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.
8 Changes in 2.0.11 (since 2.0.10):
10 This release fixes an embarrassing regression introduced in the C
11 interface to SRFI-4 vectors. See
12 <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2014-03/msg00047.html>
16 Changes in 2.0.10 (since 2.0.9):
20 ** New GDB extension to support Guile
22 Guile now comes with an extension for GDB 7.8 or later (unreleased at
23 the time of writing) that simplifies debugging of C code that uses
24 Guile. See "GDB Support" in the manual.
26 ** Improved integration between R6RS and native Guile exceptions
28 R6RS exception handlers, established using 'with-exception-handler' or
29 'guard', are now able to catch native Guile exceptions, which are
30 automatically converted into appropriate R6RS condition objects.
32 ** Support for HTTP proxies
34 Guile's built-in web client now honors the 'http_proxy' environment
35 variable, as well as the new 'current-http-proxy' parameter. See
36 "Web Client" in the manual for details.
38 ** Lexical syntax improvements
40 *** Support |...| symbol notation.
42 Guile's core reader and printer now support the R7RS |...| notation
43 for writing symbols with arbitrary characters, as a more portable and
44 attractive alternative to Guile's native #{...}# notation. To enable
45 this notation by default, put one or both of the following in your
48 (read-enable 'r7rs-symbols)
49 (print-enable 'r7rs-symbols)
51 *** Support '#true' and '#false' notation for booleans.
53 The booleans '#t' and '#f' may now be written as '#true' and '#false'
54 for improved readability, per R7RS.
56 *** Recognize '#\escape' character name.
58 The escape character '#\esc' may now be written as '#\escape', per R7RS.
60 *** Accept "\|" in string literals.
62 The pipe character may now be preceded by a backslash, per R7RS.
64 ** Custom binary input ports now support 'setvbuf'.
66 Until now, ports returned by 'make-custom-binary-input-port' were always
67 full-buffered. Now, their buffering mode can be changed using 'setvbuf'.
69 ** SRFI-4 predicates and length accessors no longer accept arrays.
71 Given that the SRFI-4 accessors don't work for arrays, the fact that the
72 predicates and length accessors returned true for arrays was a bug.
74 ** GUILE_PROGS now supports specifying a minimum required version.
76 The 'GUILE_PROGS' autoconf macro in guile.m4 now allows an optional
77 argument to specify a minimum required Guile version. By default, it
78 requires Guile >= 2.0. A micro version can also be specified, e.g.:
81 ** Error reporting improvements
83 *** Improved run-time error reporting in (ice-9 match).
85 If no pattern matches in a 'match' form, the datum that failed to match
86 is printed along with the location of the failed 'match' invocation.
88 *** Print the faulty object upon invalid-keyword errors.
89 *** Improved error reporting of procedures defined by define-inlinable.
90 *** Improved error reporting for misplaced ellipses in macro definitions.
91 *** Improved error checking in 'define-public' and 'module-add!'.
92 *** Improved error when 'include' form with relative path is not in a file.
96 *** 'scm_c_read' on ISO-8859-1 (e.g. binary) unbuffered ports is faster.
97 *** New inline asm for VM fixnum multiply, for faster overflow checking.
98 *** New inline asm for VM fixnum operations on ARM and 32-bit x86.
99 *** 'positive?' and 'negative?' are now compiled to VM primitives.
100 *** Numerical comparisons with more than 2 arguments are compiled to VM code.
101 *** Several R6RS bitwise operators have been optimized.
105 *** Web: 'content-disposition' headers are now supported.
106 *** Web: 'uri-encode' hexadecimal percent-encoding is now uppercase.
107 *** Size argument to 'make-doubly-weak-hash-table' is now optional.
108 *** Timeout for 'unlock-mutex' and SRFI-18 'mutex-unlock!' may now be #f.
112 Guile's copy of Gnulib was updated to v0.1-92-g546ff82. The following
113 modules were imported from Gnulib: copysign, fsync, isfinite, link,
114 lstat, mkdir, mkstemp, readlink, rename, rmdir, and unistd.
