1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
9 Changes in 2.1.1 (changes since the 2.0.x series):
15 The biggest change in Guile 2.2 is a complete rewrite of its virtual
16 machine and compiler internals. The result is faster startup time,
17 better memory usage, and faster execution of user code. See the
18 "Performance improvements" section below for more details.
20 ** Better thread-safety
22 This new release series takes the ABI-break opportunity to fix some
23 interfaces that were difficult to use correctly from multiple threads.
24 Notably, weak hash tables are now transparently thread-safe. Ports are
25 also thread-safe; see "New interfaces" below for details on the changes
28 ** Off-main-thread finalization
30 Following Guile 2.0.6's change to invoke finalizers via asyncs, Guile
31 2.2 takes the additional step of invoking finalizers from a dedicated
32 finalizer thread, if threads are enabled. This avoids concurrency
33 issues between finalizers and application code, and also speeds up
36 ** Better locale support in Guile scripts
38 When Guile is invoked directly, either from the command line or via a
39 hash-bang line (e.g. "#!/usr/bin/guile"), it now installs the current
40 locale via a call to `(setlocale LC_ALL "")'. For users with a unicode
41 locale, this makes all ports unicode-capable by default, without the
42 need to call `setlocale' in your program. This behavior may be
43 controlled via the GUILE_INSTALL_LOCALE environment variable; see the
46 ** Complete Emacs-compatible Elisp implementation
48 Thanks to the work of BT Templeton, Guile's Elisp implementation is now
49 fully Emacs-compatible, implementing all of Elisp's features and quirks
50 in the same way as the editor we know and love.
52 ** Dynamically expandable stacks
54 Instead of allocating fixed stack sizes for running Scheme code, Guile
55 now starts off each thread with only one page of stack, and expands and
56 shrinks it dynamically as needed. Guile will throw an exception for
57 stack overflows if growing the stack fails. It is also possible to
58 impose a stack limit during the extent of a function call. See "Stack
59 Overflow" in the manual, for more.
61 This change allows users to write programs that use the stack as a data
62 structure for pending computations, as it was meant to be, without
63 reifying that data out to the heap. Where you would previously make a
64 loop that collect its results in reverse order only to re-reverse them
65 at the end, now you can just recurse without worrying about stack
68 * Performance improvements
70 ** Faster programs via new virtual machine
72 Guile's new virtual machine compiles programs to instructions for a new
73 virtual machine. The new virtual machine's instructions can address
74 their source and destination operands by "name" (slot). This makes
75 access to named temporary values much faster, and removes a lot of
76 value-shuffling that the old virtual machine had to do. The end result
77 is that loop-heavy code can be two or three times as fast with Guile 2.2
78 as in 2.0. Your mileage may vary, of course; see "A Virtual Machine for
79 Guile" in the manual for the nitties and the gritties.
81 ** Better startup time, memory usage with ELF object file format
83 Guile now uses the standard ELF format for its compiled code. (Guile
84 has its own loader and linker, so this does not imply a dependency on
85 any particular platform's ELF toolchain.) The benefit is that Guile is
86 now able to statically allocate more data in the object files. ELF also
87 enables more sharing of data between processes, and decreases startup
88 time (about 40% faster than the already fast startup of the Guile 2.0
89 series). Guile also uses DWARF for some of its debugging information.
90 Much of the debugging information can be stripped from the object files
91 as well. See "Object File Format" in the manual, for full details.
93 ** Better optimizations via compiler rewrite
95 Guile's compiler now uses a Continuation-Passing Style (CPS)
96 intermediate language, allowing it to reason easily about temporary
97 values and control flow. Examples of optimizations that this permits
98 are optimal contification, dead code elimination, parallel moves with at
99 most one temporary, and allocation of stack slots using precise liveness
100 information. For more, see "Continuation-Passing Style" in the manual.
102 ** Faster interpreter
104 Combined with a number of optimizations to the interpreter itself,
105 simply compiling `eval.scm' with the new compiler yields an interpreter
106 that is consistently two or three times faster than the one in Guile
109 ** Allocation-free dynamic stack
111 Guile now implements the dynamic stack with an actual stack instead of a
112 list of heap objects, avoiding most allocation. This speeds up prompts,
113 the `scm_dynwind_*' family of functions, fluids, and `dynamic-wind'.
115 ** Optimized UTF-8 and Latin-1 ports, symbols, and strings
117 Guile 2.2 is faster at reading and writing UTF-8 and Latin-1 strings
118 from ports, and at converting symbols and strings to and from these
121 ** Optimized hash functions
123 Guile 2.2 now uses Bob Jenkins' `hashword2' (from his `lookup3.c') for
124 its string hash, and Thomas Wang's integer hash function for `hashq' and
125 `hashv'. These functions produce much better hash values across all
126 available fixnum bits.
130 ** New `cond-expand' feature: `guile-2.2'
132 Use this feature if you need to check for Guile 2.2 from Scheme code.
134 ** New predicate: `nil?'
136 See "Nil" in the manual.
138 ** New compiler modules
140 Since the compiler was rewritten, there are new modules for the back-end
141 of the compiler and the low-level loader and introspection interfaces.
142 See the "Guile Implementation" chapter in the manual for all details.
144 ** New functions: `scm_to_intptr_t', `scm_from_intptr_t'
145 ** New functions: `scm_to_uintptr_t', `scm_from_uintptr_t'
147 See "Integers" in the manual, for more.
149 ** New thread-safe port API
151 For details on `scm_c_make_port', `scm_c_make_port_with_encoding',
152 `scm_c_lock_port', `scm_c_try_lock_port', `scm_c_unlock_port',
153 `scm_c_port_type_ref', `scm_c_port_type_add_x', `SCM_PORT_DESCRIPTOR',
154 and `scm_dynwind_lock_port', see XXX.
156 There is now a routine to atomically adjust port "revealed counts". See
157 XXX for more on `scm_adjust_port_revealed_x' and
158 `adjust-port-revealed!',
160 All other port API now takes the lock on the port if needed. There are
161 some C interfaces if you know that you don't need to take a lock; see
162 XXX for details on `scm_get_byte_or_eof_unlocked',
163 `scm_peek_byte_or_eof_unlocked' `scm_c_read_unlocked',
164 `scm_getc_unlocked' `scm_unget_byte_unlocked', `scm_ungetc_unlocked',
165 `scm_ungets_unlocked', `scm_fill_input_unlocked' `scm_putc_unlocked',
166 `scm_puts_unlocked', and `scm_lfwrite_unlocked'.
168 ** New inline functions: `scm_new_smob', `scm_new_double_smob'
170 These can replace many uses of SCM_NEWSMOB, SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB2, and the
171 like. See XXX in the manual, for more.
173 ** New low-level type accessors
175 For more on `SCM_HAS_TYP7', `SCM_HAS_TYP7S', `SCM_HAS_TYP16', see XXX.
177 `SCM_HEAP_OBJECT_P' is now an alias for the inscrutable `SCM_NIMP'.
179 `SCM_UNPACK_POINTER' and `SCM_PACK_POINTER' are better-named versions of
180 the old `SCM2PTR' and `PTR2SCM'. Also, `SCM_UNPACK_POINTER' yields a
183 ** `scm_c_weak_vector_ref', `scm_c_weak_vector_set_x'
185 Weak vectors can now be accessed from C using these accessors.
187 ** <standard-vtable>, standard-vtable-fields
189 See "Structures" in the manual for more on these
191 ** Convenience utilities for ports and strings.
193 See XXX for more on `scm_from_port_string', `scm_from_port_stringn',
194 `scm_to_port_string', and `scm_to_port_stringn'.
196 ** New expressive PEG parser
198 See "PEG Parsing" in the manual for more. Thanks to Michael Lucy for
199 originally writing these, and to Noah Lavine for integration work.
201 * Incompatible changes
203 ** ASCII is not ISO-8859-1
205 In Guile 2.0, if a user set "ASCII" or "ANSI_X3.4-1968" as the encoding
206 of a port, Guile would treat it as ISO-8859-1. While these encodings
207 are the same for codepoints 0 to 127, ASCII does not extend past that
208 range, whereas ISO-8859-1 goes up to 255. Guile 2.2 no longer treats
209 ASCII as ISO-8859-1. This is likely to be a problem only if the user's
210 locale is set to ASCII, and the user or a program writes non-ASCII
211 codepoints to a port.
213 ** String ports default to UTF-8
215 Guile 2.0 would use the `%default-port-encoding' when creating string
216 ports. This resulted in ports that could only accept a subset of valid
217 characters, which was surprising to users. Now string ports default to
218 the UTF-8 encoding. Sneaky users can still play encoding conversion
219 games with string ports by explicitly setting the encoding of a port
220 after it is open. See "Ports" in the manual for more.
222 ** `scm_from_stringn' and `scm_to_stringn' encoding arguments are never NULL
224 These functions now require a valid `encoding' argument, and will abort
227 ** All r6rs ports are both textual and binary
229 Because R6RS ports are a thin layer on top of Guile's ports, and Guile's
230 ports are both textual and binary, Guile's R6RS ports are also both
231 textual and binary, and thus both kinds have port transcoders. This is
232 an incompatibility with respect to R6RS.
234 ** Vtable hierarchy changes
236 In an attempt to make Guile's structure and record types integrate
237 better with GOOPS by unifying the vtable hierarchy, `make-vtable-vtable'
238 is now deprecated. Instead, users should just use `make-vtable' with
239 appropriate arguments. See "Structures" in the manual for all of the
240 details. As such, `record-type-vtable' and `%condition-type-vtable' now
241 have a parent vtable and are no longer roots of the vtable hierarchy.
243 ** Syntax parameters are a distinct type
245 Guile 2.0's transitional implementation of `syntax-parameterize' was
246 based on the `fluid-let-syntax' interface inherited from the psyntax
247 expander. This interface allowed any binding to be dynamically rebound
248 -- even bindings like `lambda'. This is no longer the case in Guile
249 2.2. Syntax parameters must be defined via `define-syntax-parameter',
250 and only such bindings may be parameterized. See "Syntax Parameters" in
253 ** Defined identifiers scoped in the current module
255 Sometimes Guile's expander would attach incorrect module scoping
256 information for top-level bindings made by an expansion. For example,
257 given the following R6RS library:
262 (define-syntax-rule (defconst name val)
265 (define-syntax-rule (name) t))))
267 Attempting to use it would produce an error:
272 =| Unbound variable: t
274 It wasn't clear that we could fix this in Guile 2.0 without breaking
275 someone's delicate macros, so the fix is only coming out now.
277 ** Pseudo-hygienically rename macro-introduced bindings
279 Bindings introduced by macros, like `t' in the `defconst' example above,
280 are now given pseudo-fresh names. This allows
285 to introduce different bindings for `t'. These pseudo-fresh names are
286 made in such a way that if the macro is expanded again, for example as
287 part of a simple recompilation, the introduced identifiers get the same
288 pseudo-fresh names. See "Hygiene and the Top-Level" in the manual, for
291 ** Fix literal matching for module-bound literals
293 `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros can take a set of "literals":
294 bound or unbound keywords that the syntax matcher treats specially.
295 Before, literals were always matched symbolically (by name). Now they
296 are matched by binding. This allows literals to be reliably bound to
297 values, renamed by imports or exports, et cetera. See "Syntax-rules
298 Macros" in the manual for more on literals.
300 ** `dynamic-wind' doesn't check that guards are thunks
302 Checking that the dynamic-wind out-guard procedure was actually a thunk
303 before doing the wind was slow, unreliable, and not strictly needed.
305 ** All deprecated code removed
307 All code deprecated in Guile 2.0 has been removed. See older NEWS, and
308 check that your programs can compile without linker warnings and run
309 without runtime warnings. See "Deprecation" in the manual.
311 ** Remove miscellaneous unused interfaces
313 We have removed accidentally public, undocumented interfaces that we
314 think are not used, and not useful. This includes `scm_markstream',
315 `SCM_FLUSH_REGISTER_WINDOWS', `SCM_THREAD_SWITCHING_CODE', `SCM_FENCE',
316 `scm_call_generic_0', `scm_call_generic_1', `scm_call_generic_2'
317 `scm_call_generic_3', `scm_apply_generic', and `scm_program_source'.
318 `scm_async_click' was renamed to `scm_async_tick', and `SCM_ASYNC_TICK'
319 was made private (use `SCM_TICK' instead).
321 ** Many internal compiler / VM changes
323 As the compiler and virtual machine were re-written, there are many
324 changes in the back-end of Guile to interfaces that were introduced in
325 Guile 2.0. These changes are only only of interest if you wrote a
326 language on Guile 2.0 or a tool using Guile 2.0 internals. If this is
327 the case, drop by the IRC channel to discuss the changes.
329 ** Defining a SMOB or port type no longer mucks exports of `(oop goops)'
331 It used to be that defining a SMOB or port type added an export to
332 GOOPS, for the wrapper class of the smob type. This violated
333 modularity, though, so we have removed this behavior.
335 ** Bytecode replaces objcode as a target language
337 One way in which people may have used details of Guile's runtime in
338 Guile 2.0 is in compiling code to thunks for later invocation. Instead
339 of compiling to objcode and then calling `make-program', now the way to
340 do it is to compile to `bytecode' and then call `load-thunk-from-memory'
341 from `(system vm loader)'.
343 ** Remove weak pairs.
345 Weak pairs were not safe to access with `car' and `cdr', and so were
348 ** Remove weak alist vectors.
350 Use weak hash tables instead.
354 ** SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_0, SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1, SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2, SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_N
355 ** SCM_GASSERT0, SCM_GASSERT1, SCM_GASSERT2, SCM_GASSERTn
356 ** SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1_SUBR
358 These macros were used in dispatching primitive generics. They can be
359 replaced by using C functions (the same name but in lower case), if
360 needed, but this is a hairy part of Guile that perhaps you shouldn't be
363 * Changes to the distribution
367 The "effective version" of Guile is now 2.2, which allows parallel
368 installation with other effective versions (for example, the older Guile
369 2.0). See "Parallel Installations" in the manual for full details.
370 Notably, the `pkg-config' file is now `guile-2.2'.
372 ** Bump required libgc version to 7.2, released March 2012.
374 ** The readline extension is now installed in the extensionsdir
376 The shared library that implements Guile's readline extension is no
377 longer installed to the libdir. This change should be transparent to
378 users, but packagers may be interested.
382 Changes in 2.0.9 (since 2.0.7):
384 Note: 2.0.8 was a brown paper bag release that was never announced, but
385 some mirrors may have picked it up. Please do not use it.
389 ** New keyword arguments for procedures that open files
391 The following procedures that open files now support keyword arguments
392 to request binary I/O or to specify the character encoding for text
393 files: `open-file', `open-input-file', `open-output-file',
394 `call-with-input-file', `call-with-output-file', `with-input-from-file',
395 `with-output-to-file', and `with-error-to-file'.
397 It is also now possible to specify whether Guile should scan files for
398 Emacs-style coding declarations. This scan was done by default in
399 versions 2.0.0 through 2.0.7, but now must be explicitly requested.
401 See "File Ports" in the manual for details.
403 ** Rewritten guile.m4
405 The `guile.m4' autoconf macros have been rewritten to use `guild' and
406 `pkg-config' instead of the deprecated `guile-config' (which itself
409 There is also a new macro, `GUILE_PKG', which allows packages to select
410 the version of Guile that they want to compile against. See "Autoconf
411 Macros" in the manual, for more information.
413 ** Better Windows support
415 Guile now correctly identifies absolute paths on Windows (MinGW), and
416 creates files on that platform according to its path conventions. See
417 "File System" in the manual, for all details.
419 In addition, the new Gnulib imports provide `select' and `poll' on
422 As an incompatible change, systems that are missing <sys/select.h> were
423 previously provided a public `scm_std_select' C function that defined a
424 version of `select', but unhappily it also provided its own incompatible
425 definitions for FD_SET, FD_ZERO, and other system interfaces. Guile
426 should not be setting these macros in public API, so this interface was
427 removed on those plaforms (basically only MinGW).
429 ** Numerics improvements
431 `number->string' now reliably outputs enough digits to produce the same
432 number when read back in. Previously, it mishandled subnormal numbers
433 (printing them as "#.#"), and failed to distinguish between some
434 distinct inexact numbers, e.g. 1.0 and (+ 1.0 (expt 2.0 -52)). These
435 problems had far-reaching implications, since the compiler uses
436 `number->string' to serialize numeric constants into .go files.
438 `sqrt' now produces exact rational results when possible, and handles
439 very large or very small numbers more robustly.
441 A number (ahem) of operations involving exact rationals have been
442 optimized, most notably `integer-expt' and `expt'.
444 `exact->inexact' now performs correct IEEE rounding.
448 There were a number of improvements to the partial evaluator, allowing
449 complete reduction of forms such as:
451 ((let ((_ 10)) (lambda () _)))
455 (apply (lambda _ _) 1 2 3 '(4))
457 (call-with-values (lambda () (values 1 2)) (lambda _ _))
459 `string-join' now handles huge lists efficiently.
461 `get-bytevector-some' now uses buffered input, which is much faster.
463 Finally, `array-ref', `array-set!' on arrays of rank 1 or 2 is now
464 faster, because it avoids building a rest list. Similarly, the
465 one-argument case of `array-for-each' and `array-map!' has been
466 optimized, and `array-copy!' and `array-fill!' are faster.
468 ** `peek-char' no longer consumes EOF
470 As required by the R5RS, if `peek-char' returns EOF, then the next read
471 will also return EOF. Previously `peek-char' would consume the EOF.
472 This makes a difference for terminal devices where it is possible to
477 Guile's copy of Gnulib was updated to v0.0-7865-ga828bb2. The following
478 modules were imported from Gnulib: select, times, pipe-posix, fstat,
479 getlogin, poll, and c-strcase.
481 ** `include' resolves relative file names relative to including file
483 Given a relative file name, `include' will look for it relative to the
484 directory of the including file. This harmonizes the behavior of
485 `include' with that of `load'.
487 ** SLIB compatibility restored
489 Guile 2.0.8 is now compatible with SLIB. You will have to use a
490 development version of SLIB, however, until a new version of SLIB is
493 ** Better ,trace REPL command
495 Sometimes the ,trace output for nested function calls could overflow the
496 terminal width, which wasn't useful. Now there is a limit to the amount
497 of space the prefix will take. See the documentation for ",trace" for
500 ** Better docstring syntax supported for `case-lambda'
502 Docstrings can now be placed immediately after the `case-lambda' or
503 `case-lambda*' keyword. See "Case-lambda" in the manual.
505 ** Improved handling of Unicode byte order marks
507 See "BOM Handling" in the manual for details.
509 ** Update predefined character sets to Unicode 6.2
511 ** GMP 4.2 or later required
513 Guile used to require GMP at least version 4.1 (released in May 2002),
514 and now requires at least version 4.2 (released in March 2006).
518 ** Better SXML documentation
520 The documentation for SXML modules was much improved, though there is
521 still far to go. See "SXML" in manual.
525 Use of "iff" was replaced with standard English. Keyword arguments are
526 now documented consistently, along with their default values.
528 ** An end to the generated-documentation experiment
530 When Guile 2.0 imported some modules from Guile-Lib, they came with a
531 system that generated documentation from docstrings and module
532 commentaries. This produced terrible documentation. We finally bit the
533 bullet and incorporated these modules into the main text, and will be
534 improving them manually over time, as is the case with SXML. Help is
539 There is now documentation for `scm_array_type', and `scm_array_ref', as
540 well as for the new `array-length' / 'scm_c_array_length' /
541 `scm_array_length' functions. `array-in-bounds?' has better
542 documentation as well. The `program-arguments-alist' and
543 `program-lambda-list' functions are now documented, as well as `and=>',
544 `exit', and `quit'. The (system repl server) module is now documented
545 (see REPL Servers). Finally, the GOOPS class hierarchy diagram has been
546 regenerated for the web and print output formats.
550 ** Deprecate generalized vector interface
552 The generalized vector interface, introduced in 1.8.0, is simply a
553 redundant, verbose interface to arrays of rank 1. `array-ref' and
554 similar functions are entirely sufficient. Thus,
555 `scm_generalized_vector_p', `scm_generalized_vector_length',
556 `scm_generalized_vector_ref', `scm_generalized_vector_set_x', and
557 `scm_generalized_vector_to_list' are now deprecated.
559 ** Deprecate SCM_CHAR_CODE_LIMIT and char-code-limit
561 These constants were defined to 256, which is not the highest codepoint
562 supported by Guile. Given that they were useless and incorrect, they
563 have been deprecated.
565 ** Deprecate `http-get*'
567 The new `#:streaming?' argument to `http-get' subsumes the functionality
568 of `http-get*' (introduced in 2.0.7). Also, the `#:extra-headers'
569 argument is deprecated in favor of `#:headers'.
571 ** Deprecate (ice-9 mapping)
573 This module, present in Guile since 1996 but never used or documented,
574 has never worked in Guile 2.0. It has now been deprecated and will be
575 removed in Guile 2.2.
577 ** Deprecate undocumented array-related C functions
579 These are `scm_array_fill_int', `scm_ra_eqp', `scm_ra_lessp',
580 `scm_ra_leqp', `scm_ra_grp', `scm_ra_greqp', `scm_ra_sum',
581 `scm_ra_product', `scm_ra_difference', `scm_ra_divide', and
582 `scm_array_identity'.
588 See "SRFI-41" in the manual.
590 ** SRFI-45 exports `promise?'
592 SRFI-45 now exports a `promise?' procedure that works with its promises.
593 Also, its promises now print more nicely.
595 ** New HTTP client procedures
597 See "Web Client" for documentation on the new `http-head', `http-post',
598 `http-put', `http-delete', `http-trace', and `http-options' procedures,
599 and also for more options to `http-get'.
601 ** Much more capable `xml->sxml'
603 See "Reading and Writing XML" for information on how the `xml->sxml'
604 parser deals with namespaces, processed entities, doctypes, and literal
605 strings. Incidentally, `current-ssax-error-port' is now a parameter
608 ** New procedures for converting strings to and from bytevectors
610 See "Representing Strings as Bytes" for documention on the new `(ice-9
611 iconv)' module and its `bytevector->string' and `string->bytevector'
614 ** Escape continuations with `call/ec' and `let/ec'
616 See "Prompt Primitives".
618 ** New procedures to read all characters from a port
620 See "Line/Delimited" in the manual for documentation on `read-string'
623 ** New procedure `sendfile'
627 ** New procedure `unget-bytevector'
629 See "R6RS Binary Input".
631 ** New C helper: `scm_c_bind_keyword_arguments'
633 See "Keyword Procedures".
635 ** New command-line arguments: `--language' and `-C'
637 See "Command-line Options" in the manual.
639 ** New environment variables: `GUILE_STACK_SIZE', `GUILE_INSTALL_LOCALE'
641 See "Environment Variables".
643 ** New procedures for dealing with file names
645 See "File System" for documentation on `system-file-name-convention',
646 `file-name-separator?', `absolute-file-name?', and
647 `file-name-separator-string'.
649 ** `array-length', an array's first dimension
651 See "Array Procedures".
653 ** `hash-count', for hash tables
657 ** `round-ash', a bit-shifting operator that rounds on right-shift
659 See "Bitwise Operations".
661 ** New foreign types: `ssize_t', `ptrdiff_t'
665 ** New C helpers: `scm_from_ptrdiff_t', `scm_to_ptrdiff_t'
669 ** Socket option `SO_REUSEPORT' now available from Scheme
671 If supported on the platform, `SO_REUSEPORT' is now available from
672 Scheme as well. See "Network Sockets and Communication".
674 ** `current-language' in default environment
676 Previously defined only in `(system base language)', `current-language'
677 is now defined in the default environment, and is used to determine the
678 language for the REPL, and for `compile-and-load'.
680 ** New procedure: `fluid->parameter'
682 See "Parameters", for information on how to convert a fluid to a
685 ** New `print' REPL option
687 See "REPL Commands" in the manual for information on the new
688 user-customizable REPL printer.
690 ** New variable: %site-ccache-dir
692 The "Installing Site Packages" and "Build Config" manual sections now
693 refer to this variable to describe where users should install their
698 ** Fix compilation against libgc 7.3.
699 ** Fix cross-compilation of `c-tokenize.o'.
700 ** Fix warning when compiling against glibc 2.17.
701 ** Fix documentation build against Texinfo 5.0.
702 ** Fix building Guile from a directory with non-ASCII characters.
