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
7093 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
7097 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
7099 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
7101 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
7102 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
7105 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
7106 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
7107 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
7109 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
7110 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
7111 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
7112 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
7113 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
7115 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
7117 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
7118 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
7119 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
7122 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
7125 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
7127 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
7128 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
7129 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
7130 above should serve their purposes.
7132 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
7133 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
7134 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
7135 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
7137 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
7140 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
7141 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
7142 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
7143 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
7145 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
7146 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
7147 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
7148 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
7150 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
7151 for the `read' function.
7154 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
7155 to that of `integer?'.
7157 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
7158 use the R4RS names for these functions.
7160 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
7161 it simply returns the object's property list.
7163 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
7164 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
7165 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
7166 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
7168 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
7170 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
7173 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
7175 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
7176 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
7178 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
7180 void (*main_func) (),
7183 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
7184 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
7185 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
7186 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
7187 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
7189 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
7190 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
7191 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
7192 know which arguments have been processed.
7194 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
7195 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
7196 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
7197 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
7198 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
7200 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
7201 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
7202 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
7203 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
7204 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
7205 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
7206 people from making that mistake.
7208 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
7209 convenient ways to override these when desired.
7211 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
7213 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
7217 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
7220 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
7221 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
7222 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
7223 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
7226 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
7227 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
7228 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
7229 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
7232 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
7233 have been added to the Guile library.
7235 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
7236 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
7237 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
7240 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
7241 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
7242 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
7244 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
7245 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
7246 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
7247 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
7248 argument from the list.
7251 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
7254 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
7255 null-terminated string, and returns it.
7257 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
7258 to a Scheme port object.
7260 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
7261 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
7266 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
7268 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
7269 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
7270 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
7271 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
7272 code as a special datatype.
7274 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
7275 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
7276 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
7277 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
7278 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
7281 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
7282 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
7283 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
7284 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
7285 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
7287 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
7290 Copyright information:
7292 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7294 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
7295 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
7296 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
7297 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
7299 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
7300 of this document, or of portions of it,
7301 under the above conditions, provided also that they
7302 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
7307 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"