118 ** Cooperative REPL servers
120 This new facility supports REPLs that run at specified times within an
121 existing thread, for example in programs utilizing an event loop or in
122 single-threaded programs. This allows for safe access and mutation of
123 a program's data structures from the REPL without concern for thread
124 synchronization. See "Cooperative REPL Servers" in the manual for
127 ** SRFI-43 (Vector Library)
129 Guile now includes SRFI-43, a comprehensive library of vector operations
130 analogous to the SRFI-1 list library. See "SRFI-43" in the manual for
133 ** SRFI-64 (A Scheme API for test suites)
135 Guile now includes SRFI-64, a flexible framework for creating test
136 suites. The reference implementation of SRFI-64 has also been updated
137 to fully support earlier versions of Guile.
141 See "SRFI-111" in the manual.
145 See "Binding multiple return values" in the manual.
147 ** Custom ellipsis identifiers using 'with-ellipsis' or SRFI-46.
149 Guile now allows macro definitions to use identifiers other than '...'
150 as the ellipsis. This is convenient when writing macros that generate
151 macro definitions. The desired ellipsis identifier can be given as the
152 first operand to 'syntax-rules', as specified in SRFI-46 and R7RS, or by
153 using the new 'with-ellipsis' special form in procedural macros. With
154 this addition, Guile now fully supports SRFI-46.
156 See "Specifying a Custom Ellipsis Identifier" and "Custom Ellipsis
157 Identifiers for syntax-case Macros" in the manual for details.
159 ** R7RS 'syntax-error'
161 Guile now supports 'syntax-error', as specified by R7RS, allowing for
162 improved compile-time error reporting from 'syntax-rules' macros. See
163 "Reporting Syntax Errors in Macros" in the manual for details.
165 ** New procedures to convert association lists into hash tables
167 Guile now includes the convenience procedures 'alist->hash-table',
168 'alist->hashq-table', 'alist->hashv-table', and 'alist->hashx-table'.
169 See "Hash Table Reference" in the manual.
171 ** New predicates: 'exact-integer?' and 'scm_is_exact_integer'
173 See "Integers" in the manual.
175 ** 'weak-vector-length', 'weak-vector-ref', and 'weak-vector-set!'
177 These should now be used to access weak vectors, instead of
178 'vector-length', 'vector-ref', and 'vector-set!'.
182 ** Improve docs for 'eval-when'.
184 Each 'eval-when' condition is now explained in detail, including
185 'expand' which was previously undocumented. (expand load eval) is now
186 the recommended set of conditions, instead of (compile load eval).
187 See "Eval When" in the manual, for details.
189 ** Update the section on SMOBs and memory management.
191 See "Defining New Types (Smobs)" in the manual.
195 *** GOOPS: #:dsupers is the init keyword for the dsupers slot.
196 *** 'unfold-right' takes a tail, not a tail generator.
197 *** Clarify that 'append!' and 'reverse!' might not mutate.
198 *** Fix doc that incorrectly claimed (integer? +inf.0) => #t.
199 (http://bugs.gnu.org/16356)
200 *** Document that we support SRFI-62 (S-expression comments).
201 *** Document that we support SRFI-87 (=> in case clauses).
202 *** Document 'equal?' in the list of R6RS incompatibilities.
203 *** Remove outdated documentation of LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH.
204 *** Fix 'weak-vector?' doc: Weak hash tables are not weak vectors.
205 *** Fix 'my-or' examples to use let-bound variable.
206 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14203)
210 ** General 'uniform-vector' interface
212 This interface lacked both generality and specificity. The general
213 replacements are 'array-length', 'array-ref', and friends on the scheme
214 side, and the array handle interface on the C side. On the specific
215 side of things, there are the specific bytevector, SRFI-4, and bitvector
218 ** Use of the vector interface on arrays
219 ** 'vector-length', 'vector-ref', and 'vector-set!' on weak vectors
220 ** 'vector-length', 'vector-ref', and 'vector-set!' as primitive-generics
222 Making the vector interface operate only on a single representation will
223 allow future versions of Guile to compile loops involving vectors to
224 more efficient native code.
226 ** 'htons', 'htonl', 'ntohs', 'ntohl'
228 These procedures, like their C counterpart, were used to convert numbers
229 to/from network byte order, typically in conjunction with the
230 now-deprecated uniform vector API.