703 ** Fix native MinGW build.
704 ** Fix --disable-posix build.
705 ** Fix MinGW builds with networking, POSIX, and thread support.
709 ** Fix inexact number printer.
710 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13757)
711 ** Fix infinite loop when parsing optional-argument short options (SRFI-37).
712 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13176)
713 ** web: Support non-GMT date headers in the HTTP client.
714 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13544)
715 ** web: support IP-literal (IPv6 address) in Host header.
716 ** Avoid stack overflows with `par-map' and nested futures in general.
717 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13188)
718 ** Peek-char no longer consumes EOF.
719 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12216)
720 ** Avoid swallowing multiple EOFs in R6RS binary-input procedures.
721 ** A fork when multiple threads are running will now print a warning.
722 ** Allow for spurious wakeups from pthread_cond_wait.
723 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10641)
724 ** Warn and ignore module autoload failures.
725 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12202)
726 ** Use chmod portably in (system base compile).
727 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10474)
728 ** Fix response-body-port for HTTP responses without content-length.
729 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13857)
730 ** Allow case-lambda expressions with no clauses.
731 (http://bugs.gnu.org/9776)
732 ** Improve standards conformance of string->number.
733 (http://bugs.gnu.org/11887)
734 ** Support calls and tail-calls with more than 255 formals.
735 ** ,option evaluates its right-hand-side.
736 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13076)
737 ** Structs with tail arrays are not simple.
738 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12808)
739 ** Make `SCM_LONG_BIT' usable in preprocessor conditionals.
740 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13848)
741 ** Fix thread-unsafe lazy initializations.
742 ** Allow SMOB mark procedures to be called from parallel markers.
743 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13611)
744 ** Fix later-bindings-win logic in with-fluids.
745 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13843)
746 ** Fix duplicate removal of with-fluids.
747 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13838)
748 ** Support calling foreign functions of 10 arguments or more.
749 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13809)
750 ** Let reverse! accept arbitrary types as second argument.
751 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13835)
752 ** Recognize the `x86_64.*-gnux32' triplet.
753 ** Check whether a triplet's OS part specifies an ABI.
754 ** Recognize mips64* as having 32-bit pointers by default.
755 ** Use portable sed constructs.
756 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14042)
757 ** Remove language/glil/decompile-assembly.scm.
758 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10622)
759 ** Use O_BINARY in `copy-file', `load-objcode', `mkstemp'.
760 ** Use byte-oriented functions in `get-bytevector*'.
761 ** Fix abort when iconv swallows BOM from UTF-16 or UTF-32 stream.
762 ** Fix compilation of functions with more than 255 local variables.
763 ** Fix `getgroups' for when zero supplementary group IDs exist.
764 ** Allow (define-macro name (lambda ...)).
765 ** Various fixes to the (texinfo) modules.
766 ** guild: Gracefully handle failures to install the locale.
767 ** Fix format string warnings for ~!, ~|, ~/, ~q, ~Q, and ~^.
768 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13485)
769 ** Fix source annotation bug in psyntax 'expand-body'.
770 ** Ecmascript: Fix conversion to boolean for non-numbers.
771 ** Use case-insensitive comparisons for encoding names.
772 ** Add missing cond-expand feature identifiers.
773 ** A failure to find a module's file does not prevent future loading.
774 ** Many (oop goops save) fixes.
775 ** `http-get': don't shutdown write end of socket.
776 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13095)
777 ** Avoid signed integer overflow in scm_product.
778 ** http: read-response-body always returns bytevector or #f, never EOF.
779 ** web: Correctly detect "No route to host" conditions.
780 ** `system*': failure to execvp no longer leaks dangling processes.
781 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13166)
782 ** More sensible case-lambda* dispatch.
783 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12929)
784 ** Do not defer expansion of internal define-syntax forms.
785 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13509)
789 Changes in 2.0.7 (since 2.0.6):
793 ** SRFI-105 curly infix expressions are supported
795 Curly infix expressions as described at
796 http://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-105/srfi-105.html are now supported by
797 Guile's reader. This allows users to write things like {a * {b + c}}
798 instead of (* a (+ b c)). SRFI-105 support is enabled by using the
799 `#!curly-infix' directive in source code, or the `curly-infix' reader
800 option. See the manual for details.
802 ** Reader options may now be per-port
804 Historically, `read-options' and related procedures would manipulate
805 global options, affecting the `read' procedure for all threads, and all
806 current uses of `read'.
808 Guile can now associate `read' options with specific ports, allowing
809 different ports to use different options. For instance, the
810 `#!fold-case' and `#!no-fold-case' reader directives have been
811 implemented, and their effect is to modify the current read options of
812 the current port only; similarly for `#!curly-infix'. Thus, it is
813 possible, for instance, to have one port reading case-sensitive code,
814 while another port reads case-insensitive code.
816 ** Futures may now be nested
818 Futures may now be nested: a future can itself spawn and then `touch'
819 other futures. In addition, any thread that touches a future that has
820 not completed now processes other futures while waiting for the touched
821 future to completed. This allows all threads to be kept busy, and was
822 made possible by the use of delimited continuations (see the manual for
825 Consequently, `par-map' and `par-for-each' have been rewritten and can
828 ** `GUILE_LOAD_PATH' et al can now add directories to the end of the path
830 `GUILE_LOAD_PATH' and `GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH' can now be used to add
831 directories to both ends of the load path. If the special path
832 component `...' (ellipsis) is present in these environment variables,
833 then the default path is put in place of the ellipsis, otherwise the
834 default path is placed at the end. See "Environment Variables" in the
837 ** `load-in-vicinity' search for `.go' files in `%load-compiled-path'
839 Previously, `load-in-vicinity' would look for compiled files in the
840 auto-compilation cache, but not in `%load-compiled-path'. This is now
841 fixed. This affects `load', and the `-l' command-line flag. See
842 <http://bugs.gnu.org/12519> for details.
844 ** Extension search order fixed, and LD_LIBRARY_PATH preserved
846 Up to 2.0.6, Guile would modify the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment
847 variable (or whichever is relevant for the host OS) to insert its own
848 default extension directories in the search path (using GNU libltdl
849 facilities was not possible here.) This approach was problematic in two
852 First, the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' modification would be visible to
853 sub-processes, and would also affect future calls to `dlopen', which
854 could lead to subtle bugs in the application or sub-processes. Second,
855 when the installation prefix is /usr, the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' modification
856 would typically end up inserting /usr/lib before /usr/local/lib in the
857 search path, which is often the opposite of system-wide settings such as
860 Both issues have now been fixed.
862 ** `make-vtable-vtable' is now deprecated
864 Programs should instead use `make-vtable' and `<standard-vtable>'.
866 ** The `-Wduplicate-case-datum' and `-Wbad-case-datum' are enabled
868 These recently introduced warnings have been documented and are now
869 enabled by default when auto-compiling.
871 ** Optimize calls to `equal?' or `eqv?' with a constant argument
873 The compiler simplifies calls to `equal?' or `eqv?' with a constant
874 argument to use `eq?' instead, when applicable.
878 ** SRFI-9 records now documented under "Compound Data Types"
880 The documentation of SRFI-9 record types has been moved in the "Compound
881 Data Types", next to Guile's other record APIs. A new section
882 introduces the various record APIs, and describes the trade-offs they
883 make. These changes were made in an attempt to better guide users
884 through the maze of records API, and to recommend SRFI-9 as the main
887 The documentation of Guile's raw `struct' API has also been improved.
889 ** (ice-9 and-let-star) and (ice-9 curried-definitions) now documented
891 These modules were missing from the manual.
895 ** New "functional record setters" as a GNU extension of SRFI-9
897 The (srfi srfi-9 gnu) module now provides three new macros to deal with
898 "updates" of immutable records: `define-immutable-record-type',
899 `set-field', and `set-fields'.
901 The first one allows record type "functional setters" to be defined;
902 such setters keep the record unchanged, and instead return a new record
903 with only one different field. The remaining macros provide the same
904 functionality, and also optimize updates of multiple or nested fields.
905 See the manual for details.
907 ** web: New `http-get*', `response-body-port', and `text-content-type?'
910 These procedures return a port from which to read the response's body.
911 Unlike `http-get' and `read-response-body', they allow the body to be
912 processed incrementally instead of being stored entirely in memory.
914 The `text-content-type?' predicate allows users to determine whether the
915 content type of a response is textual.
917 See the manual for details.
919 ** `string-split' accepts character sets and predicates
921 The `string-split' procedure can now be given a SRFI-14 character set or
922 a predicate, instead of just a character.
926 Previously, in R6RS modules, Guile incorrectly ignored components of
927 SRFI module names after the SRFI number, making it impossible to specify
928 sub-libraries. This release corrects this, bringing us into accordance
931 ** `define-public' is no a longer curried definition by default
933 The (ice-9 curried-definitions) should be used for such uses. See the
938 ** Remove reference to `scm_init_popen' when `fork' is unavailable
940 This fixes a MinGW build issue (http://bugs.gnu.org/12477).
942 ** Fix race between installing `guild' and the `guile-tools' symlink
946 ** Procedures returned by `eval' now have docstrings
947 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12173)
948 ** web client: correctly handle uri-query, etc. in relative URI headers
949 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12827)
950 ** Fix docs for R6RS `hashtable-copy'
951 ** R6RS `string-for-each' now accepts multiple string arguments
952 ** Fix out-of-range error in the compiler's CSE pass
953 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12883)
954 ** Add missing R6RS `open-file-input/output-port' procedure
955 ** Futures: Avoid creating the worker pool more than once
956 ** Fix invalid assertion about mutex ownership in threads.c
957 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12719)
958 ** Have `SCM_NUM2FLOAT' and `SCM_NUM2DOUBLE' use `scm_to_double'
959 ** The `scandir' procedure now uses `lstat' instead of `stat'
960 ** Fix `generalized-vector->list' indexing bug with shared arrays
961 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12465)
962 ** web: Change `http-get' to try all the addresses for the given URI
963 ** Implement `hash' for structs
964 (http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2012-10/msg00031.html)
965 ** `read' now adds source properties for data types beyond pairs
966 ** Improve error reporting in `append!'
967 ** In fold-matches, set regexp/notbol unless matching string start
968 ** Don't stat(2) and access(2) the .go location before using it
969 ** SRFI-19: use zero padding for hours in ISO 8601 format, not blanks
970 ** web: Fix uri-encoding for strings with no unreserved chars, and octets 0-15
971 ** More robust texinfo alias handling
972 ** Optimize `format' and `simple-format'
973 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12033)
974 ** Angle of -0.0 is pi, not zero
977 Changes in 2.0.6 (since 2.0.5):
981 ** New optimization pass: common subexpression elimination (CSE)
983 Guile's optimizer will now run a CSE pass after partial evaluation.
984 This pass propagates static information about branches taken, bound
985 lexicals, and effects from an expression's dominators. It can replace
986 common subexpressions with their boolean values (potentially enabling
987 dead code elimination), equivalent bound lexicals, or it can elide them
988 entirely, depending on the context in which they are executed. This
989 pass is especially useful in removing duplicate type checks, such as
990 those produced by SRFI-9 record accessors.
992 ** Improvements to the partial evaluator
994 Peval can now hoist tests that are common to both branches of a
995 conditional into the test. This can help with long chains of
996 conditionals, such as those generated by the `match' macro. Peval can
997 now do simple beta-reductions of procedures with rest arguments. It
998 also avoids residualizing degenerate lexical aliases, even when full
999 inlining is not possible. Finally, peval now uses the effects analysis
1000 introduced for the CSE pass. More precise effects analysis allows peval
1003 ** Run finalizers asynchronously in asyncs
1005 Finalizers are now run asynchronously, via an async. See Asyncs in the
1006 manual. This allows Guile and user code to safely allocate memory while
1009 ** Update SRFI-14 character sets to Unicode 6.1
1011 Note that this update causes the Latin-1 characters `§' and `¶' to be
1012 reclassified as punctuation. They were previously considered to be part
1013 of `char-set:symbol'.
1015 ** Better source information for datums
1017 When the `positions' reader option is on, as it is by default, Guile's
1018 reader will record source information for more kinds of datums.
1020 ** Improved error and warning messages
1022 `syntax-violation' errors now prefer `subform' for source info, with
1023 `form' as fallback. Syntactic errors in `cond' and `case' now produce
1024 better errors. `case' can now warn on duplicate datums, or datums that
1025 cannot be usefully compared with `eqv?'. `-Warity-mismatch' now handles
1026 applicable structs. `-Wformat' is more robust in the presence of
1027 `gettext'. Finally, various exceptions thrown by the Web modules now
1028 define appropriate exception printers.
1030 ** A few important bug fixes in the HTTP modules.
1032 Guile's web server framework now checks if an application returns a body
1033 where it is not permitted, for example in response to a HEAD request,
1034 and warn or truncate the response as appropriate. Bad requests now
1035 cause a 400 Bad Request response to be printed before closing the port.
1036 Finally, some date-printing and URL-parsing bugs were fixed.
1038 ** Pretty-print improvements
1040 When Guile needs to pretty-print Tree-IL, it will try to reconstruct
1041 `cond', `or`, and other derived syntax forms from the primitive tree-IL
1042 forms. It also uses the original names instead of the fresh unique
1043 names, when it is unambiguous to do so. This can be seen in the output
1044 of REPL commands like `,optimize'.
1046 Also, the `pretty-print' procedure has a new keyword argument,
1049 ** Fix memory leak involving applicable SMOBs
1051 At some point in the 1.9.x series, Guile began leaking any applicable
1052 SMOB that was actually applied. (There was a weak-key map from SMOB to
1053 trampoline functions, where the value had a strong reference on the
1054 key.) This has been fixed. There was much rejoicing!
1056 ** Support for HTTP/1.1 chunked transfer coding
1058 See "Transfer Codings" in the manual, for more.
1060 ** Micro-optimizations
1062 A pile of micro-optimizations: the `string-trim' function when called
1063 with `char-set:whitespace'; the `(web http)' parsers; SMOB application;
1064 conversion of raw UTF-8 and UTF-32 data to and from SCM strings; vlists
1065 and vhashes; `read' when processing string literals.
1067 ** Incompatible change to `scandir'
1069 As was the original intention, `scandir' now runs the `select?'
1070 procedure on all items, including subdirectories and the `.' and `..'
1071 entries. It receives the basename of the file in question instead of
1072 the full name. We apologize for this incompatible change to this
1073 function introduced in the 2.0.4 release.
1077 The manual has been made much more consistent in its naming conventions
1078 with regards to formal parameters of functions. Thanks to Bake Timmons.
1082 ** New C function: `scm_to_pointer'
1083 ** New C inline functions: `scm_new_smob', `scm_new_double_smob'
1084 ** (ice-9 format): Add ~h specifier for localized number output.
1085 ** (web response): New procedure: `response-must-not-include-body?'
1086 ** New predicate: 'supports-source-properties?'
1087 ** New C helpers: `scm_c_values', `scm_c_nvalues'
1088 ** Newly public inline C function: `scm_unget_byte'
1089 ** (language tree-il): New functions: `tree-il=?', `tree-il-hash'
1090 ** New fluid: `%default-port-conversion-strategy'
1091 ** New syntax: `=>' within `case'
1092 ** (web http): `make-chunked-input-port', `make-chunked-output-port'
1093 ** (web http): `declare-opaque-header!'
1095 Search the manual for these identifiers, for more information.
1099 ** `close-io-port' deprecated
1103 ** `scm_sym2var' deprecated
1105 In most cases, replace with `scm_lookup' or `scm_module_variable'. Use
1106 `scm_define' or `scm_module_ensure_local_variable' if the second
1107 argument is nonzero. See "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual, for
1110 ** Lookup closures deprecated
1112 These were never documented. See "Module System Reflection" in the
1113 manual for replacements.
1117 ** Fix compilation against uninstalled Guile on non-GNU platforms.
1118 ** Fix `SCM_I_ERROR' definition for MinGW without networking.
1119 ** Fix compilation with the Sun C compiler.
1120 ** Fix check for `clock_gettime' on OpenBSD and some other systems.
1121 ** Fix build with --enable-debug-malloc.
1122 ** Honor $(program_transform_name) for the `guile-tools' symlink.
1123 ** Fix cross-compilation of GOOPS-using code.
1127 ** Fix use of unitialized stat buffer in search-path of absolute paths.
1128 ** Avoid calling `freelocale' with a NULL argument.
1129 ** Work around erroneous tr_TR locale in Darwin 8 in tests.
1130 ** Fix `getaddrinfo' test for Darwin 8.
1131 ** Use Gnulib's `regex' module for better regex portability.
1132 ** `source-properties' and friends work on any object
1133 ** Rewrite open-process in C, for robustness related to threads and fork
1134 ** Fix <TAG>vector-length when applied to other uniform vector types
1135 ** Fix escape-only prompt optimization (was disabled previously)
1136 ** Fix a segfault when /dev/urandom is not accessible
1137 ** Fix flush on soft ports, so that it actually runs.
1138 ** Better compatibility of SRFI-9 records with core records
1139 ** Fix and clarify documentation of `sorted?'.
1140 ** Fix IEEE-754 endianness conversion in bytevectors.
1141 ** Correct thunk check in the `wind' instruction.
1142 ** Add @acronym support to texinfo modules
1143 ** Fix docbook->texi for <ulink> without URL
1144 ** Fix `setvbuf' to leave the line/column number unchanged.
1145 ** Add missing public declaration for `scm_take_from_input_buffers'.
1146 ** Fix relative file name canonicalization with empty %LOAD-PATH entries.
1147 ** Import newer (ice-9 match) from Chibi-Scheme.
1148 ** Fix unbound variables and unbound values in ECMAScript runtime.
1149 ** Make SRFI-6 string ports Unicode-capable.
1152 Changes in 2.0.5 (since 2.0.4):
1154 This release fixes the binary interface information (SONAME) of
1155 libguile, which was incorrect in 2.0.4. It does not contain other
1159 Changes in 2.0.4 (since 2.0.3):
1163 ** Better debuggability for interpreted procedures.
1165 Guile 2.0 came with a great debugging experience for compiled
1166 procedures, but the story for interpreted procedures was terrible. Now,
1167 at least, interpreted procedures have names, and the `arity' procedure
1168 property is always correct (or, as correct as it can be, in the presence
1171 ** Support for cross-compilation.
1173 One can now use a native Guile to cross-compile `.go' files for a
1174 different architecture. See the documentation for `--target' in the
1175 "Compilation" section of the manual, for information on how to use the
1176 cross-compiler. See the "Cross building Guile" section of the README,
1177 for more on how to cross-compile Guile itself.
1179 ** The return of `local-eval'.
1181 Back by popular demand, `the-environment' and `local-eval' allow the
1182 user to capture a lexical environment, and then evaluate arbitrary
1183 expressions in that context. There is also a new `local-compile'
1184 command. See "Local Evaluation" in the manual, for more. Special
1185 thanks to Mark Weaver for an initial implementation of this feature.
1187 ** Fluids can now have default values.
1189 Fluids are used for dynamic and thread-local binding. They have always
1190 inherited their values from the context or thread that created them.
1191 However, there was a case in which a new thread would enter Guile, and
1192 the default values of all the fluids would be `#f' for that thread.
1194 This has now been fixed so that `make-fluid' has an optional default
1195 value for fluids in unrelated dynamic roots, which defaults to `#f'.
1197 ** Garbage collector tuning.
1199 The garbage collector has now been tuned to run more often under some
1202 *** Unmanaged allocation
1204 The new `scm_gc_register_allocation' function will notify the collector
1205 of unmanaged allocation. This will cause the collector to run sooner.
1206 Guile's `scm_malloc', `scm_calloc', and `scm_realloc' unmanaged
1207 allocators eventually call this function. This leads to better
1208 performance under steady-state unmanaged allocation.
1210 *** Transient allocation
1212 When the collector runs, it will try to record the total memory
1213 footprint of a process, if the platform supports this information. If
1214 the memory footprint is growing, the collector will run more frequently.
1215 This reduces the increase of the resident size of a process in response
1216 to a transient increase in allocation.
1218 *** Management of threads, bignums
1220 Creating a thread will allocate a fair amount of memory. Guile now does
1221 some GC work (using `GC_collect_a_little') when allocating a thread.
1222 This leads to a better memory footprint when creating many short-lived
1225 Similarly, bignums can occupy a lot of memory. Guile now offers hooks
1226 to enable custom GMP allocators that end up calling
1227 `scm_gc_register_allocation'. These allocators are enabled by default
1228 when running Guile from the command-line. To enable them in libraries,
1229 set the `scm_install_gmp_memory_functions' variable to a nonzero value
1230 before loading Guile.
1232 ** SRFI-39 parameters are available by default.
1234 Guile now includes support for parameters, as defined by SRFI-39, in the
1235 default environment. See "Parameters" in the manual, for more
1236 information. `current-input-port', `current-output-port', and
1237 `current-error-port' are now parameters.
1239 ** Add `current-warning-port'.
1241 Guile now outputs warnings on a separate port, `current-warning-port',
1242 initialized to the value that `current-error-port' has on startup.
1244 ** Syntax parameters.
1246 Following Racket's lead, Guile now supports syntax parameters. See
1247 "Syntax parameters" in the manual, for more.
1249 Also see Barzilay, Culpepper, and Flatt's 2011 SFP workshop paper,
1250 "Keeping it Clean with syntax-parameterize".
1252 ** Parse command-line arguments from the locale encoding.
1254 Guile now attempts to parse command-line arguments using the user's
1255 locale. However for backwards compatibility with other 2.0.x releases,
1256 it does so without actually calling `setlocale'. Please report any bugs
1257 in this facility to bug-guile@gnu.org.
1259 ** One-armed conditionals: `when' and `unless'
1261 Guile finally has `when' and `unless' in the default environment. Use
1262 them whenever you would use an `if' with only one branch. See
1263 "Conditionals" in the manual, for more.
1265 ** `current-filename', `add-to-load-path'
1267 There is a new form, `(current-filename)', which expands out to the
1268 source file in which it occurs. Combined with the new
1269 `add-to-load-path', this allows simple scripts to easily add nearby
1270 directories to the load path. See "Load Paths" in the manual, for more.
1272 ** `random-state-from-platform'
1274 This procedure initializes a random seed using good random sources
1275 available on your platform, such as /dev/urandom. See "Random Number
1276 Generation" in the manual, for more.
1278 ** Warn about unsupported `simple-format' options.
1280 The `-Wformat' compilation option now reports unsupported format options
1281 passed to `simple-format'.
1285 Besides the sections already mentioned, the following manual sections
1286 are new in this release: "Modules and the File System", "Module System
1287 Reflection", "Syntax Transformer Helpers", and "Local Inclusion".
1291 ** (ice-9 session): `apropos-hook'
1292 ** New print option: `escape-newlines', defaults to #t.
1293 ** (ice-9 ftw): `file-system-fold', `file-system-tree', `scandir'
1294 ** `scm_c_value_ref': access to multiple returned values from C
1295 ** scm_call (a varargs version), scm_call_7, scm_call_8, scm_call_9
1296 ** Some new syntax helpers in (system syntax)
1298 Search the manual for these identifiers and modules, for more.
1302 ** FreeBSD build fixes.
1303 ** OpenBSD compilation fixes.
1304 ** Solaris 2.10 test suite fixes.
1305 ** IA64 compilation fix.
1306 ** MinGW build fixes.
1307 ** Work around instruction reordering on SPARC and HPPA in the VM.
1308 ** Gnulib updates: added `dirfd', `setenv' modules.
1312 ** Add a deprecated alias for $expt.
1313 ** Add an exception printer for `getaddrinfo-error'.
1314 ** Add deprecated shim for `scm_display_error' with stack as first argument.
1315 ** Add warnings for unsupported `simple-format' options.
1316 ** Allow overlapping regions to be passed to `bytevector-copy!'.
1317 ** Better function prologue disassembly
1318 ** Compiler: fix miscompilation of (values foo ...) in some contexts.
1319 ** Compiler: fix serialization of #nil-terminated lists.
1320 ** Compiler: allow values bound in non-tail let expressions to be collected.
1321 ** Deprecate SCM_ASRTGO.
1322 ** Document invalidity of (begin) as expression; add back-compat shim.
1323 ** Don't leak file descriptors when mmaping objcode.
1324 ** Empty substrings no longer reference the original stringbuf.
1325 ** FFI: Fix `set-pointer-finalizer!' to leave the type cell unchanged.