232 This functionality is now covered by the bytevector and binary I/O APIs.
233 See "Interpreting Bytevector Contents as Integers" in the manual.
235 ** 'gc-live-object-stats'
237 It hasn't worked in the whole 2.0 series. There is no replacement,
240 ** 'scm_c_program_source'
242 This internal VM function was not meant to be public. Use
243 'scm_procedure_source' instead.
247 ** Fix build with Clang 3.4.
250 *** Do not add $(EXEEXT) to guild or guile-tools.
251 *** tests: Use double quotes around shell arguments, for Windows.
252 *** tests: Don't rely on $TMPDIR and /tmp on Windows.
253 *** tests: Skip FFI tests that use `qsort' when it's not accessible.
254 *** tests: Remove symlink only when it exists.
255 *** tests: Don't rely on `scm_call_2' being visible.
257 ** Fix computation of LIBLOBJS so dependencies work properly.
258 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14193)
262 ** Web: Fix web client with methods other than GET.
263 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15908)
264 ** Web: Add Content-Length header for empty bodies.
265 ** Web: Accept "UTC" as the zone offset in date headers.
266 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14128)
267 ** Web: Don't throw if a response is longer than its Content-Length says.
268 ** Web: Write out HTTP Basic auth headers correctly.
269 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14370)
270 ** Web: Always print a path component in 'write-request-line'.
271 ** Fix 'define-public' from (ice-9 curried-definitions).
272 ** psyntax: toplevel variable definitions discard previous syntactic binding.
273 (http://bugs.gnu.org/11988)
274 ** Fix thread-unsafe lazy initializations.
275 ** Make (ice-9 popen) thread-safe.
276 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15683)
277 ** Make guardians thread-safe.
278 ** Make regexp_exec thread-safe.
279 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14404)
280 ** vm: Gracefully handle stack overflows.
281 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15065)
282 ** Fix 'rationalize'.
283 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14905)
284 ** Fix inline asm for VM fixnum operations on x32.
285 ** Fix 'SCM_SYSCALL' to really swallow EINTR.
286 ** Hide EINTR returns from 'accept'.
287 ** SRFI-19: Update the table of leap seconds.
288 ** Add missing files to the test-suite Makefile.
289 ** Make sure 'ftw' allows directory traversal when running as root.
290 ** Fix 'hash-for-each' for weak hash tables.
291 ** SRFI-18: Export 'current-thread'.
292 (http://bugs.gnu.org/16890)
293 ** Fix inlining of tail list to apply.
294 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15533)
295 ** Fix bug in remqueue in threads.c when removing last element.
296 ** Fix build when '>>' on negative integers is not arithmetic.
297 ** Fix 'bitwise-bit-count' for negative arguments.
298 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14864)
299 ** Fix VM 'ash' for right shifts by large amounts.
300 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14864)
301 ** Fix rounding in scm_i_divide2double for negative arguments.
302 ** Avoid lossy conversion from inum to double in numerical comparisons.
303 ** Fix numerical comparison of fractions to infinities.
304 ** Allow fl+ and fl* to accept zero arguments.
305 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14869)
306 ** flonum? returns false for complex number objects.
307 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14866)
308 ** flfinite? applied to a NaN returns false.
309 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14868)
310 ** Flonum operations always return flonums.
311 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14871)
312 ** min and max: NaNs beat infinities, per R6RS errata.
313 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14865)
314 ** Fix 'fxbit-count' for negative arguments.
315 ** 'gcd' and 'lcm' support inexact integer arguments.
316 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14870)
317 ** Fix R6RS 'fixnum-width'.
318 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14879)
319 ** tests: Use shell constructs that /bin/sh on Solaris 10 can understand.
320 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14042)
321 ** Fix display of symbols containing backslashes.
322 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15033)
323 ** Fix truncated-print for uniform vectors.
324 ** Define `AF_UNIX' only when Unix-domain sockets are supported.
325 ** Decompiler: fix handling of empty 'case-lambda' expressions.
326 ** Fix handling of signed zeroes and infinities in 'numerator' and 'denominator'.