1326 ** FFI: Hold a weak reference to the CIF made by `procedure->pointer'.
1327 ** FFI: Hold a weak reference to the procedure passed to `procedure->pointer'.
1328 ** FFI: Properly unpack small integer return values in closure call.
1329 ** Fix R6RS `fold-left' so the accumulator is the first argument.
1330 ** Fix bit-set*! bug from 2005.
1331 ** Fix bug in `make-repl' when `lang' is actually a <language>.
1332 ** Fix bugs related to mutation, the null string, and shared substrings.
1333 ** Fix <dynwind> serialization.
1334 ** Fix erroneous check in `set-procedure-properties!'.
1335 ** Fix generalized-vector-{ref,set!} for slices.
1336 ** Fix error messages involving definition forms.
1337 ** Fix primitive-eval to return #<unspecified> for definitions.
1338 ** HTTP: Extend handling of "Cache-Control" header.
1339 ** HTTP: Fix qstring writing of cache-extension values
1340 ** HTTP: Fix validators for various list-style headers.
1341 ** HTTP: Permit non-date values for Expires header.
1342 ** HTTP: `write-request-line' writes absolute paths, not absolute URIs.
1343 ** Hack the port-column of current-output-port after printing a prompt.
1344 ** Make sure `regexp-quote' tests use Unicode-capable string ports.
1345 ** Peval: Fix bugs in the new optimizer.
1346 ** Statistically unique marks and labels, for robust hygiene across sessions.
1347 ** Web: Allow URIs with empty authorities, like "file:///etc/hosts".
1348 ** `,language' at REPL sets the current-language fluid.
1349 ** `primitive-load' returns the value(s) of the last expression.
1350 ** `scm_from_stringn' always returns unique strings.
1351 ** `scm_i_substring_copy' tries to narrow the substring.
1352 ** i18n: Fix gc_malloc/free mismatch on non-GNU systems.
1355 Changes in 2.0.3 (since 2.0.2):
1357 * Speed improvements
1359 ** Guile has a new optimizer, `peval'.
1361 `Peval' is a partial evaluator that performs constant folding, dead code
1362 elimination, copy propagation, and inlining. By default it runs on
1363 every piece of code that Guile compiles, to fold computations that can
1364 happen at compile-time, so they don't have to happen at runtime.
1366 If we did our job right, the only impact you would see would be your
1367 programs getting faster. But if you notice slowdowns or bloated code,
1368 please send a mail to bug-guile@gnu.org with details.
1370 Thanks to William R. Cook, Oscar Waddell, and Kent Dybvig for inspiring
1371 peval and its implementation.
1373 You can see what peval does on a given piece of code by running the new
1374 `,optimize' REPL meta-command, and comparing it to the output of
1375 `,expand'. See "Compile Commands" in the manual, for more.
1377 ** Fewer calls to `stat'.
1379 Guile now stats only the .go file and the .scm file when loading a fresh
1384 ** New module: `(web client)', a simple synchronous web client.
1386 See "Web Client" in the manual, for more.
1388 ** Users can now install compiled `.go' files.
1390 See "Installing Site Packages" in the manual.
1392 ** Remove Front-Cover and Back-Cover text from the manual.
1394 The manual is still under the GNU Free Documentation License, but no
1395 longer has any invariant sections.
1397 ** More helpful `guild help'.
1399 `guild' is Guile's multi-tool, for use in shell scripting. Now it has a
1400 nicer interface for querying the set of existing commands, and getting
1401 help on those commands. Try it out and see!
1403 ** New macro: `define-syntax-rule'
1405 `define-syntax-rule' is a shorthand to make a `syntax-rules' macro with
1406 one clause. See "Syntax Rules" in the manual, for more.
1408 ** The `,time' REPL meta-command now has more precision.
1410 The output of this command now has microsecond precision, instead of
1411 10-millisecond precision.
1413 ** `(ice-9 match)' can now match records.
1415 See "Pattern Matching" in the manual, for more on matching records.
1417 ** New module: `(language tree-il debug)'.
1419 This module provides a tree-il verifier. This is useful for people that
1420 generate tree-il, usually as part of a language compiler.
1422 ** New functions: `scm_is_exact', `scm_is_inexact'.
1424 These provide a nice C interface for Scheme's `exact?' and `inexact?',
1429 See the git log (or the ChangeLog) for more details on these bugs.
1431 ** Fix order of importing modules and resolving duplicates handlers.
1432 ** Fix a number of bugs involving extended (merged) generics.
1433 ** Fix invocation of merge-generics duplicate handler.
1434 ** Fix write beyond array end in arrays.c.
1435 ** Fix read beyond end of hashtable size array in hashtab.c.
1436 ** (web http): Locale-independent parsing and serialization of dates.
1437 ** Ensure presence of Host header in HTTP/1.1 requests.
1438 ** Fix take-right and drop-right for improper lists.
1439 ** Fix leak in get_current_locale().
1440 ** Fix recursive define-inlinable expansions.
1441 ** Check that srfi-1 procedure arguments are procedures.
1442 ** Fix r6rs `map' for multiple returns.
1443 ** Fix scm_tmpfile leak on POSIX platforms.
1444 ** Fix a couple of leaks (objcode->bytecode, make-boot-program).
1445 ** Fix guile-lib back-compatibility for module-stexi-documentation.
1446 ** Fix --listen option to allow other ports.
1447 ** Fix scm_to_latin1_stringn for substrings.
1448 ** Fix compilation of untyped arrays of rank not 1.
1449 ** Fix unparse-tree-il of <dynset>.
1450 ** Fix reading of #||||#.
1451 ** Fix segfault in GOOPS when class fields are redefined.
1452 ** Prefer poll(2) over select(2) to allow file descriptors above FD_SETSIZE.
1455 Changes in 2.0.2 (since 2.0.1):
1459 ** `guile-tools' renamed to `guild'
1461 The new name is shorter. Its intended future use is for a CPAN-like
1462 system for Guile wizards and journeyfolk to band together to share code;
1463 hence the name. `guile-tools' is provided as a backward-compatible
1464 symbolic link. See "Using Guile Tools" in the manual, for more.
1466 ** New control operators: `shift' and `reset'
1468 See "Shift and Reset" in the manual, for more information.
1470 ** `while' as an expression
1472 Previously the return value of `while' was unspecified. Now its
1473 values are specified both in the case of normal termination, and via
1474 termination by invoking `break', possibly with arguments. See "while
1475 do" in the manual for more.
1477 ** Disallow access to handles of weak hash tables
1479 `hash-get-handle' and `hash-create-handle!' are no longer permitted to
1480 be called on weak hash tables, because the fields in a weak handle could
1481 be nulled out by the garbage collector at any time, but yet they are
1482 otherwise indistinguishable from pairs. Use `hash-ref' and `hash-set!'
1485 ** More precision for `get-internal-run-time', `get-internal-real-time'
1487 On 64-bit systems which support POSIX clocks, Guile's internal timing
1488 procedures offer nanosecond resolution instead of the 10-millisecond
1489 resolution previously available. 32-bit systems now use 1-millisecond
1492 ** Guile now measures time spent in GC
1494 `gc-stats' now returns a meaningful value for `gc-time-taken'.
1498 The statprof profiler now exports a `gcprof' procedure, driven by the
1499 `after-gc-hook', to see which parts of your program are causing GC. Let
1500 us know if you find it useful.
1502 ** `map', `for-each' and some others now implemented in Scheme
1504 We would not mention this in NEWS, as it is not a user-visible change,
1505 if it were not for one thing: `map' and `for-each' are no longer
1506 primitive generics. Instead they are normal bindings, which can be
1507 wrapped by normal generics. This fixes some modularity issues between
1508 core `map', SRFI-1 `map', and GOOPS.
1510 Also it's pretty cool that we can do this without a performance impact.
1512 ** Add `scm_peek_byte_or_eof'.
1514 This helper is like `scm_peek_char_or_eof', but for bytes instead of
1517 ** Implement #:stop-at-first-non-option option for getopt-long
1519 See "getopt-long Reference" in the manual, for more information.
1521 ** Improve R6RS conformance for conditions in the I/O libraries
1523 The `(rnrs io simple)' module now raises the correct R6RS conditions in
1524 error cases. `(rnrs io ports)' is also more correct now, though it is
1525 still a work in progress.
1527 ** All deprecated routines emit warnings
1529 A few deprecated routines were lacking deprecation warnings. This has
1532 * Speed improvements
1534 ** Constants in compiled code now share state better
1536 Constants with shared state, like `("foo")' and `"foo"', now share state
1537 as much as possible, in the entire compilation unit. This cuts compiled
1538 `.go' file sizes in half, generally, and speeds startup.
1540 ** VLists: optimize `vlist-fold-right', and add `vhash-fold-right'
1542 These procedures are now twice as fast as they were.
1544 ** UTF-8 ports to bypass `iconv' entirely
1546 This reduces memory usage in a very common case.
1548 ** Compiler speedups
1550 The compiler is now about 40% faster. (Note that this is only the case
1551 once the compiler is itself compiled, so the build still takes as long
1556 Some assertions that were mostly useful for sanity-checks on the
1557 bytecode compiler are now off for both "regular" and "debug" engines.
1558 This together with a fix to cache a TLS access and some other tweaks
1559 improve the VM's performance by about 20%.
1561 ** SRFI-1 list-set optimizations
1563 lset-adjoin and lset-union now have fast paths for eq? sets.
1565 ** `memq', `memv' optimizations
1567 These procedures are now at least twice as fast than in 2.0.1.
1571 ** Deprecate scm_whash API
1573 `scm_whash_get_handle', `SCM_WHASHFOUNDP', `SCM_WHASHREF',
1574 `SCM_WHASHSET', `scm_whash_create_handle', `scm_whash_lookup', and
1575 `scm_whash_insert' are now deprecated. Use the normal hash table API
1578 ** Deprecate scm_struct_table
1580 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME',
1581 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS',
1582 `scm_struct_table', and `scm_struct_create_handle' are now deprecated.
1583 These routines formed part of the internals of the map between structs
1586 ** Deprecate scm_internal_dynamic_wind
1588 The `scm_t_inner' type and `scm_internal_dynamic_wind' are deprecated,
1589 as the `scm_dynwind' API is better, and this API encourages users to
1590 stuff SCM values into pointers.
1592 ** Deprecate scm_immutable_cell, scm_immutable_double_cell
1594 These routines are deprecated, as the GC_STUBBORN API doesn't do
1599 Andreas Rottman kindly transcribed the missing parts of the `(rnrs io
1600 ports)' documentation from the R6RS documentation. Thanks Andreas!
1604 ** Fix double-loading of script in -ds case
1605 ** -x error message fix
1606 ** iconveh-related cross-compilation fixes
1607 ** Fix small integer return value packing on big endian machines.
1608 ** Fix hash-set! in weak-value table from non-immediate to immediate
1609 ** Fix call-with-input-file & relatives for multiple values
1610 ** Fix `hash' for inf and nan
1611 ** Fix libguile internal type errors caught by typing-strictness==2
1612 ** Fix compile error in MinGW fstat socket detection
1613 ** Fix generation of auto-compiled file names on MinGW
1614 ** Fix multithreaded access to internal hash tables
1615 ** Emit a 1-based line number in error messages
1616 ** Fix define-module ordering
1617 ** Fix several POSIX functions to use the locale encoding
1618 ** Add type and range checks to the complex generalized vector accessors
1619 ** Fix unaligned accesses for bytevectors of complex numbers
1621 ** Fix erroneous VM stack overflow for canceled threads
1624 Changes in 2.0.1 (since 2.0.0):
1628 ** guile.m4 supports linking with rpath
1630 The GUILE_FLAGS macro now sets GUILE_LIBS and GUILE_LTLIBS, which
1631 include appropriate directives to the linker to include libguile-2.0.so
1632 in the runtime library lookup path.
1634 ** `begin' expands macros in its body before other expressions
1636 This enables support for programs like the following:
1641 (or (= x 0) (odd? (- x 1)))))
1644 ((odd? x) (not (even? x)))))
1647 ** REPL reader usability enhancements
1649 The REPL now flushes input after a read error, which should prevent one
1650 error from causing other errors. The REPL also now interprets comments
1653 ** REPL output has configurable width
1655 The REPL now defaults to output with the current terminal's width, in
1656 columns. See "Debug Commands" in the manual for more information on
1659 ** Better C access to the module system
1661 Guile now has convenient C accessors to look up variables or values in
1662 modules and their public interfaces. See `scm_c_public_ref' and friends
1663 in "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual.
1665 ** Added `scm_call_5', `scm_call_6'
1667 See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
1669 ** Added `scm_from_latin1_keyword', `scm_from_utf8_keyword'
1671 See "Keyword Procedures" in the manual, for more. Note that
1672 `scm_from_locale_keyword' should not be used when the name is a C string
1675 ** R6RS unicode and string I/O work
1677 Added efficient implementations of `get-string-n' and `get-string-n!'
1678 for binary ports. Exported `current-input-port', `current-output-port'
1679 and `current-error-port' from `(rnrs io ports)', and enhanced support
1682 ** Added `pointer->scm', `scm->pointer' to `(system foreign)'
1684 These procedure are useful if one needs to pass and receive SCM values
1685 to and from foreign functions. See "Foreign Variables" in the manual,
1688 ** Added `heap-allocated-since-gc' to `(gc-stats)'
1690 Also fixed the long-standing bug in the REPL `,stat' command.
1692 ** Add `on-error' REPL option
1694 This option controls what happens when an error occurs at the REPL, and
1695 defaults to `debug', indicating that Guile should enter the debugger.
1696 Other values include `report', which will simply print a backtrace
1697 without entering the debugger. See "System Commands" in the manual.
1699 ** Enforce immutability of string literals
1701 Attempting to mutate a string literal now causes a runtime error.
1703 ** Fix pthread redirection
1705 Guile 2.0.0 shipped with headers that, if configured with pthread
1706 support, would re-define `pthread_create', `pthread_join', and other API
1707 to redirect to the BDW-GC wrappers, `GC_pthread_create', etc. This was
1708 unintended, and not necessary: because threads must enter Guile with
1709 `scm_with_guile', Guile can handle thread registration itself, without
1710 needing to make the GC aware of all threads. This oversight has been
1713 ** `with-continuation-barrier' now unwinds on `quit'
1715 A throw to `quit' in a continuation barrier will cause Guile to exit.
1716 Before, it would do so before unwinding to the barrier, which would
1717 prevent cleanup handlers from running. This has been fixed so that it
1718 exits only after unwinding.
1720 ** `string->pointer' and `pointer->string' have optional encoding arg
1722 This allows users of the FFI to more easily deal in strings with
1723 particular (non-locale) encodings, like "utf-8". See "Void Pointers and
1724 Byte Access" in the manual, for more.
1726 ** R6RS fixnum arithmetic optimizations
1728 R6RS fixnum operations are are still slower than generic arithmetic,
1731 ** New procedure: `define-inlinable'
1733 See "Inlinable Procedures" in the manual, for more.
1735 ** New procedure: `exact-integer-sqrt'
1737 See "Integer Operations" in the manual, for more.
1739 ** "Extended read syntax" for symbols parses better
1741 In #{foo}# symbols, backslashes are now treated as escapes, as the
1742 symbol-printing code intended. Additionally, "\x" within #{foo}# is now
1743 interpreted as starting an R6RS hex escape. This is backward compatible
1744 because the symbol printer would never produce a "\x" before. The
1745 printer also works better too.
1747 ** Added `--fresh-auto-compile' option
1749 This allows a user to invalidate the auto-compilation cache. It's
1750 usually not needed. See "Compilation" in the manual, for a discussion.
1754 ** GOOPS documentation updates
1758 Thanks to Mark Harig for improvements to guile.1.
1760 ** SRFI-23 documented
1762 The humble `error' SRFI now has an entry in the manual.
1766 ** `(ice-9 binary-ports)': "R6RS I/O Ports", in the manual
1767 ** `(ice-9 eval-string)': "Fly Evaluation", in the manual
1768 ** `(ice-9 command-line)', not documented yet
1772 ** Fixed `iconv_t' memory leak on close-port
1773 ** Fixed some leaks with weak hash tables
1774 ** Export `vhash-delq' and `vhash-delv' from `(ice-9 vlist)'
1775 ** `after-gc-hook' works again
1776 ** `define-record-type' now allowed in nested contexts
1777 ** `exact-integer-sqrt' now handles large integers correctly
1778 ** Fixed C extension examples in manual
1779 ** `vhash-delete' honors HASH argument
1780 ** Make `locale-digit-grouping' more robust
1781 ** Default exception printer robustness fixes
1782 ** Fix presence of non-I CPPFLAGS in `guile-2.0.pc'
1783 ** `read' updates line/column numbers when reading SCSH block comments
1784 ** Fix imports of multiple custom interfaces of same module
1785 ** Fix encoding scanning for non-seekable ports
1786 ** Fix `setter' when called with a non-setter generic
1787 ** Fix f32 and f64 bytevectors to not accept rationals
1788 ** Fix description of the R6RS `finite?' in manual
1789 ** Quotient, remainder and modulo accept inexact integers again
1790 ** Fix `continue' within `while' to take zero arguments
1791 ** Fix alignment for structures in FFI
1792 ** Fix port-filename of stdin, stdout, stderr to match the docs
1793 ** Fix weak hash table-related bug in `define-wrapped-pointer-type'
1794 ** Fix partial continuation application with pending procedure calls
1795 ** scm_{to,from}_locale_string use current locale, not current ports
1796 ** Fix thread cleanup, by using a pthread_key destructor
1797 ** Fix `quit' at the REPL
1798 ** Fix a failure to sync regs in vm bytevector ops
1799 ** Fix (texinfo reflection) to handle nested structures like syntax patterns
1800 ** Fix stexi->html double translation
1801 ** Fix tree-il->scheme fix for <prompt>
1802 ** Fix compilation of <prompt> in <fix> in single-value context
1803 ** Fix race condition in ensure-writable-dir
1804 ** Fix error message on ,disassemble "non-procedure"
1805 ** Fix prompt and abort with the boot evaluator
1806 ** Fix `procedure->pointer' for functions returning `void'
1807 ** Fix error reporting in dynamic-pointer
1808 ** Fix problems detecting coding: in block comments
1809 ** Fix duplicate load-path and load-compiled-path in compilation environment
1810 ** Add fallback read(2) suppport for .go files if mmap(2) unavailable
1811 ** Fix c32vector-set!, c64vector-set!
1812 ** Fix mistakenly deprecated read syntax for uniform complex vectors
1813 ** Fix parsing of exact numbers with negative exponents
1814 ** Ignore SIGPIPE in (system repl server)
1815 ** Fix optional second arg to R6RS log function
1816 ** Fix R6RS `assert' to return true value.
1817 ** Fix fencepost error when seeking in bytevector input ports
1818 ** Gracefully handle `setlocale' errors when starting the REPL
1819 ** Improve support of the `--disable-posix' configure option
1820 ** Make sure R6RS binary ports pass `binary-port?' regardless of the locale
1821 ** Gracefully handle unterminated UTF-8 sequences instead of hitting an `assert'
1825 Changes in 2.0.0 (changes since the 1.8.x series):
1827 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1829 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
1830 ** `(srfi srfi-27)', sources of random bits
1831 ** `(srfi srfi-38)', External Representation for Data With Shared Structure
1832 ** `(srfi srfi-42)', eager comprehensions
1833 ** `(srfi srfi-45)', primitives for expressing iterative lazy algorithms
1834 ** `(srfi srfi-67)', compare procedures
1835 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
1836 ** `(ice-9 futures)', fine-grain parallelism
1837 ** `(rnrs bytevectors)', the R6RS bytevector API
1838 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
1839 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
1840 ** `(ice-9 vlist)', lists with constant-time random access; hash lists
1841 ** `(system foreign)', foreign function interface
1842 ** `(sxml match)', a pattern matcher for SXML
1843 ** `(srfi srfi-9 gnu)', extensions to the SRFI-9 record library
1844 ** `(system vm coverage)', a line-by-line code coverage library
1845 ** `(web uri)', URI data type, parser, and unparser
1846 ** `(web http)', HTTP header parsers and unparsers
1847 ** `(web request)', HTTP request data type, reader, and writer
1848 ** `(web response)', HTTP response data type, reader, and writer
1849 ** `(web server)', Generic HTTP server
1850 ** `(ice-9 poll)', a poll wrapper
1851 ** `(web server http)', HTTP-over-TCP web server implementation
1853 ** Replaced `(ice-9 match)' with Alex Shinn's compatible, hygienic matcher.
1855 Guile's copy of Andrew K. Wright's `match' library has been replaced by
1856 a compatible hygienic implementation by Alex Shinn. It is now
1857 documented, see "Pattern Matching" in the manual.
1859 Compared to Andrew K. Wright's `match', the new `match' lacks
1860 `match-define', `match:error-control', `match:set-error-control',
1861 `match:error', `match:set-error', and all structure-related procedures.
1863 ** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
1865 The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
1866 toolkit from Guile-Lib have been imported into Guile proper. See
1867 "Standard Library" in the manual for more details.
1869 ** Integration of lalr-scm, a parser generator
1871 Guile has included Dominique Boucher's fine `lalr-scm' parser generator
1872 as `(system base lalr)'. See "LALR(1) Parsing" in the manual, for more
1875 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1877 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
1879 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
1880 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
1882 ** Evaluating Scheme code does not use the C stack.
1884 Besides when compiling Guile itself, Guile no longer uses a recursive C
1885 function as an evaluator. This obviates the need to check the C stack
1886 pointer for overflow. Continuations still capture the C stack, however.
1888 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
1889 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
1891 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
1892 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
1893 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
1896 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
1898 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. See
1899 "Using Guile Interactively" in the manual, for more information.
1901 ** Remove old Emacs interface
1903 Guile had an unused `--emacs' command line argument that was supposed to
1904 help when running Guile inside Emacs. This option has been removed, and
1905 the helper functions `named-module-use!' and `load-emacs-interface' have
1908 ** Add `(system repl server)' module and `--listen' command-line argument
1910 The `(system repl server)' module exposes procedures to listen on
1911 sockets for connections, and serve REPLs to those clients. The --listen
1912 command-line argument allows any Guile program to thus be remotely
1915 See "Invoking Guile" for more information on `--listen'.
1917 ** Command line additions
1919 The guile binary now supports a new switch "-x", which can be used to
1920 extend the list of filename extensions tried when loading files
1923 ** New reader options: `square-brackets', `r6rs-hex-escapes',
1924 `hungry-eol-escapes'
1926 The reader supports a new option (changeable via `read-options'),
1927 `square-brackets', which instructs it to interpret square brackets as
1928 parentheses. This option is on by default.
1930 When the new `r6rs-hex-escapes' reader option is enabled, the reader
1931 will recognize string escape sequences as defined in R6RS. R6RS string
1932 escape sequences are incompatible with Guile's existing escapes, though,
1933 so this option is off by default.
1935 Additionally, Guile follows the R6RS newline escaping rules when the
1936 `hungry-eol-escapes' option is enabled.
1938 See "String Syntax" in the manual, for more information.
1940 ** Function profiling and tracing at the REPL
1942 The `,profile FORM' REPL meta-command can now be used to statistically
1943 profile execution of a form, to see which functions are taking the most
1944 time. See `,help profile' for more information.
1946 Similarly, `,trace FORM' traces all function applications that occur
1947 during the execution of `FORM'. See `,help trace' for more information.
1949 ** Recursive debugging REPL on error
1951 When Guile sees an error at the REPL, instead of saving the stack, Guile
1952 will directly enter a recursive REPL in the dynamic context of the
1953 error. See "Error Handling" in the manual, for more information.
1955 A recursive REPL is the same as any other REPL, except that it
1956 has been augmented with debugging information, so that one can inspect
1957 the context of the error. The debugger has been integrated with the REPL
1958 via a set of debugging meta-commands.
1960 For example, one may access a backtrace with `,backtrace' (or
1961 `,bt'). See "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for more
1964 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
1966 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
1969 ** Guile now adds its install prefix to the LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH
1971 Users may now install Guile to nonstandard prefixes and just run
1972 `/path/to/bin/guile', instead of also having to set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH to
1973 include `/path/to/lib'.