327 ** dereference-pointer: check for null pointer.
328 ** Optimizer: Numerical comparisons are not negatable, for correct NaN handling.
329 ** Compiler: Evaluate '-' and '/' in left-to-right order.
330 (for more robust floating-point arithmetic)
331 ** snarf.h: Declare static const function name vars as SCM_UNUSED.
332 ** chars.c: Remove duplicate 'const' specifiers.
333 ** Modify SCM_UNPACK type check to avoid warnings in clang.
334 ** Arrange so that 'file-encoding' does not truncate the encoding name.
335 (http://bugs.gnu.org/16463)
336 ** Improve error checking in bytevector->uint-list and bytevector->sint-list.
337 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15100)
338 ** Fix (ash -1 SCM_I_FIXNUM_BIT-1) to return a fixnum instead of a bignum.
339 ** i18n: Fix null pointer dereference when locale info is missing.
340 ** Fix 'string-copy!' to work properly with overlapping src/dest.
341 ** Fix hashing of vectors to run in bounded time.
342 ** 'port-position' works on CBIPs that do not support 'set-port-position!'.
343 ** Custom binary input ports sanity-check the return value of 'read!'.
344 ** bdw-gc.h: Check SCM_USE_PTHREAD_THREADS using #if not #ifdef.
345 ** REPL Server: Don't establish a SIGINT handler.
346 ** REPL Server: Redirect warnings to client socket.
347 ** REPL Server: Improve robustness of 'stop-server-and-clients!'.
348 ** Add srfi-16, srfi-30, srfi-46, srfi-62, srfi-87 to %cond-expand-features.
349 ** Fix trap handlers to handle applicable structs.
350 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15691)
351 ** Fix optional end argument in `uniform-vector-read!'.
352 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15370)
353 ** Fix brainfuck->scheme compiler.
354 ** texinfo: Fix newline preservation in @example with lines beginning with @
356 ** C standards conformance improvements
358 Improvements and bug fixes were made to the C part of Guile's run-time
361 *** Don't use the identifier 'noreturn'.
362 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15798)
363 *** Rewrite SCM_I_INUM to avoid unspecified behavior when not using GNU C.
364 *** Improve fallback implemention of SCM_SRS to avoid unspecified behavior.
365 *** SRFI-60: Reimplement 'rotate-bit-field' on inums to be more portable.
366 *** Improve compliance with C standards regarding signed integer shifts.
367 *** Avoid signed overflow in random.c.
368 *** VM: Avoid signed overflows in 'add1' and 'sub1'.
369 *** VM: Avoid overflow in ASM_ADD when the result is most-positive-fixnum.
370 *** read: Avoid signed integer overflow in 'read_decimal_integer'.
374 Changes in 2.0.9 (since 2.0.7):
376 Note: 2.0.8 was a brown paper bag release that was never announced, but
377 some mirrors may have picked it up. Please do not use it.
381 ** New keyword arguments for procedures that open files
383 The following procedures that open files now support keyword arguments
384 to request binary I/O or to specify the character encoding for text
385 files: `open-file', `open-input-file', `open-output-file',
386 `call-with-input-file', `call-with-output-file', `with-input-from-file',
387 `with-output-to-file', and `with-error-to-file'.
389 It is also now possible to specify whether Guile should scan files for
390 Emacs-style coding declarations. This scan was done by default in
391 versions 2.0.0 through 2.0.7, but now must be explicitly requested.
393 See "File Ports" in the manual for details.
395 ** Rewritten guile.m4
397 The `guile.m4' autoconf macros have been rewritten to use `guild' and
398 `pkg-config' instead of the deprecated `guile-config' (which itself
401 There is also a new macro, `GUILE_PKG', which allows packages to select
402 the version of Guile that they want to compile against. See "Autoconf
403 Macros" in the manual, for more information.
405 ** Better Windows support
407 Guile now correctly identifies absolute paths on Windows (MinGW), and
408 creates files on that platform according to its path conventions. See
409 "File System" in the manual, for all details.