1975 ** Guile's Emacs integration is now more keyboard-friendly
1977 Backtraces may now be disclosed with the keyboard in addition to the
1980 ** Load path change: search in version-specific paths before site paths
1982 When looking for a module, Guile now searches first in Guile's
1983 version-specific path (the library path), *then* in the site dir. This
1984 allows Guile's copy of SSAX to override any Guile-Lib copy the user has
1985 installed. Also it should cut the number of `stat' system calls by half,
1988 ** Value history in the REPL on by default
1990 By default, the REPL will save computed values in variables like `$1',
1991 `$2', and the like. There are programmatic and interactive interfaces to
1992 control this. See "Value History" in the manual, for more information.
1994 ** Readline tab completion for arguments
1996 When readline is enabled, tab completion works for arguments too, not
1997 just for the operator position.
1999 ** Expression-oriented readline history
2001 Guile's readline history now tries to operate on expressions instead of
2002 input lines. Let us know what you think!
2004 ** Interactive Guile follows GNU conventions
2006 As recommended by the GPL, Guile now shows a brief copyright and
2007 warranty disclaimer on startup, along with pointers to more information.
2009 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2011 ** Support for R6RS libraries
2013 The `library' and `import' forms from the latest Scheme report have been
2014 added to Guile, in such a way that R6RS libraries share a namespace with
2015 Guile modules. R6RS modules may import Guile modules, and are available
2016 for Guile modules to import via use-modules and all the rest. See "R6RS
2017 Libraries" in the manual for more information.
2019 ** Implementations of R6RS libraries
2021 Guile now has implementations for all of the libraries defined in the
2022 R6RS. Thanks to Julian Graham for this excellent hack. See "R6RS
2023 Standard Libraries" in the manual for a full list of libraries.
2025 ** Partial R6RS compatibility
2027 Guile now has enough support for R6RS to run a reasonably large subset
2030 Guile is not fully R6RS compatible. Many incompatibilities are simply
2031 bugs, though some parts of Guile will remain R6RS-incompatible for the
2032 foreseeable future. See "R6RS Incompatibilities" in the manual, for more
2035 Please contact bug-guile@gnu.org if you have found an issue not
2036 mentioned in that compatibility list.
2038 ** New implementation of `primitive-eval'
2040 Guile's `primitive-eval' is now implemented in Scheme. Actually there is
2041 still a C evaluator, used when building a fresh Guile to interpret the
2042 compiler, so we can compile eval.scm. Thereafter all calls to
2043 primitive-eval are implemented by VM-compiled code.
2045 This allows all of Guile's procedures, be they interpreted or compiled,
2046 to execute on the same stack, unifying multiple-value return semantics,
2047 providing for proper tail recursion between interpreted and compiled
2048 code, and simplifying debugging.
2050 As part of this change, the evaluator no longer mutates the internal
2051 representation of the code being evaluated in a thread-unsafe manner.
2053 There are two negative aspects of this change, however. First, Guile
2054 takes a lot longer to compile now. Also, there is less debugging
2055 information available for debugging interpreted code. We hope to improve
2056 both of these situations.
2058 There are many changes to the internal C evalator interface, but all
2059 public interfaces should be the same. See the ChangeLog for details. If
2060 we have inadvertantly changed an interface that you were using, please
2061 contact bug-guile@gnu.org.
2063 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
2065 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
2066 not apply to the compiler.
2068 ** No more `local-eval'
2070 `local-eval' used to exist so that one could evaluate code in the
2071 lexical context of a function. Since there is no way to get the lexical
2072 environment any more, as that concept has no meaning for the compiler,
2073 and a different meaning for the interpreter, we have removed the
2076 If you think you need `local-eval', you should probably implement your
2077 own metacircular evaluator. It will probably be as fast as Guile's
2080 ** Scheme source files will now be compiled automatically.
2082 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
2083 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
2084 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
2086 Note that this mechanism depends on the timestamp of the .go file being
2087 newer than that of the .scm file; if the .scm or .go files are moved
2088 after installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
2091 Auto-compiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
2092 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
2093 will be created if needed.
2095 To inhibit automatic compilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
2096 variable to 0, or pass --no-auto-compile on the Guile command line.
2098 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
2100 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
2101 in the next prerelease.
2103 ** New POSIX procedure: `getsid'
2105 Scheme binding for the `getsid' C library call.
2107 ** New POSIX procedure: `getaddrinfo'
2109 Scheme binding for the `getaddrinfo' C library function.
2111 ** Multicast socket options
2113 Support was added for the IP_MULTICAST_TTL and IP_MULTICAST_IF socket
2114 options. See "Network Sockets and Communication" in the manual, for
2117 ** `recv!', `recvfrom!', `send', `sendto' now deal in bytevectors
2119 These socket procedures now take bytevectors as arguments, instead of
2120 strings. There is some deprecated string support, however.
2122 ** New GNU procedures: `setaffinity' and `getaffinity'.
2124 See "Processes" in the manual, for more information.
2126 ** New procedures: `compose', `negate', and `const'
2128 See "Higher-Order Functions" in the manual, for more information.
2130 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
2132 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
2133 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
2134 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments'
2136 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
2137 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
2138 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
2139 procedures' docstrings for more information.
2141 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
2142 combining arity and formals. For example:
2144 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
2145 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
2147 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
2150 ** Removed: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
2152 These procedures created primitive fexprs for the old evaluator, and are
2153 no longer supported. If you feel that you need these functions, you
2154 probably need to write your own metacircular evaluator (which will
2155 probably be as fast as Guile's, anyway).
2157 ** New language: ECMAScript
2159 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
2160 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
2161 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
2162 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
2164 ** New language: Brainfuck
2166 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
2167 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
2168 languages. See the manual for details, or
2169 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
2170 Brainfuck language itself.
2172 ** New language: Elisp
2174 Guile now has an experimental Emacs Lisp compiler and runtime. You can
2175 now switch to Elisp at the repl: `,language elisp'. All kudos to Daniel
2176 Kraft and Brian Templeton, and all bugs to bug-guile@gnu.org.
2178 ** Better documentation infrastructure for macros
2180 It is now possible to introspect on the type of a macro, e.g.
2181 syntax-rules, identifier-syntax, etc, and extract information about that
2182 macro, such as the syntax-rules patterns or the defmacro arguments.
2183 `(texinfo reflection)' takes advantage of this to give better macro
2186 ** Support for arbitrary procedure metadata
2188 Building on its support for docstrings, Guile now supports multiple
2189 docstrings, adding them to the tail of a compiled procedure's
2190 properties. For example:
2196 (procedure-properties foo)
2197 => ((name . foo) (documentation . "one") (documentation . "two"))
2199 Also, vectors of pairs are now treated as additional metadata entries:
2202 #((quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
2204 (procedure-properties bar)
2205 => ((name . bar) (quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
2207 This allows arbitrary literals to be embedded as metadata in a compiled
2210 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
2213 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
2215 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
2216 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
2217 like this works now:
2219 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
2220 (define (helper x) ...)
2222 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
2224 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
2227 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
2228 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
2230 ** Support for version information in Guile's `module' form
2232 Guile modules now have a `#:version' field. See "R6RS Version
2233 References", "General Information about Modules", "Using Guile Modules",
2234 and "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual for more information.
2236 ** Support for renaming bindings on module export
2238 Wherever Guile accepts a symbol as an argument to specify a binding to
2239 export, it now also accepts a pair of symbols, indicating that a binding
2240 should be renamed on export. See "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual
2241 for more information.
2243 ** New procedure: `module-export-all!'
2245 This procedure exports all current and future bindings from a module.
2246 Use as `(module-export-all! (current-module))'.
2248 ** New procedure `reload-module', and `,reload' REPL command
2250 See "Module System Reflection" and "Module Commands" in the manual, for
2253 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
2255 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. See "Eval When"
2256 in the manual, for more information.
2258 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
2261 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
2262 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
2264 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
2266 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
2268 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
2270 It is possible to circumvent this restriction with e.g.
2271 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. Contact the list if you
2274 ** Support for `letrec*'
2276 Guile now supports `letrec*', a recursive lexical binding operator in
2277 which the identifiers are bound in order. See "Local Bindings" in the
2278 manual, for more details.
2280 ** Internal definitions now expand to `letrec*'
2282 Following the R6RS, internal definitions now expand to letrec* instead
2283 of letrec. The following program is invalid for R5RS, but valid for
2288 (define baz (+ bar 20))
2291 ;; R5RS and Guile <= 1.8:
2292 (foo) => Unbound variable: bar
2293 ;; R6RS and Guile >= 2.0:
2296 This change should not affect correct R5RS programs, or programs written
2297 in earlier Guile dialects.
2299 ** Macro expansion produces structures instead of s-expressions
2301 In the olden days, macroexpanding an s-expression would yield another
2302 s-expression. Though the lexical variables were renamed, expansions of
2303 core forms like `if' and `begin' were still non-hygienic, as they relied
2304 on the toplevel definitions of `if' et al being the conventional ones.
2306 The solution is to expand to structures instead of s-expressions. There
2307 is an `if' structure, a `begin' structure, a `toplevel-ref' structure,
2308 etc. The expander already did this for compilation, producing Tree-IL
2309 directly; it has been changed now to do so when expanding for the
2312 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
2314 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
2315 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
2318 (define (helper x) ...)
2319 (define-macro (foo bar)
2322 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
2325 (define (helper x) ...)
2326 (define-macro (foo bar)
2327 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
2329 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
2333 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
2335 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
2337 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
2344 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
2345 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
2348 ** Support for settable identifier syntax
2350 Following the R6RS, "variable transformers" are settable
2351 identifier-syntax. See "Identifier macros" in the manual, for more
2354 ** syntax-case treats `_' as a placeholder
2356 Following R6RS, a `_' in a syntax-rules or syntax-case pattern matches
2357 anything, and binds no pattern variables. Unlike the R6RS, Guile also
2358 permits `_' to be in the literals list for a pattern.
2360 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
2362 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
2366 (define-macro (ref x) x)
2369 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
2370 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
2371 macros before code that uses them.
2373 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
2376 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
2378 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
2379 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
2380 (double-literal 2) => 4
2382 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
2383 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
2384 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
2386 (eval-when (load compile eval)
2387 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
2388 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
2389 (double-literal 2) => 4
2391 See the documentation for eval-when for more information.
2393 ** `macroexpand' produces structures, not S-expressions.
2395 Given the need to maintain referential transparency, both lexically and
2396 modular, the result of expanding Scheme expressions is no longer itself
2397 an s-expression. If you want a human-readable approximation of the
2398 result of `macroexpand', call `tree-il->scheme' from `(language
2401 ** Removed function: `macroexpand-1'
2403 It is unclear how to implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though
2404 PLT Scheme does prove that it is possible.
2406 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
2408 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
2409 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
2410 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
2412 ** Incompatible change to #'
2414 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
2415 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
2416 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
2417 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
2419 ** `unquote' and `unquote-splicing' accept multiple expressions
2421 As per the R6RS, these syntax operators can now accept any number of
2422 expressions to unquote.
2424 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
2426 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
2429 ** Prompts: Delimited, composable continuations
2431 Guile now has prompts as part of its primitive language. See "Prompts"
2432 in the manual, for more information.
2434 Expressions entered in at the REPL, or from the command line, are
2435 surrounded by a prompt with the default prompt tag.
2437 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
2438 works (with compiled procedures)
2440 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
2441 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
2442 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
2443 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
2445 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
2446 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
2447 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
2448 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
2449 number of stack frames.
2451 ** Backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
2452 active in the current continuation
2454 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
2455 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
2456 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
2457 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
2459 ** `positions' reader option enabled by default
2461 This change allows primitive-load without --auto-compile to also
2462 propagate source information through the expander, for better errors and
2463 to let macros know their source locations. The compiler was already
2464 turning it on anyway.
2466 ** New macro: `current-source-location'
2468 The macro returns the current source location (to be documented).
2470 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
2471 through to the expanded code
2473 This should result in better backtraces.
2475 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
2477 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
2479 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
2481 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
2482 default. Use the `(ice-9 curried-definitions)' module to get back the
2485 ** New procedure, `define!'
2487 `define!' is a procedure that takes two arguments, a symbol and a value,
2488 and binds the value to the symbol in the current module. It's useful to
2489 programmatically make definitions in the current module, and is slightly
2490 less verbose than `module-define!'.
2492 ** All modules have names now
2494 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
2495 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
2496 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
2497 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
2499 ** The module namespace is now separate from the value namespace
2501 It was a little-known implementation detail of Guile's module system
2502 that it was built on a single hierarchical namespace of values -- that
2503 if there was a module named `(foo bar)', then in the module named
2504 `(foo)' there was a binding from `bar' to the `(foo bar)' module.
2506 This was a neat trick, but presented a number of problems. One problem
2507 was that the bindings in a module were not apparent from the module
2508 itself; perhaps the `(foo)' module had a private binding for `bar', and
2509 then an external contributor defined `(foo bar)'. In the end there can
2510 be only one binding, so one of the two will see the wrong thing, and
2511 produce an obtuse error of unclear provenance.
2513 Also, the public interface of a module was also bound in the value
2514 namespace, as `%module-public-interface'. This was a hack from the early
2515 days of Guile's modules.
2517 Both of these warts have been fixed by the addition of fields in the
2518 `module' data type. Access to modules and their interfaces from the
2519 value namespace has been deprecated, and all accessors use the new
2520 record accessors appropriately.
2522 When Guile is built with support for deprecated code, as is the default,
2523 the value namespace is still searched for modules and public interfaces,
2524 and a deprecation warning is raised as appropriate.
2526 Finally, to support lazy loading of modules as one used to be able to do
2527 with module binder procedures, Guile now has submodule binders, called
2528 if a given submodule is not found. See boot-9.scm for more information.
2530 ** New procedures: module-ref-submodule, module-define-submodule,
2531 nested-ref-module, nested-define-module!, local-ref-module,
2534 These new accessors are like their bare variants, but operate on
2535 namespaces instead of values.
2537 ** The (app modules) module tree is officially deprecated
2539 It used to be that one could access a module named `(foo bar)' via
2540 `(nested-ref the-root-module '(app modules foo bar))'. The `(app
2541 modules)' bit was a never-used and never-documented abstraction, and has
2542 been deprecated. See the following mail for a full discussion:
2544 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2010-04/msg00168.html
2546 The `%app' binding is also deprecated.
2548 ** `module-filename' field and accessor
2550 Modules now record the file in which they are defined. This field may be
2551 accessed with the new `module-filename' procedure.
2553 ** Modules load within a known environment
2555 It takes a few procedure calls to define a module, and those procedure
2556 calls need to be in scope. Now we ensure that the current module when
2557 loading a module is one that has the needed bindings, instead of relying
2560 ** `load' is a macro (!) that resolves paths relative to source file dir
2562 The familiar Schem `load' procedure is now a macro that captures the
2563 name of the source file being expanded, and dispatches to the new
2564 `load-in-vicinity'. Referencing `load' by bare name returns a closure
2565 that embeds the current source file name.
2567 This fix allows `load' of relative paths to be resolved with respect to
2568 the location of the file that calls `load'.
2570 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
2572 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
2573 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
2574 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
2576 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
2577 values to the expected number
2579 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
2580 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
2581 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
2583 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
2584 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
2585 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
2586 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
2588 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
2589 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
2590 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
2592 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
2595 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
2597 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
2599 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
2600 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
2601 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
2602 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
2603 the interpreter would proceed.
2605 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
2606 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
2607 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
2608 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
2610 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
2612 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
2613 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
2614 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
2615 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
2616 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
2617 you to contact the Guile developers.
2619 ** Hygienic macros documented as the primary syntactic extension mechanism.
2621 The macro documentation was finally fleshed out with some documentation
2622 on `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros, and other parts of the macro
2623 expansion process. See "Macros" in the manual, for details.
2625 ** psyntax is now the default expander
2627 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
2628 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
2631 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
2632 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
2633 code in question was memoized.
2635 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
2636 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
2637 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
2638 `x432' instead of `x'.
2640 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
2641 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
2642 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
2643 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
2645 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
2647 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
2648 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
2649 `macroexpand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
2652 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
2653 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
2654 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
2655 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
2657 ** Tail patterns in syntax-case
2659 Guile has pulled in some more recent changes from the psyntax portable
2660 syntax expander, to implement support for "tail patterns". Such patterns
2661 are supported by syntax-rules and syntax-case. This allows a syntax-case
2662 match clause to have ellipses, then a pattern at the end. For example:
2665 (syntax-rules (else)
2666 ((_ val match-clause ... (else e e* ...))
2669 Note how there is MATCH-CLAUSE, which is ellipsized, then there is a
2670 tail pattern for the else clause. Thanks to Andreas Rottmann for the
2671 patch, and Kent Dybvig for the code.
2673 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
2674 by nonhygienic macros.
2676 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
2677 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
2680 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
2681 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
2682 (define-macro (ref x)
2684 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
2689 (define-syntax bind-x
2691 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
2692 (define-macro (ref x)
2694 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
2696 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
2697 if you have defmacros that expand to hygienic macros, it is possible to
2698 run into situations like this. For example, if you have a defmacro that
2699 generates a `while' expression, the `break' bound by the `while' may not
2700 be visible within other parts of your defmacro. The solution is to port
2701 from defmacros to syntax-rules or syntax-case.
2703 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
2705 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
2706 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
2708 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
2709 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
2712 ** Macros may now have docstrings.
2714 `object-documentation' from `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to
2715 retrieve the docstring, once you have a macro value -- but see the above
2716 note about first-class macros. Docstrings are associated with the syntax
2717 transformer procedures.
2719 ** `case-lambda' is now available in the default environment.
2721 The binding in the default environment is equivalent to the one from the
2722 `(srfi srfi-16)' module. Use the srfi-16 module explicitly if you wish
2723 to maintain compatibility with Guile 1.8 and earlier.
2725 ** Procedures may now have more than one arity.
2727 This can be the case, for example, in case-lambda procedures. The
2728 arities of compiled procedures may be accessed via procedures from the
2729 `(system vm program)' module; see "Compiled Procedures", "Optional
2730 Arguments", and "Case-lambda" in the manual.
2732 ** Deprecate arity access via (procedure-properties proc 'arity)
2734 Instead of accessing a procedure's arity as a property, use the new
2735 `procedure-minimum-arity' function, which gives the most permissive
2736 arity that the function has, in the same format as the old arity
2739 ** `lambda*' and `define*' are now available in the default environment
2741 As with `case-lambda', `(ice-9 optargs)' continues to be supported, for
2742 compatibility purposes. No semantic change has been made (we hope).
2743 Optional and keyword arguments now dispatch via special VM operations,
2744 without the need to cons rest arguments, making them very fast.
2746 ** New syntax: define-once
2748 `define-once' is like Lisp's `defvar': it creates a toplevel binding,
2749 but only if one does not exist already.
2751 ** New function, `truncated-print', with `format' support
2753 `(ice-9 pretty-print)' now exports `truncated-print', a printer that
2754 will ensure that the output stays within a certain width, truncating the
2755 output in what is hopefully an intelligent manner. See the manual for
2758 There is a new `format' specifier, `~@y', for doing a truncated
2759 print (as opposed to `~y', which does a pretty-print). See the `format'
2760 documentation for more details.
2762 ** Better pretty-printing
2764 Indentation recognizes more special forms, like `syntax-case', and read
2765 macros like `quote' are printed better.
2767 ** Passing a number as the destination of `format' is deprecated
2769 The `format' procedure in `(ice-9 format)' now emits a deprecation
2770 warning if a number is passed as its first argument.
2772 Also, it used to be that you could omit passing a port to `format', in
2773 some cases. This still works, but has been formally deprecated.
2775 ** SRFI-4 vectors reimplemented in terms of R6RS bytevectors
2777 Guile now implements SRFI-4 vectors using bytevectors. Often when you
2778 have a numeric vector, you end up wanting to write its bytes somewhere,
2779 or have access to the underlying bytes, or read in bytes from somewhere
2780 else. Bytevectors are very good at this sort of thing. But the SRFI-4
2781 APIs are nicer to use when doing number-crunching, because they are
2782 addressed by element and not by byte.
2784 So as a compromise, Guile allows all bytevector functions to operate on
2785 numeric vectors. They address the underlying bytes in the native
2786 endianness, as one would expect.
2788 Following the same reasoning, that it's just bytes underneath, Guile
2789 also allows uniform vectors of a given type to be accessed as if they
2790 were of any type. One can fill a u32vector, and access its elements with
2791 u8vector-ref. One can use f64vector-ref on bytevectors. It's all the
2794 In this way, uniform numeric vectors may be written to and read from
2795 input/output ports using the procedures that operate on bytevectors.
2797 Calls to SRFI-4 accessors (ref and set functions) from Scheme are now
2798 inlined to the VM instructions for bytevector access.
2800 See "SRFI-4" in the manual, for more information.
2802 ** Nonstandard SRFI-4 procedures now available from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'
2804 Guile's `(srfi srfi-4)' now only exports those srfi-4 procedures that
2805 are part of the standard. Complex uniform vectors and the
2806 `any->FOOvector' family are now available only from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'.
2808 Guile's default environment imports `(srfi srfi-4)', and probably should
2809 import `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)' as well.
2811 See "SRFI-4 Extensions" in the manual, for more information.
2813 ** New syntax: include-from-path.
2815 `include-from-path' is like `include', except it looks for its file in
2816 the load path. It can be used to compile other files into a file.
2818 ** New syntax: quasisyntax.
2820 `quasisyntax' is to `syntax' as `quasiquote' is to `quote'. See the R6RS
2821 documentation for more information. Thanks to Andre van Tonder for the
2824 ** `*unspecified*' is identifier syntax
2826 `*unspecified*' is no longer a variable, so it is optimized properly by
2827 the compiler, and is not `set!'-able.
2829 ** Changes and bugfixes in numerics code
2831 *** Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operators
2833 Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operator pairs with
2834 different semantics than the R5RS operators. They support not only
2835 integers, but all reals, including exact rationals and inexact
2836 floating point numbers.
2838 These procedures accept two real numbers N and D, where the divisor D
2839 must be non-zero. Each set of operators computes an integer quotient
2840 Q and a real remainder R such that N = Q*D + R and |R| < |D|. They
2841 differ only in how N/D is rounded to produce Q.
2843 `euclidean-quotient' returns the integer Q and `euclidean-remainder'
2844 returns the real R such that N = Q*D + R and 0 <= R < |D|. `euclidean/'
2845 returns both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each
2846 separately. Note that when D > 0, `euclidean-quotient' returns
2847 floor(N/D), and when D < 0 it returns ceiling(N/D).
2849 `centered-quotient', `centered-remainder', and `centered/' are similar
2850 except that the range of remainders is -abs(D/2) <= R < abs(D/2), and
2851 `centered-quotient' rounds N/D to the nearest integer. Note that these
2852 operators are equivalent to the R6RS integer division operators `div',
2853 `mod', `div-and-mod', `div0', `mod0', and `div0-and-mod0'.
2855 `floor-quotient' and `floor-remainder' compute Q and R, respectively,
2856 where Q has been rounded toward negative infinity. `floor/' returns
2857 both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each separately.
2858 Note that when applied to integers, `floor-remainder' is equivalent to
2859 the R5RS integer-only `modulo' operator. `ceiling-quotient',
2860 `ceiling-remainder', and `ceiling/' are similar except that Q is
2861 rounded toward positive infinity.
2863 For `truncate-quotient', `truncate-remainder', and `truncate/', Q is
2864 rounded toward zero. Note that when applied to integers,
2865 `truncate-quotient' and `truncate-remainder' are equivalent to the
2866 R5RS integer-only operators `quotient' and `remainder'.
2868 For `round-quotient', `round-remainder', and `round/', Q is rounded to
2869 the nearest integer, with ties going to the nearest even integer.
2871 *** Complex number changes
2873 Guile is now able to represent non-real complex numbers whose
2874 imaginary part is an _inexact_ zero (0.0 or -0.0), per R6RS.
2875 Previously, such numbers were immediately changed into inexact reals.
2877 (real? 0.0+0.0i) now returns #f, per R6RS, although (zero? 0.0+0.0i)
2878 still returns #t, per R6RS. (= 0 0.0+0.0i) and (= 0.0 0.0+0.0i) are
2879 #t, but the same comparisons using `eqv?' or `equal?' are #f.
2881 Like other non-real numbers, these complex numbers with inexact zero
2882 imaginary part will raise exceptions is passed to procedures requiring
2883 reals, such as `<', `>', `<=', `>=', `min', `max', `positive?',
2884 `negative?', `inf?', `nan?', `finite?', etc.