411 In addition, the new Gnulib imports provide `select' and `poll' on
414 As an incompatible change, systems that are missing <sys/select.h> were
415 previously provided a public `scm_std_select' C function that defined a
416 version of `select', but unhappily it also provided its own incompatible
417 definitions for FD_SET, FD_ZERO, and other system interfaces. Guile
418 should not be setting these macros in public API, so this interface was
419 removed on those plaforms (basically only MinGW).
421 ** Numerics improvements
423 `number->string' now reliably outputs enough digits to produce the same
424 number when read back in. Previously, it mishandled subnormal numbers
425 (printing them as "#.#"), and failed to distinguish between some
426 distinct inexact numbers, e.g. 1.0 and (+ 1.0 (expt 2.0 -52)). These
427 problems had far-reaching implications, since the compiler uses
428 `number->string' to serialize numeric constants into .go files.
430 `sqrt' now produces exact rational results when possible, and handles
431 very large or very small numbers more robustly.
433 A number (ahem) of operations involving exact rationals have been
434 optimized, most notably `integer-expt' and `expt'.
436 `exact->inexact' now performs correct IEEE rounding.
440 There were a number of improvements to the partial evaluator, allowing
441 complete reduction of forms such as:
443 ((let ((_ 10)) (lambda () _)))
447 (apply (lambda _ _) 1 2 3 '(4))
449 (call-with-values (lambda () (values 1 2)) (lambda _ _))
451 `string-join' now handles huge lists efficiently.
453 `get-bytevector-some' now uses buffered input, which is much faster.
455 Finally, `array-ref', `array-set!' on arrays of rank 1 or 2 is now
456 faster, because it avoids building a rest list. Similarly, the
457 one-argument case of `array-for-each' and `array-map!' has been
458 optimized, and `array-copy!' and `array-fill!' are faster.
460 ** `peek-char' no longer consumes EOF
462 As required by the R5RS, if `peek-char' returns EOF, then the next read
463 will also return EOF. Previously `peek-char' would consume the EOF.
464 This makes a difference for terminal devices where it is possible to
469 Guile's copy of Gnulib was updated to v0.0-7865-ga828bb2. The following
470 modules were imported from Gnulib: select, times, pipe-posix, fstat,
471 getlogin, poll, and c-strcase.
473 ** `include' resolves relative file names relative to including file
475 Given a relative file name, `include' will look for it relative to the
476 directory of the including file. This harmonizes the behavior of
477 `include' with that of `load'.
479 ** SLIB compatibility restored
481 Guile 2.0.8 is now compatible with SLIB. You will have to use a
482 development version of SLIB, however, until a new version of SLIB is
485 ** Better ,trace REPL command
487 Sometimes the ,trace output for nested function calls could overflow the
488 terminal width, which wasn't useful. Now there is a limit to the amount
489 of space the prefix will take. See the documentation for ",trace" for
492 ** Better docstring syntax supported for `case-lambda'
494 Docstrings can now be placed immediately after the `case-lambda' or
495 `case-lambda*' keyword. See "Case-lambda" in the manual.
497 ** Improved handling of Unicode byte order marks
499 See "BOM Handling" in the manual for details.
501 ** Update predefined character sets to Unicode 6.2
503 ** GMP 4.2 or later required
505 Guile used to require GMP at least version 4.1 (released in May 2002),
506 and now requires at least version 4.2 (released in March 2006).
510 ** Better SXML documentation
512 The documentation for SXML modules was much improved, though there is
513 still far to go. See "SXML" in manual.
517 Use of "iff" was replaced with standard English. Keyword arguments are
518 now documented consistently, along with their default values.
520 ** An end to the generated-documentation experiment
522 When Guile 2.0 imported some modules from Guile-Lib, they came with a
523 system that generated documentation from docstrings and module
524 commentaries. This produced terrible documentation. We finally bit the
525 bullet and incorporated these modules into the main text, and will be
526 improving them manually over time, as is the case with SXML. Help is
531 There is now documentation for `scm_array_type', and `scm_array_ref', as
532 well as for the new `array-length' / 'scm_c_array_length' /
533 `scm_array_length' functions. `array-in-bounds?' has better
534 documentation as well. The `program-arguments-alist' and
535 `program-lambda-list' functions are now documented, as well as `and=>',
536 `exit', and `quit'. The (system repl server) module is now documented
537 (see REPL Servers). Finally, the GOOPS class hierarchy diagram has been
538 regenerated for the web and print output formats.