2886 **** `make-rectangular' changes
2888 scm_make_rectangular `make-rectangular' now returns a real number only
2889 if the imaginary part is an _exact_ 0. Previously, it would return a
2890 real number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
2892 scm_c_make_rectangular now always returns a non-real complex number,
2893 even if the imaginary part is zero. Previously, it would return a
2894 real number if the imaginary part was zero.
2896 **** `make-polar' changes
2898 scm_make_polar `make-polar' now returns a real number only if the
2899 angle or magnitude is an _exact_ 0. If the magnitude is an exact 0,
2900 it now returns an exact 0. Previously, it would return a real
2901 number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
2903 scm_c_make_polar now always returns a non-real complex number, even if
2904 the imaginary part is 0.0. Previously, it would return a real number
2905 if the imaginary part was 0.0.
2907 **** `imag-part' changes
2909 scm_imag_part `imag-part' now returns an exact 0 if applied to an
2910 inexact real number. Previously it returned an inexact zero in this
2913 *** `eqv?' and `equal?' now compare numbers equivalently
2915 scm_equal_p `equal?' now behaves equivalently to scm_eqv_p `eqv?' for
2916 numeric values, per R5RS. Previously, equal? worked differently,
2917 e.g. `(equal? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #t but `(eqv? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #f,
2918 and `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f but `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
2921 *** `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' now returns #t
2923 Previously, `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f, although
2924 `(let ((x +nan.0)) (equal? x x))' and `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
2925 both returned #t. R5RS requires that `equal?' behave like
2926 `eqv?' when comparing numbers.
2928 *** Change in handling products `*' involving exact 0
2930 scm_product `*' now handles exact 0 differently. A product containing
2931 an exact 0 now returns an exact 0 if and only if the other arguments
2932 are all exact. An inexact zero is returned if and only if the other
2933 arguments are all finite but not all exact. If an infinite or NaN
2934 value is present, a NaN value is returned. Previously, any product
2935 containing an exact 0 yielded an exact 0, regardless of the other
2938 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' changes when the base is 0
2940 While `(expt 0 0)' is still 1, and `(expt 0 N)' for N > 0 is still
2941 zero, `(expt 0 N)' for N < 0 is now a NaN value, and likewise for
2942 integer-expt. This is more correct, and conforming to R6RS, but seems
2943 to be incompatible with R5RS, which would return 0 for all non-zero
2946 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' are more generic, less strict
2948 When raising to an exact non-negative integer exponent, `expt' and
2949 `integer-expt' are now able to exponentiate any object that can be
2950 multiplied using `*'. They can also raise an object to an exact
2951 negative integer power if its reciprocal can be taken using `/'.
2952 In order to allow this, the type of the first argument is no longer
2953 checked when raising to an exact integer power. If the exponent is 0
2954 or 1, the first parameter is not manipulated at all, and need not
2955 even support multiplication.
2957 *** Infinities are no longer integers, nor rationals
2959 scm_integer_p `integer?' and scm_rational_p `rational?' now return #f
2960 for infinities, per R6RS. Previously they returned #t for real
2961 infinities. The real infinities and NaNs are still considered real by
2962 scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
2964 *** NaNs are no longer rationals
2966 scm_rational_p `rational?' now returns #f for NaN values, per R6RS.
2967 Previously it returned #t for real NaN values. They are still
2968 considered real by scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
2970 *** `inf?' and `nan?' now throw exceptions for non-reals
2972 The domain of `inf?' and `nan?' is the real numbers. Guile now signals
2973 an error when a non-real number or non-number is passed to these
2974 procedures. (Note that NaNs _are_ considered numbers by scheme, despite
2977 *** `rationalize' bugfixes and changes
2979 Fixed bugs in scm_rationalize `rationalize'. Previously, it returned
2980 exact integers unmodified, although that was incorrect if the epsilon
2981 was at least 1 or inexact, e.g. (rationalize 4 1) should return 3 per
2982 R5RS and R6RS, but previously it returned 4. It also now handles
2983 cases involving infinities and NaNs properly, per R6RS.
2985 *** Trigonometric functions now return exact numbers in some cases
2987 scm_sin `sin', scm_cos `cos', scm_tan `tan', scm_asin `asin', scm_acos
2988 `acos', scm_atan `atan', scm_sinh `sinh', scm_cosh `cosh', scm_tanh
2989 `tanh', scm_sys_asinh `asinh', scm_sys_acosh `acosh', and
2990 scm_sys_atanh `atanh' now return exact results in some cases.
2992 *** New procedure: `finite?'
2994 Add scm_finite_p `finite?' from R6RS to guile core, which returns #t
2995 if and only if its argument is neither infinite nor a NaN. Note that
2996 this is not the same as (not (inf? x)) or (not (infinite? x)), since
2997 NaNs are neither finite nor infinite.
2999 *** Improved exactness handling for complex number parsing
3001 When parsing non-real complex numbers, exactness specifiers are now
3002 applied to each component, as is done in PLT Scheme. For complex
3003 numbers written in rectangular form, exactness specifiers are applied
3004 to the real and imaginary parts before calling scm_make_rectangular.
3005 For complex numbers written in polar form, exactness specifiers are
3006 applied to the magnitude and angle before calling scm_make_polar.
3008 Previously, exactness specifiers were applied to the number as a whole
3009 _after_ calling scm_make_rectangular or scm_make_polar.
3011 For example, (string->number "#i5.0+0i") now does the equivalent of:
3013 (make-rectangular (exact->inexact 5.0) (exact->inexact 0))
3015 which yields 5.0+0.0i. Previously it did the equivalent of:
3017 (exact->inexact (make-rectangular 5.0 0))
3021 ** Unicode characters
3023 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
3024 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
3025 probably be introduced at some point.
3029 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
3030 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
3031 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
3033 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
3034 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
3035 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
3036 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
3040 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
3042 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
3044 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
3045 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
3046 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
3047 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
3048 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
3051 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
3052 code. This use is now discouraged. Binary input and output is
3053 currently supported by opening ports in the ISO-8859-1 locale.
3055 ** Source files default to UTF-8.
3057 If source files do not specify their encoding via a `coding:' block,
3058 the default encoding is UTF-8, instead of being taken from the current
3061 ** Interactive Guile installs the current locale.
3063 Instead of leaving the user in the "C" locale, running the Guile REPL
3064 installs the current locale. [FIXME xref?]
3066 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
3068 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
3069 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
3070 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
3073 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
3074 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
3075 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
3077 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
3079 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
3081 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
3082 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
3083 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
3084 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
3086 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
3088 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
3089 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
3090 Unicode code points.
3092 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
3094 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
3095 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
3096 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
3099 ** EBCDIC support is removed
3101 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
3102 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
3103 and was unmaintained.
3105 ** Compile-time warnings
3107 Guile can warn about potentially unbound free variables. Pass the
3108 -Wunbound-variable on the `guile-tools compile' command line, or add
3109 `#:warnings '(unbound-variable)' to your `compile' or `compile-file'
3110 invocation. Warnings are also enabled by default for expressions entered
3113 Guile can also warn when you pass the wrong number of arguments to a
3114 procedure, with -Warity-mismatch, or `arity-mismatch' in the
3115 `#:warnings' as above.
3117 Other warnings include `-Wunused-variable' and `-Wunused-toplevel', to
3118 warn about unused local or global (top-level) variables, and `-Wformat',
3119 to check for various errors related to the `format' procedure.
3121 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
3123 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
3126 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
3128 This slightly improves program startup times.
3130 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
3132 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
3134 ** New threads are in `(guile-user)' by default, not `(guile)'
3136 It used to be that a new thread entering Guile would do so in the
3137 `(guile)' module, unless this was the first time Guile was initialized,
3138 in which case it was `(guile-user)'. This has been fixed to have all
3139 new threads unknown to Guile default to `(guile-user)'.
3141 ** New helpers: `print-exception', `set-exception-printer!'
3143 These functions implement an extensible exception printer. Guile
3144 registers printers for all of the exceptions it throws. Users may add
3145 their own printers. There is also `scm_print_exception', for use by C
3146 programs. Pleasantly, this allows SRFI-35 and R6RS exceptions to be
3147 printed appropriately.
3149 ** GOOPS dispatch in scheme
3151 As an implementation detail, GOOPS dispatch is no longer implemented by
3152 special evaluator bytecodes, but rather directly via a Scheme function
3153 associated with an applicable struct. There is some VM support for the
3154 underlying primitives, like `class-of'.
3156 This change will in the future allow users to customize generic function
3157 dispatch without incurring a performance penalty, and allow us to
3158 implement method combinations.
3160 ** Applicable struct support
3162 One may now make structs from Scheme that may be applied as procedures.
3163 To do so, make a struct whose vtable is `<applicable-struct-vtable>'.
3164 That struct will be the vtable of your applicable structs; instances of
3165 that new struct are assumed to have the procedure in their first slot.
3166 `<applicable-struct-vtable>' is like Common Lisp's
3167 `funcallable-standard-class'. Likewise there is
3168 `<applicable-struct-with-setter-vtable>', which looks for the setter in
3169 the second slot. This needs to be better documented.
3173 GOOPS had a number of concepts that were relevant to the days of Tcl,
3174 but not any more: operators and entities, mainly. These objects were
3175 never documented, and it is unlikely that they were ever used. Operators
3176 were a kind of generic specific to the Tcl support. Entities were
3177 replaced by applicable structs, mentioned above.
3179 ** New struct slot allocation: "hidden"
3181 A hidden slot is readable and writable, but will not be initialized by a
3182 call to make-struct. For example in your layout you would say "ph"
3183 instead of "pw". Hidden slots are useful for adding new slots to a
3184 vtable without breaking existing invocations to make-struct.
3186 ** eqv? not a generic
3188 One used to be able to extend `eqv?' as a primitive-generic, but no
3189 more. Because `eqv?' is in the expansion of `case' (via `memv'), which
3190 should be able to compile to static dispatch tables, it doesn't make
3191 sense to allow extensions that would subvert this optimization.
3193 ** `inet-ntop' and `inet-pton' are always available.
3195 Guile now use a portable implementation of `inet_pton'/`inet_ntop', so
3196 there is no more need to use `inet-aton'/`inet-ntoa'. The latter
3197 functions are deprecated.
3199 ** `getopt-long' parsing errors throw to `quit', not `misc-error'
3201 This change should inhibit backtraces on argument parsing errors.
3202 `getopt-long' has been modified to print out the error that it throws
3205 ** New primitive: `tmpfile'.
3207 See "File System" in the manual.
3209 ** Random generator state may be serialized to a datum
3211 `random-state->datum' will serialize a random state to a datum, which
3212 may be written out, read back in later, and revivified using
3213 `datum->random-state'. See "Random" in the manual, for more details.
3215 ** Fix random number generator on 64-bit platforms
3217 There was a nasty bug on 64-bit platforms in which asking for a random
3218 integer with a range between 2**32 and 2**64 caused a segfault. After
3219 many embarrassing iterations, this was fixed.
3221 ** Fast bit operations.
3223 The bit-twiddling operations `ash', `logand', `logior', and `logxor' now
3224 have dedicated bytecodes. Guile is not just for symbolic computation,
3225 it's for number crunching too.
3227 ** Faster SRFI-9 record access
3229 SRFI-9 records are now implemented directly on top of Guile's structs,
3230 and their accessors are defined in such a way that normal call-sites
3231 inline to special VM opcodes, while still allowing for the general case
3232 (e.g. passing a record accessor to `apply').
3234 ** R6RS block comment support
3236 Guile now supports R6RS nested block comments. The start of a comment is
3237 marked with `#|', and the end with `|#'.
3239 ** `guile-2' cond-expand feature
3241 To test if your code is running under Guile 2.0 (or its alpha releases),
3242 test for the `guile-2' cond-expand feature. Like this:
3244 (cond-expand (guile-2 (eval-when (compile)
3245 ;; This must be evaluated at compile time.
3246 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
3248 ;; Earlier versions of Guile do not have a
3249 ;; separate compilation phase.
3250 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
3252 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
3254 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
3256 ** New fluid: `%file-port-name-canonicalization'
3258 This fluid parameterizes the file names that are associated with file
3259 ports. If %file-port-name-canonicalization is 'absolute, then file names
3260 are canonicalized to be absolute paths. If it is 'relative, then the
3261 name is canonicalized, but any prefix corresponding to a member of
3262 `%load-path' is stripped off. Otherwise the names are passed through
3265 In addition, the `compile-file' and `compile-and-load' procedures bind
3266 %file-port-name-canonicalization to their `#:canonicalization' keyword
3267 argument, which defaults to 'relative. In this way, one might compile
3268 "../module/ice-9/boot-9.scm", but the path that gets residualized into
3269 the .go is "ice-9/boot-9.scm".
3271 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
3273 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
3275 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
3277 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
3279 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
3281 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
3283 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
3284 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
3285 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
3287 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
3289 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
3290 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
3292 ** New readline history functions
3294 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
3295 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
3296 History library functions.
3298 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
3299 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
3301 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
3304 ** Deprecate the old `scm-style-repl'
3306 The following bindings from boot-9 are now found in `(ice-9
3307 scm-style-repl)': `scm-style-repl', `error-catching-loop',
3308 `error-catching-repl', `bad-throw', `scm-repl-silent'
3309 `assert-repl-silence', `repl-print-unspecified',
3310 `assert-repl-print-unspecified', `scm-repl-verbose',
3311 `assert-repl-verbosity', `scm-repl-prompt', `set-repl-prompt!', `repl',
3312 `default-pre-unwind-handler', `handle-system-error',
3314 The following bindings have been deprecated, with no replacement:
3315 `pre-unwind-handler-dispatch'.
3317 The following bindings have been totally removed:
3318 `before-signal-stack'.
3320 Deprecated forwarding shims have been installed so that users that
3321 expect these bindings in the main namespace will still work, but receive
3322 a deprecation warning.
3324 ** `set-batch-mode?!' replaced by `ensure-batch-mode!'
3326 "Batch mode" is a flag used to tell a program that it is not running
3327 interactively. One usually turns it on after a fork. It may not be
3328 turned off. `ensure-batch-mode!' deprecates the old `set-batch-mode?!',
3329 because it is a better interface, as it can only turn on batch mode, not
3332 ** Deprecate `save-stack', `the-last-stack'
3334 It used to be that the way to debug programs in Guile was to capture the
3335 stack at the time of error, drop back to the REPL, then debug that
3336 stack. But this approach didn't compose, was tricky to get right in the
3337 presence of threads, and was not very powerful.
3339 So `save-stack', `stack-saved?', and `the-last-stack' have been moved to
3340 `(ice-9 save-stack)', with deprecated bindings left in the root module.
3342 ** `top-repl' has its own module
3344 The `top-repl' binding, called with Guile is run interactively, is now
3345 is its own module, `(ice-9 top-repl)'. A deprecated forwarding shim was
3346 left in the default environment.
3348 ** `display-error' takes a frame
3350 The `display-error' / `scm_display_error' helper now takes a frame as an
3351 argument instead of a stack. Stacks are still supported in deprecated
3352 builds. Additionally, `display-error' will again source location
3353 information for the error.
3355 ** No more `(ice-9 debug)'
3357 This module had some debugging helpers that are no longer applicable to
3358 the current debugging model. Importing this module will produce a
3359 deprecation warning. Users should contact bug-guile for support.
3361 ** Remove obsolete debug-options
3363 Removed `breakpoints', `trace', `procnames', `indent', `frames',
3364 `maxdepth', and `debug' debug-options.
3366 ** `backtrace' debug option on by default
3368 Given that Guile 2.0 can always give you a backtrace, backtraces are now
3371 ** `turn-on-debugging' deprecated
3373 ** Remove obsolete print-options
3375 The `source' and `closure-hook' print options are obsolete, and have
3378 ** Remove obsolete read-options
3380 The "elisp-strings" and "elisp-vectors" read options were unused and
3381 obsolete, so they have been removed.
3383 ** Remove eval-options and trap-options
3385 Eval-options and trap-options are obsolete with the new VM and
3388 ** Remove (ice-9 debugger) and (ice-9 debugging)
3390 See "Traps" and "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for information
3391 on their replacements.
3393 ** Remove the GDS Emacs integration
3395 See "Using Guile in Emacs" in the manual, for info on how we think you
3396 should use Guile with Emacs.
3398 ** Deprecated: `lazy-catch'
3400 `lazy-catch' was a form that captured the stack at the point of a
3401 `throw', but the dynamic state at the point of the `catch'. It was a bit
3402 crazy. Please change to use `catch', possibly with a throw-handler, or
3403 `with-throw-handler'.
3405 ** Deprecated: primitive properties
3407 The `primitive-make-property', `primitive-property-set!',
3408 `primitive-property-ref', and `primitive-property-del!' procedures were
3409 crufty and only used to implement object properties, which has a new,
3410 threadsafe implementation. Use object properties or weak hash tables
3413 ** Deprecated `@bind' syntax
3415 `@bind' was part of an older implementation of the Emacs Lisp language,
3416 and is no longer used.
3418 ** Miscellaneous other deprecations
3420 `cuserid' has been deprecated, as it only returns 8 bytes of a user's
3421 login. Use `(passwd:name (getpwuid (geteuid)))' instead.
3423 Additionally, the procedures `apply-to-args', `has-suffix?', `scheme-file-suffix'
3424 `get-option', `for-next-option', `display-usage-report',
3425 `transform-usage-lambda', `collect', and `set-batch-mode?!' have all
3428 ** Add support for unbound fluids
3430 See `make-unbound-fluid', `fluid-unset!', and `fluid-bound?' in the
3433 ** Add `variable-unset!'
3435 See "Variables" in the manual, for more details.
3437 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
3439 * Changes to the C interface
3441 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
3443 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
3444 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
3445 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
3447 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
3448 code easier and less error-prone.
3450 ** New procedures: `scm_to_stringn', `scm_from_stringn'
3451 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,latin1}_symbol{n,}
3452 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,utf32,latin1}_string{n,}
3454 These new procedures convert to and from string representations in
3455 particular encodings.
3457 Users should continue to use locale encoding for user input, user
3458 output, or interacting with the C library.
3460 Use the Latin-1 functions for ASCII, and for literals in source code.
3462 Use UTF-8 functions for interaction with modern libraries which deal in
3463 UTF-8, and UTF-32 for interaction with utf32-using libraries.
3465 Otherwise, use scm_to_stringn or scm_from_stringn with a specific
3468 ** New type definitions for `scm_t_intptr' and friends.
3470 `SCM_T_UINTPTR_MAX', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MIN', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MAX',
3471 `SIZEOF_SCM_T_BITS', `scm_t_intptr' and `scm_t_uintptr' are now
3472 available to C. Have fun!
3474 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
3476 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
3478 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
3481 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
3482 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
3484 ** Procedures-with-setters are now implemented using applicable structs
3486 From a user's perspective this doesn't mean very much. But if, for some
3487 odd reason, you used the SCM_PROCEDURE_WITH_SETTER_P, SCM_PROCEDURE, or
3488 SCM_SETTER macros, know that they're deprecated now. Also, scm_tc7_pws
3491 ** Remove old evaluator closures
3493 There used to be ranges of typecodes allocated to interpreted data
3494 structures, but that it no longer the case, given that interpreted
3495 procedure are now just regular VM closures. As a result, there is a
3496 newly free tc3, and a number of removed macros. See the ChangeLog for
3499 ** Primitive procedures are now VM trampoline procedures
3501 It used to be that there were something like 12 different typecodes
3502 allocated to primitive procedures, each with its own calling convention.
3503 Now there is only one, the gsubr. This may affect user code if you were
3504 defining a procedure using scm_c_make_subr rather scm_c_make_gsubr. The
3505 solution is to switch to use scm_c_make_gsubr. This solution works well
3506 both with the old 1.8 and with the current 1.9 branch.
3508 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying "gsubrs",
3509 primitive procedures with specified numbers of required, optional, and
3510 rest arguments. Now, however, Guile represents gsubrs as normal VM
3511 procedures, with appropriate bytecode to parse out the correct number of
3512 arguments, including optional and rest arguments, and then with a
3513 special bytecode to apply the gsubr.
3515 This allows primitive procedures to appear on the VM stack, allowing
3516 them to be accurately counted in profiles. Also they now have more
3517 debugging information attached to them -- their number of arguments, for
3518 example. In addition, the VM can completely inline the application
3519 mechanics, allowing for faster primitive calls.
3521 However there are some changes on the C level. There is no more
3522 `scm_tc7_gsubr' or `scm_tcs_subrs' typecode for primitive procedures, as
3523 they are just VM procedures. Likewise the macros `SCM_GSUBR_TYPE',
3524 `SCM_GSUBR_MAKTYPE', `SCM_GSUBR_REQ', `SCM_GSUBR_OPT', and
3525 `SCM_GSUBR_REST' are gone, as are `SCM_SUBR_META_INFO', `SCM_SUBR_PROPS'
3526 `SCM_SET_SUBR_GENERIC_LOC', and `SCM_SUBR_ARITY_TO_TYPE'.
3528 Perhaps more significantly, `scm_c_make_subr',
3529 `scm_c_make_subr_with_generic', `scm_c_define_subr', and
3530 `scm_c_define_subr_with_generic'. They all operated on subr typecodes,
3531 and there are no more subr typecodes. Use the scm_c_make_gsubr family
3534 Normal users of gsubrs should not be affected, though, as the
3535 scm_c_make_gsubr family still is the correct way to create primitive
3538 ** Remove deprecated array C interfaces
3540 Removed the deprecated array functions `scm_i_arrayp',
3541 `scm_i_array_ndim', `scm_i_array_mem', `scm_i_array_v',
3542 `scm_i_array_base', `scm_i_array_dims', and the deprecated macros
3543 `SCM_ARRAYP', `SCM_ARRAY_NDIM', `SCM_ARRAY_CONTP', `SCM_ARRAY_MEM',
3544 `SCM_ARRAY_V', `SCM_ARRAY_BASE', and `SCM_ARRAY_DIMS'.
3546 ** Remove unused snarf macros
3548 `SCM_DEFINE1', `SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC_1', `SCM_PROC1, and `SCM_GPROC1'
3549 are no more. Use SCM_DEFINE or SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC instead.
3551 ** New functions: `scm_call_n', `scm_c_run_hookn'
3553 `scm_call_n' applies to apply a function to an array of arguments.
3554 `scm_c_run_hookn' runs a hook with an array of arguments.
3556 ** Some SMOB types changed to have static typecodes
3558 Fluids, dynamic states, and hash tables used to be SMOB objects, but now
3559 they have statically allocated tc7 typecodes.
3561 ** Preparations for changing SMOB representation
3563 If things go right, we'll be changing the SMOB representation soon. To
3564 that end, we did a lot of cleanups to calls to e.g. SCM_CELL_WORD_2(x) when
3565 the code meant SCM_SMOB_DATA_2(x); user code will need similar changes
3566 in the future. Code accessing SMOBs using SCM_CELL macros was never
3567 correct, but until now things still worked. Users should be aware of
3570 ** Changed invocation mechanics of applicable SMOBs
3572 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying SMOB
3573 objects. Now, with the VM, when Guile sees a SMOB, it looks up a VM
3574 trampoline procedure for it, and use the normal mechanics to apply the
3575 trampoline. This simplifies procedure application in the normal,
3578 The upshot is that the mechanics used to apply a SMOB are different from
3579 1.8. Descriptors no longer have `apply_0', `apply_1', `apply_2', and
3580 `apply_3' functions, and the macros SCM_SMOB_APPLY_0 and friends are now
3581 deprecated. Just use the scm_call_0 family of procedures.
3583 ** Removed support shlibs for SRFIs 1, 4, 13, 14, and 60
3585 Though these SRFI support libraries did expose API, they encoded a
3586 strange version string into their library names. That version was never
3587 programmatically exported, so there was no way people could use the
3590 This was a fortunate oversight, as it allows us to remove the need for
3591 extra, needless shared libraries --- the C support code for SRFIs 4, 13,
3592 and 14 was already in core --- and allow us to incrementally return the
3593 SRFI implementation to Scheme.
3595 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
3597 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
3599 ** Undeprecate `scm_the_root_module ()'
3601 It's useful to be able to get the root module from C without doing a
3604 ** Inline vector allocation
3606 Instead of having vectors point out into the heap for their data, their
3607 data is now allocated inline to the vector object itself. The same is
3608 true for bytevectors, by default, though there is an indirection
3609 available which should allow for making a bytevector from an existing
3612 ** New struct constructors that don't involve making lists
3614 `scm_c_make_struct' and `scm_c_make_structv' are new varargs and array
3615 constructors, respectively, for structs. You might find them useful.