542 ** Deprecate generalized vector interface
544 The generalized vector interface, introduced in 1.8.0, is simply a
545 redundant, verbose interface to arrays of rank 1. `array-ref' and
546 similar functions are entirely sufficient. Thus,
547 `scm_generalized_vector_p', `scm_generalized_vector_length',
548 `scm_generalized_vector_ref', `scm_generalized_vector_set_x', and
549 `scm_generalized_vector_to_list' are now deprecated.
551 ** Deprecate SCM_CHAR_CODE_LIMIT and char-code-limit
553 These constants were defined to 256, which is not the highest codepoint
554 supported by Guile. Given that they were useless and incorrect, they
555 have been deprecated.
557 ** Deprecate `http-get*'
559 The new `#:streaming?' argument to `http-get' subsumes the functionality
560 of `http-get*' (introduced in 2.0.7). Also, the `#:extra-headers'
561 argument is deprecated in favor of `#:headers'.
563 ** Deprecate (ice-9 mapping)
565 This module, present in Guile since 1996 but never used or documented,
566 has never worked in Guile 2.0. It has now been deprecated and will be
567 removed in Guile 2.2.
569 ** Deprecate undocumented array-related C functions
571 These are `scm_array_fill_int', `scm_ra_eqp', `scm_ra_lessp',
572 `scm_ra_leqp', `scm_ra_grp', `scm_ra_greqp', `scm_ra_sum',
573 `scm_ra_product', `scm_ra_difference', `scm_ra_divide', and
574 `scm_array_identity'.
580 See "SRFI-41" in the manual.
582 ** SRFI-45 exports `promise?'
584 SRFI-45 now exports a `promise?' procedure that works with its promises.
585 Also, its promises now print more nicely.
587 ** New HTTP client procedures
589 See "Web Client" for documentation on the new `http-head', `http-post',
590 `http-put', `http-delete', `http-trace', and `http-options' procedures,
591 and also for more options to `http-get'.
593 ** Much more capable `xml->sxml'
595 See "Reading and Writing XML" for information on how the `xml->sxml'
596 parser deals with namespaces, processed entities, doctypes, and literal
597 strings. Incidentally, `current-ssax-error-port' is now a parameter
600 ** New procedures for converting strings to and from bytevectors
602 See "Representing Strings as Bytes" for documention on the new `(ice-9
603 iconv)' module and its `bytevector->string' and `string->bytevector'
606 ** Escape continuations with `call/ec' and `let/ec'
608 See "Prompt Primitives".
610 ** New procedures to read all characters from a port
612 See "Line/Delimited" in the manual for documentation on `read-string'
615 ** New procedure `sendfile'
619 ** New procedure `unget-bytevector'
621 See "R6RS Binary Input".
623 ** New C helper: `scm_c_bind_keyword_arguments'
625 See "Keyword Procedures".
627 ** New command-line arguments: `--language' and `-C'
629 See "Command-line Options" in the manual.
631 ** New environment variables: `GUILE_STACK_SIZE', `GUILE_INSTALL_LOCALE'
633 See "Environment Variables".
635 ** New procedures for dealing with file names
637 See "File System" for documentation on `system-file-name-convention',
638 `file-name-separator?', `absolute-file-name?', and
639 `file-name-separator-string'.
641 ** `array-length', an array's first dimension
643 See "Array Procedures".
645 ** `hash-count', for hash tables
649 ** `round-ash', a bit-shifting operator that rounds on right-shift
651 See "Bitwise Operations".
653 ** New foreign types: `ssize_t', `ptrdiff_t'
657 ** New C helpers: `scm_from_ptrdiff_t', `scm_to_ptrdiff_t'
661 ** Socket option `SO_REUSEPORT' now available from Scheme
663 If supported on the platform, `SO_REUSEPORT' is now available from
664 Scheme as well. See "Network Sockets and Communication".
666 ** `current-language' in default environment
668 Previously defined only in `(system base language)', `current-language'
669 is now defined in the default environment, and is used to determine the
670 language for the REPL, and for `compile-and-load'.