3619 In Guile 1.8, there were debugging frames on the C stack. Now there is
3620 no more need to explicitly mark the stack in this way, because Guile has
3621 a VM stack that it knows how to walk, which simplifies the C API
3622 considerably. See the ChangeLog for details; the relevant interface is
3623 in libguile/stacks.h. The Scheme API has not been changed significantly.
3625 ** Removal of Guile's primitive object system.
3627 There were a number of pieces in `objects.[ch]' that tried to be a
3628 minimal object system, but were never documented, and were quickly
3629 obseleted by GOOPS' merge into Guile proper. So `scm_make_class_object',
3630 `scm_make_subclass_object', `scm_metaclass_standard', and like symbols
3631 from objects.h are no more. In the very unlikely case in which these
3632 were useful to you, we urge you to contact guile-devel.
3636 Actually the future is still in the state that it was, is, and ever
3637 shall be, Amen, except that `futures.c' and `futures.h' are no longer a
3638 part of it. These files were experimental, never compiled, and would be
3639 better implemented in Scheme anyway. In the future, that is.
3641 ** Deprecate trampolines
3643 There used to be C functions `scm_trampoline_0', `scm_trampoline_1', and
3644 so on. The point was to do some precomputation on the type of the
3645 procedure, then return a specialized "call" procedure. However this
3646 optimization wasn't actually an optimization, so it is now deprecated.
3647 Just use `scm_call_0', etc instead.
3649 ** Deprecated `scm_badargsp'
3651 This function is unused in Guile, but was part of its API.
3653 ** Better support for Lisp `nil'.
3655 The bit representation of `nil' has been tweaked so that it is now very
3656 efficient to check e.g. if a value is equal to Scheme's end-of-list or
3657 Lisp's nil. Additionally there are a heap of new, specific predicates
3658 like scm_is_null_or_nil.
3660 ** Better integration of Lisp `nil'.
3662 `scm_is_boolean', `scm_is_false', and `scm_is_null' all return true now
3663 for Lisp's `nil'. This shouldn't affect any Scheme code at this point,
3664 but when we start to integrate more with Emacs, it is possible that we
3665 break code that assumes that, for example, `(not x)' implies that `x' is
3666 `eq?' to `#f'. This is not a common assumption. Refactoring affected
3667 code to rely on properties instead of identities will improve code
3668 correctness. See "Nil" in the manual, for more details.
3670 ** Support for static allocation of strings, symbols, and subrs.
3672 Calls to snarfing CPP macros like SCM_DEFINE macro will now allocate
3673 much of their associated data as static variables, reducing Guile's
3676 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
3677 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
3679 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
3681 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
3682 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
3684 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
3686 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
3687 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
3688 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
3689 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
3691 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
3693 * Changes to the distribution
3695 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
3697 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
3698 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
3703 Guile's build is visually quieter, due to the use of Automake 1.11's
3704 AM_SILENT_RULES. Build as `make V=1' to see all of the output.
3706 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
3708 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
3709 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
3711 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
3713 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
3714 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
3715 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
3718 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
3720 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
3721 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
3723 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
3725 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
3726 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
3728 ** Parallel installability fixes
3730 Guile now installs its header files to a effective-version-specific
3731 directory, and includes the effective version (e.g. 2.0) in the library
3732 name (e.g. libguile-2.0.so).
3734 This change should be transparent to users, who should detect Guile via
3735 the guile.m4 macro, or the guile-2.0.pc pkg-config file. It will allow
3736 parallel installs for multiple versions of Guile development
3739 ** Dynamically loadable extensions may be placed in a Guile-specific path
3741 Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
3742 (e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
3743 be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
3744 directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensiondir
3745 guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
3747 ** User Scheme code may be placed in a version-specific path
3749 Before, there was only one way to install user Scheme code to a
3750 version-specific Guile directory: install to Guile's own path,
3751 e.g. /usr/share/guile/2.0. The site directory,
3752 e.g. /usr/share/guile/site, was unversioned. This has been changed to
3753 add a version-specific site directory, e.g. /usr/share/guile/site/2.0,
3754 searched before the global site directory.
3756 ** New dependency: libgc
3758 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
3760 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
3762 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
3763 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
3765 ** New dependency: libffi
3767 See http://sourceware.org/libffi/, for more information.
3771 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
3775 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
3776 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
3777 ** Fix `wrong type arg' exceptions with IPv6 addresses
3780 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
3782 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3784 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
3788 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
3789 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
3790 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
3791 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
3792 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
3793 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
3794 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
3795 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
3796 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
3797 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
3798 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
3800 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
3802 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
3803 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
3804 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
3807 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
3810 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
3812 * New features (see the manual for details)
3814 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
3816 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
3818 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
3819 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
3820 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
3822 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
3824 * Changes to the distribution
3826 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
3828 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
3829 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
3831 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
3833 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
3834 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
3839 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
3840 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
3841 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
3842 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
3843 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
3844 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
3845 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
3846 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
3847 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
3848 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
3849 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
3850 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
3851 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
3852 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
3854 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
3855 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
3856 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
3857 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
3858 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
3861 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
3863 * Infrastructure changes
3865 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
3867 The new repository can be accessed using
3868 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
3869 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
3871 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
3873 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
3875 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3879 * New features (see the manual for details)
3881 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
3882 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
3883 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
3885 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
3886 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
3887 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
3888 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
3890 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
3892 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
3893 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
3894 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
3898 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
3899 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
3901 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
3902 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
3904 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
3905 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
3907 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
3908 lead to a stack overflow.
3910 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
3911 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
3912 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
3913 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
3914 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
3915 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
3916 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
3917 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
3918 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
3919 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
3920 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
3921 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
3922 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
3923 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
3924 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
3925 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
3928 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
3932 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
3933 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
3934 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
3935 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
3936 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
3937 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
3938 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
3939 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
3940 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
3941 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
3942 system and library calls.
3943 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
3944 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
3945 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
3946 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
3947 uniform vectors on AIX.
3948 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
3949 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
3950 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
3951 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
3952 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
3954 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3958 * Documentation fixes and improvements
3960 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
3962 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
3963 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
3965 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
3967 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
3969 * Changes to the distribution
3971 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
3973 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
3974 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
3975 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
3977 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
3979 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
3982 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
3984 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3991 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
3992 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
3993 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
3994 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
3995 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
3996 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
3997 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
3999 * Implementation improvements
4001 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
4002 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
4005 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
4007 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
4009 ** set-program-arguments
4012 * Incompatible changes
4014 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
4016 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
4017 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
4018 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
4019 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
4024 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
4025 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
4026 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
4027 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
4028 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
4029 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
4031 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
4032 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
4033 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
4034 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
4035 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
4036 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
4037 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
4038 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
4039 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
4040 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
4041 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
4042 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
4043 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
4044 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
4045 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
4046 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
4049 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
4051 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
4053 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
4055 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
4056 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
4057 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
4058 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
4059 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
4060 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
4068 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
4070 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
4072 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
4074 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
4076 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
4078 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
4080 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
4081 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
4082 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
4084 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
4086 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
4088 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
4089 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
4091 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
4093 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
4094 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
4096 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
4098 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
4100 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
4102 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
4104 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
4106 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
4108 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
4110 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
4112 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
4114 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
4115 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
4116 file was on a different device.
4119 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
4121 * Changes to the distribution
4123 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
4125 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
4127 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
4129 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
4131 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
4133 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
4136 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
4138 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
4139 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
4140 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
4141 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
4142 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
4143 items like the versioned share directory name
4144 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
4146 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
4147 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
4148 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
4149 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
4150 with each micro release during a stable series.
4152 ** Thread implementation has changed.
4154 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
4155 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
4156 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
4157 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
4158 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
4161 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
4162 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
4163 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
4164 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
4167 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
4168 in which case "null" threads are used.
4170 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
4171 "Blocking", and others.
4173 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
4175 This is a milder form of deprecation.
4177 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
4178 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
4179 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
4180 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
4181 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
4183 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
4184 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
4186 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
4188 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
4189 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
4191 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
4194 This SRFI is always available.
4196 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
4198 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
4199 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
4200 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
4201 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
4204 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
4206 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
4207 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
4208 parameters without currying.
4210 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
4212 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
4213 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
4215 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
4216 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
4219 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
4220 with a renaming import, for example.
4222 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
4224 The official version is good enough now.
4226 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
4228 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
4229 provided. Use 'make html'.
4231 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
4233 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
4234 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
4235 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
4236 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
4238 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
4240 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
4243 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4245 ** New command line option `-L'.
4247 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
4249 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
4251 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
4252 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
4254 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
4256 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
4257 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
4259 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
4261 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
4262 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
4265 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
4268 (define-module (demo)
4272 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
4275 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4277 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
4279 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
4280 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
4281 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
4283 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
4285 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
4286 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
4288 ** New function hashx-remove!
4290 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
4292 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
4293 barriers and dynamic states.
4295 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
4296 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
4297 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
4300 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
4301 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
4302 Barriers" in the manual.
4304 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
4305 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
4307 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
4309 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
4310 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
4311 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
4312 variable %load-path.
4314 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
4316 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
4317 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
4319 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
4320 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
4321 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
4323 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
4324 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
4326 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
4327 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
4328 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
4330 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
4331 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
4332 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
4335 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
4336 substrings and read-only strings.
4338 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
4339 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
4342 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
4344 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
4353 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
4354 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
4355 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
4357 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
4358 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
4359 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
4360 on an ANSI terminal:
4362 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
4363 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
4366 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
4368 See the manual for details.
4370 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
4372 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
4375 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
4377 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
4378 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
4379 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
4380 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
4382 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
4383 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
4384 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
4387 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
4389 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
4390 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
4401 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
4405 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
4410 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
4414 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
4418 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
4421 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
4422 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
4423 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
4424 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
4426 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
4427 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
4430 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
4433 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
4437 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
4439 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
4440 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
4441 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
4444 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
4447 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
4449 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
4452 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
4453 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
4456 (define-module (foo)
4461 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
4462 has been detected is to
4464 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
4465 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
4466 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
4469 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
4472 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
4474 to your .guile init file.
4476 ** New define-module option: :replace
4478 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
4481 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
4482 for the core binding `format'.
4484 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
4486 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
4487 a prefix to all imported bindings.
4489 (define-module (foo)
4490 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
4492 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
4495 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
4497 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
4498 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
4499 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
4501 ** New function: effective-version
4503 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
4504 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
4505 to the distribution" above.
4507 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
4509 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
4510 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
4512 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
4514 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
4515 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
4517 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
4519 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
4520 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
4523 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
4525 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
4527 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
4529 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
4530 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
4531 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
4534 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
4535 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
4536 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
4537 'system-async-mark'.
4539 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
4540 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
4542 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
4543 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
4544 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
4547 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
4549 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
4550 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
4553 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
4554 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
4556 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
4557 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
4558 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
4559 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
4560 level for the current thread.
4562 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
4564 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
4566 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
4567 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
4570 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
4572 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
4574 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
4577 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
4579 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
4582 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
4583 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
4584 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
4586 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
4587 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
4588 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
4589 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
4600 ERROR: Numerical overflow
4602 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
4605 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
4607 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
4608 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
4609 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
4620 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
4622 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
4623 them is also done exactly, of course:
4628 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
4629 for exact arguments.
4631 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
4632 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
4634 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
4636 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
4637 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
4638 equal to a floating point number. For example:
4640 (inexact->exact 1.234)
4641 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
4643 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
4645 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
4648 ** New function 'rationalize'.
4650 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
4651 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
4653 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
4656 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
4657 result when both its arguments are exact.
4659 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
4661 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
4662 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
4663 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
4665 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
4667 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
4668 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
4669 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
4671 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
4674 ** pretty-print has more options.
4676 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
4677 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
4678 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
4680 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
4682 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
4683 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
4684 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
4686 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
4688 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
4689 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
4691 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
4693 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
4694 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
4697 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
4699 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
4700 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
4701 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
4702 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
4703 without the soft port blocking.
4705 ** Deprecated: undefine
4707 There is no replacement for undefine.
4709 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
4710 have been discouraged.
4712 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
4713 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
4714 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
4717 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
4719 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
4721 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
4722 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
4723 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
4724 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
4727 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
4728 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
4729 be removed in the next major Guile release.
4731 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
4733 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
4734 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
4735 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
4736 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
4737 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
4738 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
4740 * Changes to the C interface
4742 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
4743 take a 'delete' function argument.
4745 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
4746 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
4748 This is an incompatible change.
4750 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
4752 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
4753 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
4754 --disable-deprecated.
4756 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
4758 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
4759 Scheme values has been added.
4761 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
4762 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
4765 - int scm_is_* (...)
4767 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
4768 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
4770 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
4772 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
4773 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
4776 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
4778 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
4779 scm_from_int for ints.
4781 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
4782 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
4783 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
4785 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
4787 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
4788 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
4789 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
4792 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
4794 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
4796 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
4798 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
4799 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
4800 following alternatives.
4802 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
4803 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
4804 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
4805 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
4807 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
4808 do the validating for you.
4810 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
4811 have been discouraged.
4813 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
4814 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
4817 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
4819 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
4820 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
4823 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
4825 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
4828 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
4831 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
4833 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
4834 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
4836 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
4837 scm_truncate_number should have.
4839 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
4840 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
4842 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
4845 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
4846 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
4847 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
4849 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
4850 easier to use from C.
4852 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
4853 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
4855 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
4856 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
4857 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
4860 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
4861 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
4862 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
4863 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
4866 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
4867 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
4868 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
4869 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
4870 and is thus quite efficient.
4872 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
4874 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
4875 about the character encoding.
4877 Replace according to the following table:
4879 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
4880 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
4881 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
4882 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
4883 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
4884 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
4885 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
4886 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
4887 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
4889 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
4890 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
4892 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
4894 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
4895 now also available to C code.
4897 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
4899 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
4900 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
4901 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
4903 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
4906 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
4908 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
4909 unceremoniously removed.
4911 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
4912 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
4913 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
4915 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
4916 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
4917 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
4918 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
4919 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
4920 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
4923 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
4925 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
4926 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
4927 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
4928 manual for more details.
4930 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
4931 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
4933 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
4934 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
4935 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
4937 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
4939 Migrate according to the following table:
4941 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
4942 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
4943 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
4944 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
4945 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
4946 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
4947 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
4949 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
4950 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
4951 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
4952 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
4953 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
4954 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
4955 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
4957 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
4959 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
4960 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
4962 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
4963 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
4964 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
4965 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
4967 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
4969 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
4970 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
4971 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
4973 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
4974 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
4976 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
4977 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
4978 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
4979 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
4981 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
4983 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
4984 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
4985 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
4986 prevent a potential memory leak:
4993 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
4995 mem = scm_malloc (100);
4996 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
4998 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
4999 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
5006 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
5007 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
5011 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
5013 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
5015 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
5016 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
5017 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
5019 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
5020 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
5022 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
5024 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
5026 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
5027 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
5028 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
5030 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
5031 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
5033 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
5034 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
5035 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
5036 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
5039 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
5041 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
5042 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
5043 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
5045 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
5047 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
5048 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
5050 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
5052 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
5053 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
5055 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
5057 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
5058 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
5059 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
5061 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
5063 You should not have used them.
5065 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
5067 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
5068 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
5070 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
5072 This macro is not intended for public use.
5074 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
5076 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
5078 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
5080 Use scm_is_real instead.
5082 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
5084 Use scm_is_complex instead.
5086 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
5088 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
5089 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
5091 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
5092 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
5094 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
5095 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
5097 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
5099 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
5102 ** New function: scm_effective_version
5104 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
5105 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
5106 to the distribution" above.
5108 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
5110 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
5111 arguments are now passed directly:
5113 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
5115 This is an incompatible change.
5117 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
5119 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
5120 function in the init section.
5122 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
5124 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
5126 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
5127 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
5128 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
5129 stays roughly constant.
5131 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
5132 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
5133 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
5134 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
5135 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
5138 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
5139 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
5140 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
5141 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
5143 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
5144 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
5145 objects for every type.
5148 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
5150 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
5152 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
5154 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
5155 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
5156 initializes a new cell (see below).
5158 ** New functions for memory management
5160 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
5161 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
5162 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
5163 cause aborts in long running programs.
5165 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
5166 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
5168 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
5169 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
5170 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
5171 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
5172 details and for upgrading instructions.
5174 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
5175 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
5176 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
5178 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
5180 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
5181 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
5182 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
5183 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
5184 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
5186 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
5187 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
5188 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
5190 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
5191 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
5193 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
5195 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
5196 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
5197 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
5198 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
5199 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
5201 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
5203 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
5206 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
5208 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
5210 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
5212 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
5213 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
5215 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
5217 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
5218 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
5220 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
5221 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
5223 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
5225 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
5227 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
5228 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
5229 blocking it is not well defined.
5231 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
5233 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
5234 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
5235 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
5236 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
5237 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
5238 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
5239 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
5240 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
5241 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
5242 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
5243 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
5244 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
5245 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
5246 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
5247 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
5248 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
5249 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
5250 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
5251 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
5252 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
5253 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
5254 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
5255 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
5256 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
5257 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
5258 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
5259 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
5260 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
5261 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
5262 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
5263 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
5265 * Changes to bundled modules
5269 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
5270 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
5271 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
5272 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
5273 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
5276 Changes since Guile 1.4:
5278 * Changes to the distribution
5280 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
5282 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
5284 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
5285 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
5286 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
5287 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
5288 indicate major changes in Guile.
5290 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
5291 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
5292 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
5293 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
5295 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
5296 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
5297 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
5298 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
5299 micro version number.
5301 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
5303 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
5305 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
5306 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
5308 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
5310 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
5311 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
5312 See INSTALL and README for more information.
5314 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
5316 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
5317 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
5318 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
5321 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
5323 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
5326 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
5328 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
5329 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
5331 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
5333 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
5334 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
5337 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
5339 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
5342 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
5345 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
5347 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
5349 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
5350 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
5351 open-output-string, get-output-string.
5353 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
5355 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
5357 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
5360 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
5362 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
5364 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
5366 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
5367 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
5368 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
5370 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
5372 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
5374 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
5375 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
5384 See README there for more info.
5386 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
5387 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
5390 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
5392 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
5394 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
5396 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
5397 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
5398 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
5400 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
5402 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
5403 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
5404 to be named `and-let*', of course.
5406 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
5407 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
5409 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
5412 (oop goops describe)
5414 (oop goops active-slot)
5415 (oop goops composite-slot)
5417 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
5418 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
5419 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
5421 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
5423 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
5424 in the default environment:
5426 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
5427 %read-line write-line
5429 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
5430 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
5432 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
5434 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
5437 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
5438 can be used for similar functionality.
5440 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
5442 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
5443 it defines two procedures:
5445 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
5447 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
5448 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
5449 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
5452 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
5454 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
5455 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
5456 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
5457 write large strings.
5459 ** New module (ice-9 match)
5461 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
5462 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
5464 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
5466 for complete documentation.
5468 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
5470 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
5471 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
5472 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
5473 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
5475 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
5476 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
5480 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
5481 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
5482 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
5485 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
5488 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
5489 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
5491 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
5492 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
5495 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
5498 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
5500 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
5502 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5504 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
5506 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
5507 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
5508 Scheme programs easier.
5510 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
5511 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
5512 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
5513 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
5514 `cond-expand' when using this option.
5517 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
5518 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
5520 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
5523 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
5525 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
5526 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
5527 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
5530 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5532 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
5534 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
5535 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
5536 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
5537 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
5538 was also ASCII, for example.
5540 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
5542 tag - no replacement.
5543 fseek - replaced by seek.
5544 list* - replaced by cons*.
5546 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
5550 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
5551 (define m (make-safe-module))
5552 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
5553 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
5554 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
5556 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
5558 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
5559 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
5560 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
5562 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
5564 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
5565 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
5566 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
5567 from the issues related to the module system.
5569 *** New function: load-extension
5571 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
5573 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
5575 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
5576 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
5577 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
5579 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
5581 This function registers a initialization function for use by
5582 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
5583 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
5584 support dynamic linking).
5586 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
5588 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
5589 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
5590 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
5591 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
5594 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
5595 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
5596 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
5597 library and initialize it explicitly.
5599 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
5600 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
5602 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
5604 (define-module (foo bar))
5606 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
5608 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
5610 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
5611 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
5613 (scheme-report-environment 5)
5614 (null-environment 5)
5615 (interaction-environment)
5621 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
5623 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
5624 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
5625 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
5626 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
5628 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
5629 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
5630 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
5631 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
5632 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
5633 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
5634 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
5635 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
5636 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
5637 one eval to the next.
5639 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
5640 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
5641 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
5642 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
5643 subforms are at the top-level as well.
5645 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
5646 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
5647 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
5648 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
5649 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
5650 used in a lexical environment.
5652 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
5653 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
5654 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
5655 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
5656 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
5657 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
5659 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
5661 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
5662 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
5663 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
5664 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
5665 new facilities: selection and renaming.
5667 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
5668 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
5669 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
5671 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
5672 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
5674 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
5675 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
5676 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5678 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5679 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
5681 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
5682 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
5683 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
5684 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
5687 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
5688 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
5689 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
5690 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5692 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5693 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
5694 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
5696 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
5697 ;; and all four by upcasing.
5698 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
5699 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
5700 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
5702 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5704 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5705 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
5706 :renamer upcase-symbol))
5708 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
5709 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
5710 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
5712 See manual for more info.
5714 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
5716 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
5717 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
5718 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
5720 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
5722 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
5723 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
5724 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
5726 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
5727 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
5728 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
5729 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
5731 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
5733 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
5734 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
5736 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
5737 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
5738 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
5739 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
5740 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
5743 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
5744 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
5745 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
5746 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
5747 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
5748 successful and #f if it wasn't.
5750 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
5751 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
5752 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
5753 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
5754 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
5756 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
5757 objects are usually permanent.
5759 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
5760 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
5762 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
5764 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
5765 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
5768 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
5772 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
5777 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
5779 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
5780 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
5781 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
5782 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
5784 ** New function `make-object-property'
5786 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
5787 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
5791 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
5792 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
5796 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
5797 source properties eventually.
5799 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
5801 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
5802 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
5803 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
5805 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
5806 will be removed in the next release.
5808 ** New define-module option: pure
5810 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
5815 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
5818 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
5820 Export names NAME1 ...
5822 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
5823 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
5827 (define-module (foo)
5829 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
5832 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
5837 ** New function: object->string OBJ
5839 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
5841 ** New function: port? X
5843 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
5844 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
5846 ** New function: file-port?
5848 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
5850 ** New function: port-for-each proc
5852 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
5853 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
5854 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
5855 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
5856 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
5858 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
5860 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
5861 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
5862 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
5863 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
5864 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
5867 ** New function: close-fdes fd
5869 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
5870 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
5871 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
5872 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
5875 ** New function: crypt password salt
5877 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
5880 ** New function: chroot path
5882 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
5884 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
5886 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
5889 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
5891 Get or set the priority of the running process.
5893 ** New function: getpass prompt
5895 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
5898 ** New function: flock file operation
5900 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
5902 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
5904 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
5907 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
5909 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
5910 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
5911 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
5912 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
5913 of the temporary file.
5915 ** New function: open-input-string string
5917 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
5918 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
5919 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
5921 ** New function: open-output-string
5923 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
5924 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
5926 ** New function: get-output-string
5928 Return the contents of an output string port.
5930 ** New function: identity
5932 Return the argument.
5934 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
5935 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
5937 ** New function: inet-pton family address
5939 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
5940 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
5941 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
5944 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
5945 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
5947 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
5949 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
5950 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
5951 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
5954 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
5955 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
5956 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
5960 Use `identity' instead.
5966 ** Deprecated: return-it
5970 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
5972 Use `string-length' instead.
5974 ** Deprecated: flags
5976 Use `logior' instead.
5978 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
5980 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
5981 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
5982 port-for-each is more flexible.
5984 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
5985 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
5986 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
5988 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
5990 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
5992 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
5994 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
5996 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
5998 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
5999 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
6001 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
6002 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
6004 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
6005 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
6007 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
6009 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
6010 Removed function: builtin-bindings
6012 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
6013 Use module system operations for all variables.
6015 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
6017 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
6020 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
6022 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
6023 The following bugs have been fixed:
6025 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
6026 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
6029 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
6030 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
6031 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
6033 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
6034 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
6036 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
6037 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
6040 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
6041 The expansion used to be like so:
6043 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
6045 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
6047 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
6049 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
6050 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
6052 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
6054 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
6055 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
6056 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
6060 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
6061 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
6063 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
6068 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
6069 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
6071 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
6072 and `d', other keywords allowed.