672 ** New procedure: `fluid->parameter'
674 See "Parameters", for information on how to convert a fluid to a
677 ** New `print' REPL option
679 See "REPL Commands" in the manual for information on the new
680 user-customizable REPL printer.
682 ** New variable: %site-ccache-dir
684 The "Installing Site Packages" and "Build Config" manual sections now
685 refer to this variable to describe where users should install their
690 ** Fix compilation against libgc 7.3.
691 ** Fix cross-compilation of `c-tokenize.o'.
692 ** Fix warning when compiling against glibc 2.17.
693 ** Fix documentation build against Texinfo 5.0.
694 ** Fix building Guile from a directory with non-ASCII characters.
695 ** Fix native MinGW build.
696 ** Fix --disable-posix build.
697 ** Fix MinGW builds with networking, POSIX, and thread support.
701 ** Fix inexact number printer.
702 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13757)
703 ** Fix infinite loop when parsing optional-argument short options (SRFI-37).
704 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13176)
705 ** web: Support non-GMT date headers in the HTTP client.
706 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13544)
707 ** web: support IP-literal (IPv6 address) in Host header.
708 ** Avoid stack overflows with `par-map' and nested futures in general.
709 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13188)
710 ** Peek-char no longer consumes EOF.
711 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12216)
712 ** Avoid swallowing multiple EOFs in R6RS binary-input procedures.
713 ** A fork when multiple threads are running will now print a warning.
714 ** Allow for spurious wakeups from pthread_cond_wait.
715 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10641)
716 ** Warn and ignore module autoload failures.
717 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12202)
718 ** Use chmod portably in (system base compile).
719 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10474)
720 ** Fix response-body-port for HTTP responses without content-length.
721 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13857)
722 ** Allow case-lambda expressions with no clauses.
723 (http://bugs.gnu.org/9776)
724 ** Improve standards conformance of string->number.
725 (http://bugs.gnu.org/11887)
726 ** Support calls and tail-calls with more than 255 formals.
727 ** ,option evaluates its right-hand-side.
728 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13076)
729 ** Structs with tail arrays are not simple.
730 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12808)
731 ** Make `SCM_LONG_BIT' usable in preprocessor conditionals.
732 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13848)
733 ** Fix thread-unsafe lazy initializations.
734 ** Allow SMOB mark procedures to be called from parallel markers.
735 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13611)
736 ** Fix later-bindings-win logic in with-fluids.
737 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13843)
738 ** Fix duplicate removal of with-fluids.
739 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13838)
740 ** Support calling foreign functions of 10 arguments or more.
741 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13809)
742 ** Let reverse! accept arbitrary types as second argument.
743 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13835)
744 ** Recognize the `x86_64.*-gnux32' triplet.
745 ** Check whether a triplet's OS part specifies an ABI.
746 ** Recognize mips64* as having 32-bit pointers by default.
747 ** Use portable sed constructs.
748 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14042)
749 ** Remove language/glil/decompile-assembly.scm.
750 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10622)
751 ** Use O_BINARY in `copy-file', `load-objcode', `mkstemp'.
752 ** Use byte-oriented functions in `get-bytevector*'.
753 ** Fix abort when iconv swallows BOM from UTF-16 or UTF-32 stream.
754 ** Fix compilation of functions with more than 255 local variables.
755 ** Fix `getgroups' for when zero supplementary group IDs exist.
756 ** Allow (define-macro name (lambda ...)).
757 ** Various fixes to the (texinfo) modules.
758 ** guild: Gracefully handle failures to install the locale.
759 ** Fix format string warnings for ~!, ~|, ~/, ~q, ~Q, and ~^.
760 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13485)
761 ** Fix source annotation bug in psyntax 'expand-body'.
762 ** Ecmascript: Fix conversion to boolean for non-numbers.
763 ** Use case-insensitive comparisons for encoding names.
764 ** Add missing cond-expand feature identifiers.
765 ** A failure to find a module's file does not prevent future loading.
766 ** Many (oop goops save) fixes.
767 ** `http-get': don't shutdown write end of socket.