6073 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
6075 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
6078 * Changes to the C interface
6080 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
6082 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
6083 with "_t". What a concept.
6085 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
6087 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
6089 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
6093 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
6094 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
6096 *** C Functions removed
6098 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
6099 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
6100 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
6101 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
6102 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
6103 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
6104 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
6106 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
6108 Use scm_mem2string instead.
6110 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
6112 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
6114 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
6115 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
6117 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
6119 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
6122 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
6124 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
6126 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
6128 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
6129 Evaluation" in the manual.
6131 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
6133 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
6134 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
6136 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
6138 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
6139 Constructors" in the manual.
6141 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
6143 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
6144 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
6146 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
6148 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
6150 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
6151 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
6152 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
6154 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
6156 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
6158 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
6159 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
6160 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
6163 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
6165 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
6167 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
6168 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
6170 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
6172 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
6173 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
6174 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
6175 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
6177 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
6178 scm_primitive_property_ref
6179 scm_primitive_property_set_x
6180 scm_primitive_property_del_x
6182 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
6183 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
6185 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
6187 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
6188 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
6189 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
6190 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
6192 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
6194 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
6195 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
6196 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
6197 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
6198 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
6199 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
6200 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
6202 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
6203 scm_remember_upto_here
6205 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
6207 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
6209 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
6210 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
6212 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
6214 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
6216 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
6218 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
6220 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
6222 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
6223 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
6224 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
6225 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
6226 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
6227 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
6229 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
6231 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
6233 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
6234 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
6235 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
6237 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
6239 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
6240 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
6241 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
6243 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
6245 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
6246 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
6249 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
6252 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
6253 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
6256 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
6258 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
6260 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
6262 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
6264 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
6266 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
6268 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
6269 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
6270 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
6271 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
6272 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
6273 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
6274 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
6275 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
6276 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
6277 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
6278 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
6279 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
6280 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
6281 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
6282 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
6284 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
6285 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
6286 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
6287 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
6288 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
6289 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
6290 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
6291 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
6292 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
6293 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
6294 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
6295 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
6296 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
6297 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
6298 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
6299 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
6300 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
6301 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
6302 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
6303 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
6304 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
6305 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
6306 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
6307 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
6308 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
6309 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
6310 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
6311 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
6312 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
6314 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
6316 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
6318 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
6319 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
6321 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
6323 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
6325 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
6327 Use scm_string_hash instead.
6329 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
6331 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
6333 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
6335 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
6337 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
6340 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
6341 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
6343 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
6345 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
6347 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
6349 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
6351 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
6353 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
6355 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
6357 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
6360 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
6362 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
6364 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
6366 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
6367 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
6369 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
6370 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
6372 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
6374 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
6375 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
6376 scm_module_define, scm_define.
6378 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
6380 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
6382 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
6383 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
6385 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
6386 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
6387 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
6388 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
6390 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
6391 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
6392 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
6394 Use the new ones from above instead.
6396 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
6398 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
6399 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
6400 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
6402 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
6403 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
6405 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
6406 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
6409 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
6410 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
6412 Use the new functions instead.
6414 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
6417 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
6419 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
6421 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
6424 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
6426 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
6429 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
6431 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
6434 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
6435 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
6436 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
6438 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
6440 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
6441 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
6443 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
6444 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
6445 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
6446 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
6449 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
6451 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
6452 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
6453 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
6454 inexact for an exact.
6456 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
6457 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
6458 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
6461 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
6462 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
6463 accept an inexact argument.
6465 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
6466 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
6468 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
6471 ** New number validation macros:
6472 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
6476 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
6478 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
6479 scm_unprotect_object.
6481 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
6483 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
6485 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
6488 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
6490 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
6494 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
6496 * Changes to the distribution
6498 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
6500 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
6501 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
6502 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
6503 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
6504 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
6505 obtain these programs.
6506 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
6507 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
6509 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
6510 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
6511 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
6512 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
6513 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
6515 However, this approach means that minor differences between
6516 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
6517 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
6518 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
6522 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
6525 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
6526 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
6527 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
6528 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
6530 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
6532 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
6534 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
6535 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
6537 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
6538 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
6540 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
6541 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
6543 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
6544 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
6545 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
6546 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
6548 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
6550 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
6554 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
6555 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
6557 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
6559 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
6560 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
6562 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
6563 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
6564 number of objects of that kind.
6566 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
6568 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
6569 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
6570 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
6571 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
6572 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
6574 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
6576 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
6578 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
6580 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
6583 ** New module (ice-9 time)
6585 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
6587 ** New module (ice-9 history)
6589 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
6591 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6593 ** New command line option --debug
6595 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
6597 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
6599 ** New help facility
6601 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
6602 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
6603 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
6604 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
6605 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
6606 (help) gives this text
6608 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
6609 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
6611 Examples: (help help)
6613 (help "output-string")
6615 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
6617 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
6619 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
6620 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
6623 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
6624 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
6625 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
6628 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
6629 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
6630 use absolute filenames when possible.
6632 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
6633 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
6634 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
6637 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
6639 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
6640 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
6641 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
6642 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
6644 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
6646 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
6648 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
6649 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
6650 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
6652 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
6653 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
6654 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
6656 (read-enable 'positions)
6657 (debug-enable 'debug)
6659 ** Backtraces in scripts
6661 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
6665 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
6667 at the top of the script.
6669 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
6670 The second enables backtraces.)
6672 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
6674 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
6675 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
6676 substantially faster than before.
6678 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
6679 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
6681 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
6682 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
6684 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
6686 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
6687 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
6688 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
6690 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
6691 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
6692 when this hook is run in the future.
6694 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
6695 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
6697 ** Improvements to garbage collector
6699 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
6700 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
6703 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
6704 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
6705 more and more memory for certain programs.)
6707 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
6708 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
6710 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
6711 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
6713 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
6714 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
6715 in order not to need further allocation.)
6717 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
6720 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
6721 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
6722 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
6723 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
6725 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
6727 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
6730 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
6732 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
6735 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
6736 GC in percent of total heap size
6739 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
6740 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
6742 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
6744 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
6745 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
6747 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
6749 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
6750 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
6752 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
6754 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
6755 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
6759 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
6760 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
6762 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
6764 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6766 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
6768 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
6770 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
6772 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
6773 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
6775 (simple-format port message . args)
6776 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
6777 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
6778 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
6779 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
6780 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
6781 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
6782 Does not add a trailing newline."
6784 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
6786 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
6787 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
6789 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
6790 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
6792 ** Deprecated: list*
6794 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
6796 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
6798 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
6799 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
6801 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
6802 is returned as result.
6804 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
6806 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
6808 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
6810 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
6811 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
6814 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
6816 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
6818 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
6819 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
6821 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6823 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
6825 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
6827 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6829 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
6831 Thanks to Greg Badros!
6833 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
6835 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
6836 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
6837 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
6839 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
6842 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
6844 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
6845 the readability of argument checking.
6847 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
6849 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
6851 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
6853 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
6854 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
6855 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
6856 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
6857 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
6858 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
6859 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
6861 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
6863 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
6865 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
6866 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
6868 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
6870 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
6871 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
6874 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
6876 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
6877 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
6878 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
6880 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
6881 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
6882 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
6884 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
6885 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
6886 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
6887 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
6888 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
6889 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
6890 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
6892 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
6893 scm_end_input (object);
6894 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
6895 ptob->flush (object);
6897 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
6898 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
6901 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
6903 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
6905 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
6906 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
6907 removed in a future version.
6909 ** The format of error message strings has changed
6911 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
6912 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
6913 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
6914 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
6916 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
6917 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
6919 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
6922 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
6924 in your configure.in.
6926 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
6931 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
6937 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
6939 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
6943 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
6944 (define make-message string-append)
6946 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
6948 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
6952 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
6957 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
6961 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
6963 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
6964 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
6966 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
6968 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
6969 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
6970 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
6971 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
6972 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
6973 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
6975 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
6976 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
6977 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
6979 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
6980 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
6981 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
6984 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
6985 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
6986 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
6987 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
6988 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
6990 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
6991 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
6992 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
6993 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
6994 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
6995 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
6996 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
6998 Destructors are not yet implemented.
7000 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
7001 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
7002 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
7004 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
7005 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
7006 KEY in the calling thread.
7008 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
7009 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
7010 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
7011 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
7012 associated with the key.
7014 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
7016 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
7017 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
7019 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
7021 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
7022 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
7023 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
7025 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
7027 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
7028 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
7030 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
7032 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
7034 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
7035 returned is undefined.
7037 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
7038 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
7039 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
7041 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
7042 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
7043 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
7045 ** New C level GC hooks
7047 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
7049 scm_before_gc_c_hook
7052 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
7053 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
7054 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
7056 scm_before_mark_c_hook
7057 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
7058 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
7060 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
7061 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
7064 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
7066 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
7067 allocation parameters
7069 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
7070 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
7071 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
7075 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
7076 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
7077 scm_default_max_segment_size
7079 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
7081 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
7082 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
7084 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
7086 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
7087 object and count on the object being protected until
7088 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
7090 The functions also have better time complexity.
7092 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
7093 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
7094 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
7095 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
7096 are no longer needed.
7098 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
7100 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
7101 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
7102 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
7103 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
7105 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
7107 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
7109 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
7111 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
7112 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
7113 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
7114 until this issue has been settled.
7116 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
7118 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
7120 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
7123 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
7125 * Changes to system call interfaces:
7127 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
7128 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
7129 descriptors were checked.
7131 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
7132 atomically written to a pipe.
7134 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
7135 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
7136 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
7137 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
7138 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
7139 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
7140 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
7143 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
7144 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
7145 is changed without calling tzset.
7147 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
7149 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
7150 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
7151 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
7153 (define write-network-long
7154 (lambda (value port)
7155 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
7156 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
7157 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
7159 (define read-network-long
7161 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
7162 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
7163 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
7165 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
7166 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
7168 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
7169 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
7170 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
7171 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
7173 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
7174 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
7175 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
7176 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
7180 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
7182 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7186 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
7187 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
7188 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
7194 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
7195 for a description of available commands.
7197 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
7198 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
7199 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
7201 (debug-enable 'backwards)
7203 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
7204 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
7206 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
7208 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
7210 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
7211 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
7212 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
7213 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
7214 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
7215 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
7218 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
7220 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
7221 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
7222 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
7223 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
7225 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
7226 the file and should not be affected by this change.
7228 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
7230 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7232 ** Readline support has changed again.
7234 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
7235 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
7236 to activate readline is now
7238 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
7241 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
7243 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
7244 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
7245 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
7248 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
7249 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
7250 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
7253 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
7254 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
7255 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
7256 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
7257 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
7258 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
7260 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
7261 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
7263 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
7265 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
7266 object it receives is the same string passed to
7267 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
7268 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
7269 string, not the suffix.
7271 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
7272 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
7273 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
7275 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
7277 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
7278 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
7279 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
7280 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
7283 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
7285 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
7287 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
7288 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
7289 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
7290 appear from left to right.
7292 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
7295 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
7297 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
7298 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
7300 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
7304 *** New function: hook? OBJ
7306 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
7308 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
7310 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
7311 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
7312 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
7314 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
7316 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
7318 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
7320 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
7323 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
7325 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
7326 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
7327 mentioning it here anyway.
7329 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
7331 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
7332 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
7333 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
7334 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
7337 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
7339 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
7341 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
7343 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
7344 otherwise return #f.
7346 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
7348 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
7349 returned by `opendir'.
7351 ** New function: using-readline?
7353 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
7355 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
7357 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
7358 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
7360 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7362 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
7364 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
7365 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
7366 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
7368 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
7370 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
7371 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
7373 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
7375 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
7376 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
7377 documentation slots are not yet used.
7379 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
7381 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
7382 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
7383 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
7388 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
7389 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
7390 (string-append x y))
7392 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
7393 can also be used for concatenating strings.
7395 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
7396 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
7397 be made in a clean way.]
7399 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
7401 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
7403 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
7405 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
7406 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
7408 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7410 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
7412 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
7414 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
7416 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
7417 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
7418 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
7419 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
7422 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7424 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
7426 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
7428 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
7430 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
7431 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
7433 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7435 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
7437 Evaluates the body of a special form.
7439 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
7441 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
7442 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
7443 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
7444 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
7445 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
7446 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
7448 This should not make any difference for most users.
7450 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
7452 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
7453 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
7455 *** New functions for applying generic functions
7457 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
7458 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
7459 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
7460 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
7461 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
7463 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
7465 It is now replaced by:
7467 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
7469 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
7470 binds a variable named NAME to it.
7472 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
7474 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
7475 This might change when we get the new module system.
7477 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
7481 Changes since Guile 1.3:
7483 * Changes to mailing lists
7485 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
7487 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
7490 * Changes to the distribution
7492 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
7494 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
7495 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
7496 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
7497 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
7498 you explicitly specify it.
7500 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
7501 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
7502 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
7503 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
7504 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
7507 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
7508 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
7509 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
7510 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
7512 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
7513 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
7514 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
7517 You can activate the readline support by issuing
7519 (use-modules (readline-activator))
7522 from your ".guile" file, for example.
7524 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7526 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
7527 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
7528 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
7529 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
7531 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
7532 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
7535 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7537 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
7538 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
7539 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
7540 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
7541 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
7542 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
7543 the Guile interpreter or other unwanted results. An example of
7544 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
7556 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
7557 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
7558 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
7559 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
7560 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
7565 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
7566 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
7574 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
7579 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
7580 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
7583 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
7584 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
7585 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
7586 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
7588 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
7590 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
7592 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
7593 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
7595 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
7597 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
7599 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
7600 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
7602 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
7605 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
7607 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
7609 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
7611 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
7613 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
7615 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
7617 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
7618 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
7619 when the hook was created.
7621 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
7622 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
7623 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
7624 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
7625 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
7626 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
7627 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
7628 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
7629 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
7631 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
7632 the dlopen family of functions.
7634 ** New function `provided?'
7636 - Function: provided? FEATURE
7637 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
7638 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
7639 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
7641 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
7643 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
7644 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
7645 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
7646 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
7649 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
7650 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
7651 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
7652 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
7654 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
7655 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
7656 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
7659 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
7660 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
7661 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
7662 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
7663 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
7664 but with the flag set.
7666 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
7668 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
7669 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
7671 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
7672 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
7673 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
7674 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
7675 available Scheme format implementations.
7677 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
7678 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
7679 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
7680 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
7681 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
7682 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
7683 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
7684 output is to the current error port if available by the
7685 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
7688 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
7689 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
7690 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
7691 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
7692 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
7693 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
7694 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
7695 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
7697 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
7698 be executed at a time.
7701 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
7703 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
7704 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
7705 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
7707 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
7708 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
7709 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
7710 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
7711 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
7712 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
7713 general form of a directive is:
7715 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
7717 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
7719 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
7721 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
7722 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
7723 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
7726 Any (print as `display' does).
7730 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
7734 S-expression (print as `write' does).
7738 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
7744 print number sign always.
7747 print comma separated.
7749 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
7755 print number sign always.
7758 print comma separated.
7760 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
7766 print number sign always.
7769 print comma separated.
7771 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
7777 print number sign always.
7780 print comma separated.
7782 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
7787 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
7791 print a number as a Roman numeral.
7794 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
7797 print a number as an ordinal English number.
7800 print a number as a cardinal English number.
7805 prints `y' and `ies'.
7808 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
7811 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
7816 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
7820 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
7823 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
7824 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
7826 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7829 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
7830 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
7832 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7835 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
7837 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
7839 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7842 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
7844 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
7846 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7849 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
7852 The sign appears before the padding.
7860 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
7862 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
7867 print N page separators.
7877 newline is ignored, white space left.
7880 newline is left, white space ignored.
7885 relative tabulation.
7891 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
7893 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
7896 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
7898 converts by `string-capitalize'.
7901 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
7904 converts by `string-upcase'.
7907 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
7909 jumps N arguments forward.
7912 jumps 1 argument backward.
7915 jumps N arguments backward.
7918 jumps to the 0th argument.
7921 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
7923 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
7924 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
7926 take argument from N.
7929 true test conditional.
7932 if-else-then conditional.
7938 default clause follows.
7941 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
7943 at most N iterations.
7946 args from next arg (a list of lists).
7949 args from the rest of arguments.
7952 args from the rest args (lists).
7963 aborts if N <= M <= K
7965 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
7968 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
7971 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
7977 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
7979 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
7981 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
7982 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
7983 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
7984 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
7985 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
7986 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
7990 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
7994 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
8000 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
8003 Print a `#\space' character
8005 print N `#\space' characters.
8008 Print a `#\tab' character
8010 print N `#\tab' characters.
8013 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
8014 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
8015 must be a positive decimal number.
8018 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
8019 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
8020 be processed by `read'.
8023 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
8024 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
8025 be processed by `read'.
8028 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
8031 prints format version.
8034 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
8035 and format it accordingly.
8037 *** Configuration Variables
8039 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
8040 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
8041 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
8042 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
8045 format:symbol-case-conv
8046 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
8047 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
8048 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
8049 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
8050 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
8052 format:iobj-case-conv
8053 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
8054 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
8057 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
8060 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
8066 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
8067 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
8068 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
8069 `format' padding style.
8072 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
8073 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
8074 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
8075 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
8079 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
8080 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
8081 directive parameters or modifiers)).
8084 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
8085 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
8086 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
8087 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
8088 parameters or modifiers)).
8091 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
8093 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
8095 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
8096 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
8098 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
8099 string-downcase! functions.
8101 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
8102 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
8104 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
8107 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
8110 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
8111 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
8113 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
8115 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
8116 the symbol had be read by `read'.
8118 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
8119 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
8120 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
8121 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
8122 would if STRING were input.
8124 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
8126 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
8127 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
8128 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
8129 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
8132 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
8134 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
8135 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
8138 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
8140 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
8141 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
8143 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
8144 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
8146 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
8147 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
8148 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
8149 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
8151 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
8152 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
8154 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
8155 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
8156 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
8158 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
8159 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
8161 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
8162 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
8163 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
8164 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
8165 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
8167 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
8168 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
8169 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
8170 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
8171 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
8172 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
8174 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
8175 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
8176 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
8179 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
8180 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
8181 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
8182 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
8183 the following grammar:
8184 ((apples (single-char #\a))
8185 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
8186 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
8187 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
8188 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
8189 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
8190 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
8191 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
8192 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
8193 last option in its combination)
8195 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
8196 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
8197 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
8198 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
8200 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
8201 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
8202 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
8204 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
8205 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
8206 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
8208 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
8209 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
8210 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
8211 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
8212 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
8213 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
8214 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
8215 ordinary argument strings.
8217 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
8218 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
8219 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
8220 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
8222 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
8223 as a list, associated with the empty list.
8225 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
8226 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
8227 - a required option is omitted
8228 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
8229 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
8230 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
8231 - an option predicate fails
8236 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
8239 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
8240 (verbose (required? #f)
8243 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
8244 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
8245 (predicate ,string?))))
8247 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
8248 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
8250 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
8251 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
8252 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
8253 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
8256 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
8258 It will be removed in a few releases.
8260 ** New syntax: lambda*
8261 ** New syntax: define*
8262 ** New syntax: define*-public
8263 ** New syntax: defmacro*
8264 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
8265 Guile now supports optional arguments.
8267 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
8268 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
8269 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
8270 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
8271 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
8273 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
8274 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
8275 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
8277 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
8279 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
8280 and examples for `lambda*':
8283 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
8285 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
8286 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
8287 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
8288 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
8289 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
8290 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
8291 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
8292 can be checked with the bound? macro.
8294 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
8296 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
8297 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
8298 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
8299 are given as keywords are bound to values.
8301 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
8302 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
8303 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
8304 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
8305 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
8306 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
8307 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
8308 and until the procedure is called.
8310 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
8312 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
8313 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
8314 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
8315 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
8316 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
8317 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
8318 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
8319 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
8320 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
8321 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
8323 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
8324 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
8325 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
8326 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
8329 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
8331 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
8332 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
8333 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
8334 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
8336 ** New syntax: and-let*
8337 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
8339 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
8340 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
8341 (<variable> <expression>)
8344 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
8345 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
8346 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
8349 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
8350 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
8351 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
8352 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
8353 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
8354 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
8355 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
8357 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
8358 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
8359 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
8360 shadow earlier bindings.
8362 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
8364 ** New sorting functions
8366 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
8367 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
8368 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
8369 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
8371 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
8372 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
8375 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
8376 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
8377 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
8379 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
8380 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
8381 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
8382 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
8384 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
8385 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
8386 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
8387 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
8388 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
8391 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
8392 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
8393 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
8394 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
8395 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
8396 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
8398 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
8399 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
8400 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
8402 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
8403 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
8404 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
8407 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
8408 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
8409 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
8411 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
8412 Added for compatibility with scsh.
8414 ** New built-in random number support
8416 *** New function: random N [STATE]
8417 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
8418 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
8419 returned have a uniform distribution.
8421 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
8422 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
8423 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
8424 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
8425 effect of the `random' operation.
8427 *** New variable: *random-state*
8428 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
8429 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
8430 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
8431 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
8432 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
8435 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
8436 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
8437 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
8438 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
8439 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
8441 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
8442 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
8443 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
8444 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
8445 initialized using SEED.
8447 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
8448 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
8449 range between 0 and 1.
8451 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
8452 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
8453 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
8454 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
8455 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
8456 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
8457 or a uniform vector of doubles.
8459 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
8460 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
8461 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
8462 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
8463 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
8464 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
8466 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
8467 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
8468 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
8469 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
8471 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
8472 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
8473 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
8474 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
8476 *** New function: random:exp STATE
8477 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
8478 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
8480 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
8482 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
8485 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
8486 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
8489 ** New function: make-guardian
8490 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
8491 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
8492 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
8493 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
8494 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
8496 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
8497 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
8498 one object if at all.
8500 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
8501 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
8502 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
8504 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
8505 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
8506 read again in last-in first-out order.
8508 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
8509 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
8511 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
8513 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
8514 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
8515 file position is used.
8517 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
8518 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
8519 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
8521 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
8522 redefined using seek.
8524 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
8525 size is not supplied.
8527 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
8528 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
8530 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
8531 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
8533 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
8535 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
8536 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
8537 and returns the contents as a single string.
8539 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
8540 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
8541 lists in serial order.
8543 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
8544 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
8545 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
8547 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
8548 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
8549 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
8550 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
8552 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
8553 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
8554 and #f if an error occured.
8556 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
8558 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
8559 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
8560 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
8561 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
8563 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
8565 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
8568 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
8570 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
8573 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8577 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
8578 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
8580 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
8581 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
8585 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8587 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
8589 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
8590 binds a variable named NAME to it.
8592 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
8594 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
8595 might change when we get the new module system.
8597 ** The smob interface
8599 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
8600 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
8602 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
8604 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
8608 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
8609 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
8610 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
8611 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
8612 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
8613 will be freed by the default free function.
8615 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
8616 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
8617 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8618 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8620 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
8621 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
8622 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8623 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8625 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
8627 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
8628 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
8632 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
8633 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8634 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8636 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
8637 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
8638 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8639 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8641 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
8642 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
8643 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
8645 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
8646 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
8647 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
8648 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
8650 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
8651 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
8652 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
8654 *** scm_newptob has been removed
8658 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
8660 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
8661 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
8662 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
8664 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
8665 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
8666 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
8668 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
8669 a string port's buffer.
8671 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
8672 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
8673 function pointers which together define the current random number
8674 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
8675 number library functions.
8677 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
8680 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
8681 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
8684 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
8685 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
8687 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
8688 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
8690 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
8691 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
8694 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
8695 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
8696 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
8697 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
8699 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
8700 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
8701 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
8702 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
8703 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
8704 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
8705 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
8707 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
8708 by libguile and the application.
8710 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
8711 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
8712 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
8713 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
8715 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
8716 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
8718 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
8719 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
8720 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
8722 ** Random number library functions
8723 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
8724 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
8725 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
8727 The default random state is stored in:
8729 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
8730 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
8731 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
8736 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
8738 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
8739 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
8740 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
8741 isn't a random state.
8743 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
8744 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
8746 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
8747 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
8748 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
8749 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
8751 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8752 Return 32 random bits.
8754 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8755 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
8757 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8758 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
8760 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8761 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
8763 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
8764 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
8766 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
8767 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
8768 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
8772 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
8774 * Changes to the distribution
8776 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
8777 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
8778 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
8781 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
8782 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
8783 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
8785 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
8786 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
8787 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
8788 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
8791 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
8792 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
8793 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
8795 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
8797 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
8799 *** Function: batch-mode?
8801 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
8804 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
8806 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
8807 case has not been implemented.
8809 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
8810 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
8811 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
8814 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
8815 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
8817 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
8819 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
8821 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
8823 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
8824 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
8827 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
8828 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
8829 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
8830 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
8833 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
8835 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
8836 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
8837 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
8838 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
8839 find those libraries.
8841 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
8842 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
8845 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
8847 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
8848 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
8849 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
8850 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
8852 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
8853 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
8854 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
8858 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
8860 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
8861 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
8862 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
8865 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
8866 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
8867 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
8868 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
8870 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
8871 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
8874 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
8875 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
8876 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
8877 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
8878 compiler where to find the libraries.
8880 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
8881 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
8882 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
8884 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
8885 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
8886 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
8887 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
8888 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
8892 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
8894 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
8895 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
8896 internationalization support.
8898 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
8899 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
8900 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
8901 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
8902 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
8904 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
8905 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
8906 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
8907 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
8908 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
8910 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
8911 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
8912 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
8913 any GNU mirror site.
8915 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
8917 ** New function: add-history STRING
8918 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
8919 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
8920 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
8922 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
8924 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
8925 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
8926 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
8929 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
8930 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
8931 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
8933 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
8935 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
8938 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
8939 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
8942 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
8943 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
8944 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
8945 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
8946 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
8947 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
8949 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
8950 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
8951 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
8952 of the form mentioned above.
8954 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
8955 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
8956 returned in the special `rest' list.
8958 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
8959 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
8961 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
8963 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
8965 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
8967 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
8968 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
8969 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
8970 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
8971 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
8972 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
8973 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
8974 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
8977 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
8979 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
8981 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
8982 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
8985 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
8986 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
8987 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
8991 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
8992 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
8993 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
8994 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
8995 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
8996 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
8997 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
8998 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
9001 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
9003 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
9004 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
9005 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
9007 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
9009 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
9010 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
9012 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
9013 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
9014 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
9016 Why do we have this function?
9017 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
9018 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
9019 primitive, and display it differently, and
9020 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
9021 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
9024 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
9025 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
9028 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
9029 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
9030 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
9031 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
9033 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
9034 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
9037 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
9038 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
9040 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
9042 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
9043 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
9044 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
9045 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
9046 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
9047 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
9048 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
9051 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
9053 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
9054 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
9056 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
9057 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
9058 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
9059 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
9060 properly continue the print chain.
9062 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
9063 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
9064 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
9065 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
9066 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
9067 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
9068 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
9069 print-state, it is simply ignored.
9071 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
9072 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
9073 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
9074 safest to not check for these pairs.
9076 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
9077 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
9078 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
9079 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
9081 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
9083 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
9084 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
9086 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
9088 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
9090 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
9091 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
9092 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
9094 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
9095 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
9096 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
9098 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
9099 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
9100 the following functions and macros:
9102 Function: make-fluid
9104 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
9105 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
9106 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
9107 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
9108 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
9110 Function: fluid? OBJ
9112 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
9114 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
9115 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
9117 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
9118 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
9120 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
9122 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
9123 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
9124 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
9125 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
9126 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
9127 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
9128 modified by `with-fluids*'.
9130 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
9132 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
9133 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
9134 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
9135 should evaluate to a fluid.
9137 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
9139 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
9140 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
9141 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
9142 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
9143 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
9145 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
9148 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
9150 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
9152 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
9154 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
9157 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
9158 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
9159 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
9160 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
9161 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
9164 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
9165 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
9166 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
9168 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
9169 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
9170 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
9172 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
9173 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
9174 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
9175 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
9177 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
9178 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
9179 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
9180 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
9182 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
9183 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
9184 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
9185 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
9187 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
9188 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
9189 their revealed counts set to zero.
9191 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9192 Returns an integer file descriptor.
9194 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9195 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
9197 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9198 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
9200 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9201 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
9202 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
9204 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
9205 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
9206 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
9208 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
9209 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
9210 default environment inherited by child processes.
9212 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
9213 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
9214 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
9216 The return value is unspecified.
9218 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
9219 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
9220 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
9221 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
9222 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
9224 The return value is unspecified.
9226 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
9227 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
9235 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
9236 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
9239 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
9242 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
9243 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
9244 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
9246 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
9247 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
9248 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
9249 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
9252 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
9253 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
9255 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
9256 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
9257 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
9258 the `environ' procedure.
9260 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
9261 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
9264 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
9265 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
9267 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
9268 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
9269 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
9270 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
9272 *** procedure: times
9273 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
9274 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
9275 return a selected component:
9278 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
9282 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
9285 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
9289 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
9290 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
9294 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
9295 terminated child processes.
9297 ** Removed: list-length
9298 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
9299 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
9301 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
9303 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
9305 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
9307 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
9308 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
9309 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
9310 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
9312 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
9313 extra complexity it introduces.
9315 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
9316 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
9318 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
9319 variable to any non-empty value.
9321 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
9322 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
9324 * Changes to the gh_ interface
9326 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
9327 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
9329 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
9331 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
9332 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
9334 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
9336 ** vector handling routines
9338 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
9339 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
9340 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
9341 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
9342 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
9344 ** pair and list routines
9346 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
9349 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
9351 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
9354 * Changes to the scm_ interface
9356 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
9358 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
9359 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
9360 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
9361 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
9362 site-specific initialization code.
9364 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
9365 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
9366 initialization processes.
9368 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
9369 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
9370 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
9371 initialized properly.
9373 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
9374 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
9375 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
9377 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
9378 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
9379 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
9380 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
9381 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
9383 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
9385 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
9386 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
9387 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
9388 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
9389 objects the smob refers to get marked.
9391 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
9392 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
9393 which look like this:
9396 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
9398 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
9399 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
9402 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
9403 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
9406 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
9408 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
9409 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
9410 you will need to change your functions slightly.
9412 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
9413 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
9414 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
9415 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
9416 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
9418 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
9419 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
9421 int (*free) (SCM port);
9422 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
9423 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
9424 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
9428 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
9429 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
9430 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
9432 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
9435 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
9436 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
9437 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
9439 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
9440 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
9441 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
9444 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
9448 struct timeval *timeout);
9450 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
9451 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
9452 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
9453 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
9454 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
9455 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
9457 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
9458 scm_catch_body_t body,
9460 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
9463 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
9464 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
9465 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
9466 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
9467 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
9468 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
9470 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
9472 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
9475 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
9476 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
9477 spawning threads from application C code.
9479 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
9480 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
9481 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
9482 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
9483 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
9484 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
9486 ** Removed functions:
9488 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
9489 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
9491 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
9493 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
9494 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
9496 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
9498 ** mbstrings are now removed
9500 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
9501 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
9503 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
9505 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
9506 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
9507 their new names and arguments:
9509 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
9510 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
9511 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
9512 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
9515 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
9517 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
9519 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
9522 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
9524 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
9525 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
9526 pass a #f arg to catch.
9528 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
9530 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
9531 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
9534 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
9535 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
9536 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
9537 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
9538 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
9539 reclaim its storage.
9541 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
9542 worrying that some other function you call will call
9543 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
9544 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
9545 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
9546 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
9549 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
9551 * Changes to the distribution
9553 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
9554 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
9557 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
9558 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
9560 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
9561 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
9563 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
9565 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
9566 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
9567 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
9569 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
9571 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
9572 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
9573 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
9574 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
9575 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
9576 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
9578 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
9579 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
9580 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
9583 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
9584 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
9585 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
9586 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
9588 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
9589 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
9590 libraries to your link command:
9592 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
9593 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
9594 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
9595 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
9597 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
9598 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
9599 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
9601 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
9603 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
9604 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
9607 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
9609 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
9610 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
9611 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
9612 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
9613 searched is system dependent.
9615 (dynamic-object? VAL)
9617 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
9619 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
9621 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
9622 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
9624 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
9626 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
9627 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
9628 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
9629 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
9630 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
9633 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
9635 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
9636 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
9637 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
9638 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
9639 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
9641 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
9643 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
9644 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
9646 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
9648 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
9649 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
9650 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
9653 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
9655 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
9656 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
9657 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
9658 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
9660 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
9661 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
9663 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
9665 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
9666 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
9668 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
9670 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
9671 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
9679 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
9681 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
9682 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
9683 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
9684 a more informative way.
9686 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
9687 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
9688 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
9689 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
9690 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
9691 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
9693 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
9694 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
9697 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
9698 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
9699 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
9702 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
9703 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
9704 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
9705 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
9706 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
9707 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
9709 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
9710 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
9711 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
9712 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
9715 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
9716 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
9717 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
9718 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
9719 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
9720 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
9722 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
9723 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
9724 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
9725 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
9726 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
9728 *** regexp functions
9730 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
9731 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
9732 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
9734 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
9735 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
9736 with SCSH regular expressions.
9738 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
9739 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
9740 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
9741 position of STR at which to begin matching.
9743 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
9744 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
9745 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
9746 `string-match' returns `#f'.
9748 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
9749 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
9750 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
9751 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
9752 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
9753 match strings against the compiled regexp.
9755 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
9756 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
9757 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
9758 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
9759 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
9761 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
9763 **** Constant: regexp/extended
9764 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
9765 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
9766 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
9768 **** Constant: regexp/icase
9769 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
9770 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
9772 **** Constant: regexp/newline
9773 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
9775 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
9778 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
9779 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
9780 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
9782 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
9783 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
9784 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
9786 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
9787 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
9788 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
9789 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
9790 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
9793 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
9795 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
9796 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
9797 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
9798 used when different portions of a string are passed to
9799 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
9800 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
9802 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
9803 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
9804 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
9806 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
9807 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
9810 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
9811 and replace them with the contents of another string.
9813 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
9814 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
9815 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
9816 may be one of the following arguments:
9818 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
9820 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
9822 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
9823 the regexp match is written.
9825 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
9826 following the regexp match is written.
9828 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
9829 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
9832 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
9833 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
9834 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
9835 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
9836 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
9837 which should be matched against this regular expression.
9839 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
9842 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
9843 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
9844 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
9845 written out to PORT.
9847 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
9848 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
9849 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
9850 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
9851 will return after processing a single match.
9853 *** Match Structures
9855 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
9856 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
9857 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
9858 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
9859 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
9860 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
9863 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
9864 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
9865 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
9866 information about the original target string that was matched against a
9867 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
9869 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
9870 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
9871 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
9873 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
9874 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
9875 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
9876 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
9877 number N did not match, return `#f'.
9879 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
9880 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
9882 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
9883 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
9885 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
9886 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
9888 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
9889 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
9891 **** Function: match:count MATCH
9892 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
9893 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
9894 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
9896 **** Function: match:string MATCH
9897 Return the original TARGET string.
9899 *** Backslash Escapes
9901 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
9902 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
9903 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
9904 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
9905 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
9906 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
9908 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
9909 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
9910 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
9911 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
9912 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
9913 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
9914 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
9915 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
9917 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
9918 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
9919 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
9920 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
9921 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
9922 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
9923 each match a single backslash in the target string.
9925 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
9926 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
9927 return the resulting string.
9929 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
9930 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
9931 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
9932 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
9933 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
9934 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
9935 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
9936 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
9937 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
9938 translated to the single character `*'.
9940 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
9941 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
9942 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
9943 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
9944 consecutive backslashes:
9946 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
9948 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
9949 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
9950 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
9952 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
9953 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
9954 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
9955 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
9956 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
9957 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
9959 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
9961 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
9962 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
9963 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
9964 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
9965 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
9966 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
9967 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
9968 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
9969 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
9970 cumbersome escape syntax.
9972 * Changes to the gh_ interface
9974 * Changes to the scm_ interface
9976 * Changes to system call interfaces:
9978 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
9981 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
9983 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
9985 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
9988 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
9989 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
9990 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
9991 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
9992 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
9994 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
9995 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
9996 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
9997 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
9998 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
9999 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
10000 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
10003 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
10004 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
10005 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
10008 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
10009 `force-output' on every port open for output.
10011 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
10012 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
10013 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
10014 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
10015 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
10016 installed, you can say:
10018 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
10021 * Changes to the scm_ interface
10023 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
10024 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
10025 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
10026 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
10027 new dynamic roots and threads.
10030 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
10032 * Changes to the distribution.
10034 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
10036 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
10037 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
10038 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
10039 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
10040 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
10041 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
10042 programming language. These are packaged together because the
10043 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
10045 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
10048 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
10049 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
10050 will distribute it.
10054 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
10056 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
10057 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
10059 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
10060 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
10061 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
10062 the (command-line) function.
10063 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
10064 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
10065 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
10067 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
10068 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
10069 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
10070 command line arguments
10071 -ds do -s script at this point
10072 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
10073 -h, --help display this help and exit
10074 -v, --version display version information and exit
10075 \ read arguments from following script lines
10077 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
10078 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
10080 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
10082 (define (main args)
10083 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
10087 (main (command-line))
10089 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
10091 ekko a speckled gecko
10093 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
10094 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
10095 following list of command-line arguments:
10097 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
10099 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
10100 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
10101 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
10102 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
10103 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
10105 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
10107 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
10109 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
10110 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
10113 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
10114 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
10115 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
10116 SCSH) for circumventing them.
10118 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
10119 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
10120 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
10121 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
10123 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
10126 (define (main args)
10127 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
10131 If the user invokes this script as follows:
10133 ekko a speckled gecko
10135 Unix expands this into
10137 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
10139 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
10140 read from the second line of the script, producing:
10142 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
10144 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
10145 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
10147 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
10148 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
10149 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
10150 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
10151 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
10152 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
10153 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
10154 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
10155 it only terminates the argument list.)
10156 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
10157 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
10158 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
10159 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
10160 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
10161 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
10162 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
10163 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
10165 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
10167 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
10168 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
10169 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
10170 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
10171 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
10173 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
10174 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
10175 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
10177 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
10179 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
10180 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
10181 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
10182 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
10185 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
10186 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
10187 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
10189 * Changes to Scheme functions
10191 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
10192 and disabled by default.
10194 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
10195 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
10196 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
10197 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
10199 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
10201 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
10203 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
10204 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
10206 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
10207 (read-set! keywords #f)
10209 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
10210 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
10211 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
10214 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
10215 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
10216 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
10217 `array-index-map!'.
10219 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
10220 support for Scheme functions.
10222 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
10223 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
10224 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
10225 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
10228 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
10229 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
10230 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
10233 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
10234 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
10235 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
10238 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
10239 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
10240 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
10241 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
10242 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
10243 display the result as a prompt.
10244 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
10246 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
10247 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
10248 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
10251 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
10252 procedure of zero arguments.
10254 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
10255 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
10256 argument is bound in the current module.
10258 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
10259 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
10260 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
10261 public bindings into the current module.
10263 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
10264 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
10266 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
10267 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
10269 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
10270 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
10272 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
10273 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
10275 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
10276 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
10278 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
10279 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
10280 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
10281 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
10282 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
10284 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
10285 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
10286 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
10287 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
10289 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
10292 ** Changes to I/O functions
10294 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
10295 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
10296 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
10298 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
10299 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
10300 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
10302 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
10303 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
10305 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
10306 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
10307 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
10308 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
10310 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
10312 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
10313 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
10315 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
10316 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
10317 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
10318 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
10319 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
10322 'trim omit delimiter from result
10323 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
10324 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
10325 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
10327 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
10329 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
10330 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
10332 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
10333 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
10334 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
10335 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
10336 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
10338 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
10339 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
10340 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
10342 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
10343 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
10344 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
10345 above, and defaults to 'peek.
10347 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
10348 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
10350 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
10351 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
10353 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
10355 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
10356 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
10357 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
10358 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
10359 a delimiting character.
10360 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
10362 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
10363 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
10364 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
10365 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
10366 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
10367 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
10369 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
10370 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
10372 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
10373 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
10374 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
10376 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
10377 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
10378 the array to read and write.
10380 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
10381 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
10384 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
10386 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
10389 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
10390 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
10391 Values for COMMAND are:
10393 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
10394 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
10395 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
10396 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
10397 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
10398 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
10399 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
10400 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
10402 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
10404 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
10405 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
10406 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
10407 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
10408 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
10409 corresponding return set will be the same.
10411 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
10414 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
10415 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
10416 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
10417 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
10418 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
10419 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
10420 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
10421 special file being created.
10423 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
10424 clashing with various SCSH forks.
10426 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
10427 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
10428 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
10429 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
10430 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
10431 and originating address.
10433 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
10434 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
10435 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
10437 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
10440 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
10441 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
10444 (status:exit-val STATUS)
10445 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
10446 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
10447 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
10448 this function returns #f.
10450 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
10451 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
10452 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
10455 (status:term-sig STATUS)
10456 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
10457 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
10460 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
10461 a valid STATUS value.
10463 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
10465 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
10466 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
10468 Component Accessor Setter
10469 ========================= ============ ============
10470 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
10471 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
10472 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
10473 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
10474 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
10475 year tm:year set-tm:year
10476 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
10477 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
10478 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
10479 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
10480 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
10482 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
10483 describing the host system:
10486 ============================================== ================
10487 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
10488 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
10489 release level of the operating system utsname:release
10490 version level of the operating system utsname:version
10491 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
10493 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
10494 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
10495 system's user database:
10498 ====================== =================
10499 user name passwd:name
10500 user password passwd:passwd
10502 group id passwd:gid
10503 real name passwd:gecos
10504 home directory passwd:dir
10505 shell program passwd:shell
10507 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
10508 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
10509 system's group database:
10512 ======================= ============
10513 group name group:name
10514 group password group:passwd
10516 group members group:mem
10518 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
10519 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
10523 ========================= ===============
10524 official name of host hostent:name
10525 alias list hostent:aliases
10526 host address type hostent:addrtype
10527 length of address hostent:length
10528 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
10530 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
10531 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
10535 ========================= ===============
10536 official name of net netent:name
10537 alias list netent:aliases
10538 net number type netent:addrtype
10539 net number netent:net
10541 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
10542 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
10543 internet protocols:
10546 ========================= ===============
10547 official protocol name protoent:name
10548 alias list protoent:aliases
10549 protocol number protoent:proto
10551 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
10552 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
10553 internet protocols:
10556 ========================= ===============
10557 official service name servent:name
10558 alias list servent:aliases
10559 port number servent:port
10560 protocol to use servent:proto
10562 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
10563 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
10566 ======================================== ===============
10567 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
10568 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
10569 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
10570 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
10572 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
10573 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
10574 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
10576 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
10577 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
10579 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
10580 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
10582 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
10583 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
10585 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
10587 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
10589 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
10590 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
10591 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
10593 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
10594 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
10595 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
10596 return the remaining characters as a string.
10598 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
10599 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
10600 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
10602 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
10604 * Changes to the gh_ interface
10606 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
10609 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
10612 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
10613 and returns the array
10615 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
10616 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
10617 the user to interpret the data both ways.
10619 * Changes to the scm_ interface
10621 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
10622 symbol's value from C code:
10624 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
10625 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
10626 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
10627 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
10629 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
10630 without assigning them a value.
10632 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
10633 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
10634 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
10636 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
10637 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
10638 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
10640 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
10641 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
10643 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
10644 doesn't actually care about that.
10646 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
10647 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
10648 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
10650 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
10651 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
10652 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
10653 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
10654 which we have just created and initialized.
10656 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
10657 should one occur. We call it like this:
10658 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
10660 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
10661 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
10662 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
10663 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
10664 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
10665 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
10668 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
10669 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
10670 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
10671 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
10672 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
10673 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
10674 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
10675 enclosed variables.
10677 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
10678 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
10679 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
10680 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
10681 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
10684 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
10685 scm_internal_catch, except:
10687 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
10688 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
10689 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
10690 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
10693 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
10694 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
10695 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
10697 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
10698 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
10699 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
10700 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
10703 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
10704 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
10705 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
10707 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
10708 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
10709 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
10710 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
10711 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
10713 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
10714 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
10715 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
10717 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
10718 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
10719 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
10721 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
10722 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
10724 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
10725 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
10726 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
10729 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
10730 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
10731 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
10732 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
10733 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
10734 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
10735 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
10736 interpreter" above.
10738 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
10739 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
10741 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
10742 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
10743 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
10744 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
10745 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
10748 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
10749 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
10751 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
10752 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
10755 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
10756 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
10758 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10761 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
10762 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
10763 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
10764 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
10765 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
10766 given the following arguments:
10768 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
10770 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
10772 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
10774 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10777 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
10778 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
10779 command-line arguments.
10781 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
10782 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
10783 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
10784 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
10785 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
10786 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
10789 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10792 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
10793 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
10795 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
10796 rearranged slightly. They are now:
10798 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10799 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
10800 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
10801 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
10803 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10804 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
10806 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10807 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
10808 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
10809 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
10811 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10812 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
10814 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
10815 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
10817 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
10819 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
10820 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
10821 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
10824 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
10825 returns a port instead of an FD object.
10827 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
10828 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
10833 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
10836 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
10838 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
10839 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
10840 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
10841 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
10843 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
10845 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
10847 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
10848 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
10849 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
10850 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
10851 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
10852 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
10853 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
10854 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
10855 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
10856 for more information.
10858 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
10859 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
10861 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
10862 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
10863 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
10864 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
10865 following two lines at the top of the file:
10867 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
10870 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
10871 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
10872 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
10874 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
10876 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
10878 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
10881 (display (car args))
10882 (if (pair? (cdr args))
10884 (loop (cdr args)))))
10887 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
10888 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
10889 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
10890 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
10891 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
10892 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
10896 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
10899 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
10902 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
10904 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
10905 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
10906 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
10907 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
10908 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
10911 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
10912 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
10913 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
10914 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
10915 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
10918 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
10921 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
10922 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
10923 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
10926 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
10927 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
10928 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
10930 to see a backtrace, and
10931 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
10932 to see them by default.
10936 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
10938 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
10940 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
10941 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
10944 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
10945 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
10946 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
10947 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
10950 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
10951 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
10952 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
10953 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
10954 functions which inspired them.
10956 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
10957 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
10961 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
10963 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
10965 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
10966 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
10969 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
10970 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
10971 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
10973 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
10974 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
10975 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
10976 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
10977 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
10979 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
10981 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
10982 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
10983 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
10986 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
10989 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
10991 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
10992 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
10993 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
10994 above should serve their purposes.
10996 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
10997 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
10998 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
10999 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
11001 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
11004 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
11005 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
11006 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
11007 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
11009 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
11010 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
11011 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
11012 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
11014 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
11015 for the `read' function.
11018 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
11019 to that of `integer?'.
11021 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
11022 use the R4RS names for these functions.
11024 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
11025 it simply returns the object's property list.
11027 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
11028 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
11029 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
11030 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
11032 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
11034 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
11037 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
11039 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
11040 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
11042 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
11044 void (*main_func) (),
11047 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
11048 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
11049 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
11050 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
11051 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
11053 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
11054 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
11055 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
11056 know which arguments have been processed.
11058 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
11059 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
11060 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
11061 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
11062 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
11064 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
11065 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
11066 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
11067 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
11068 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
11069 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
11070 people from making that mistake.
11072 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
11073 convenient ways to override these when desired.
11075 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
11077 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
11081 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
11084 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
11085 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
11086 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
11087 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
11090 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
11091 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
11092 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
11093 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
11096 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
11097 have been added to the Guile library.
11099 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
11100 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
11101 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
11104 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
11105 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
11106 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
11108 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
11109 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
11110 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
11111 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
11112 argument from the list.
11115 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
11118 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
11119 null-terminated string, and returns it.
11121 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
11122 to a Scheme port object.
11124 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
11125 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
11130 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
11132 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
11133 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
11134 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
11135 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
11136 code as a special datatype.
11138 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
11139 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
11140 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
11141 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
11142 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
11145 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
11146 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
11147 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
11148 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
11149 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
11151 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
11154 Copyright information:
11156 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
11158 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
11159 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
11160 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
11161 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
11163 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
11164 of this document, or of portions of it,
11165 under the above conditions, provided also that they
11166 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
11171 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"