768 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13095)
769 ** Avoid signed integer overflow in scm_product.
770 ** http: read-response-body always returns bytevector or #f, never EOF.
771 ** web: Correctly detect "No route to host" conditions.
772 ** `system*': failure to execvp no longer leaks dangling processes.
773 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13166)
774 ** More sensible case-lambda* dispatch.
775 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12929)
776 ** Do not defer expansion of internal define-syntax forms.
777 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13509)
781 Changes in 2.0.7 (since 2.0.6):
785 ** SRFI-105 curly infix expressions are supported
787 Curly infix expressions as described at
788 http://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-105/srfi-105.html are now supported by
789 Guile's reader. This allows users to write things like {a * {b + c}}
790 instead of (* a (+ b c)). SRFI-105 support is enabled by using the
791 `#!curly-infix' directive in source code, or the `curly-infix' reader
792 option. See the manual for details.
794 ** Reader options may now be per-port
796 Historically, `read-options' and related procedures would manipulate
797 global options, affecting the `read' procedure for all threads, and all
798 current uses of `read'.
800 Guile can now associate `read' options with specific ports, allowing
801 different ports to use different options. For instance, the
802 `#!fold-case' and `#!no-fold-case' reader directives have been
803 implemented, and their effect is to modify the current read options of
804 the current port only; similarly for `#!curly-infix'. Thus, it is
805 possible, for instance, to have one port reading case-sensitive code,
806 while another port reads case-insensitive code.
808 ** Futures may now be nested
810 Futures may now be nested: a future can itself spawn and then `touch'
811 other futures. In addition, any thread that touches a future that has
812 not completed now processes other futures while waiting for the touched
813 future to completed. This allows all threads to be kept busy, and was
814 made possible by the use of delimited continuations (see the manual for
817 Consequently, `par-map' and `par-for-each' have been rewritten and can
820 ** `GUILE_LOAD_PATH' et al can now add directories to the end of the path
822 `GUILE_LOAD_PATH' and `GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH' can now be used to add
823 directories to both ends of the load path. If the special path
824 component `...' (ellipsis) is present in these environment variables,
825 then the default path is put in place of the ellipsis, otherwise the
826 default path is placed at the end. See "Environment Variables" in the
829 ** `load-in-vicinity' search for `.go' files in `%load-compiled-path'
831 Previously, `load-in-vicinity' would look for compiled files in the
832 auto-compilation cache, but not in `%load-compiled-path'. This is now
833 fixed. This affects `load', and the `-l' command-line flag. See
834 <http://bugs.gnu.org/12519> for details.
836 ** Extension search order fixed, and LD_LIBRARY_PATH preserved
838 Up to 2.0.6, Guile would modify the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment
839 variable (or whichever is relevant for the host OS) to insert its own
840 default extension directories in the search path (using GNU libltdl
841 facilities was not possible here.) This approach was problematic in two
844 First, the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' modification would be visible to
845 sub-processes, and would also affect future calls to `dlopen', which
846 could lead to subtle bugs in the application or sub-processes. Second,
847 when the installation prefix is /usr, the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' modification
848 would typically end up inserting /usr/lib before /usr/local/lib in the
849 search path, which is often the opposite of system-wide settings such as
852 Both issues have now been fixed.
854 ** `make-vtable-vtable' is now deprecated
856 Programs should instead use `make-vtable' and `<standard-vtable>'.
858 ** The `-Wduplicate-case-datum' and `-Wbad-case-datum' are enabled
860 These recently introduced warnings have been documented and are now
861 enabled by default when auto-compiling.
863 ** Optimize calls to `equal?' or `eqv?' with a constant argument
865 The compiler simplifies calls to `equal?' or `eqv?' with a constant
866 argument to use `eq?' instead, when applicable.
870 ** SRFI-9 records now documented under "Compound Data Types"
872 The documentation of SRFI-9 record types has been moved in the "Compound
873 Data Types", next to Guile's other record APIs. A new section
874 introduces the various record APIs, and describes the trade-offs they
875 make. These changes were made in an attempt to better guide users
876 through the maze of records API, and to recommend SRFI-9 as the main
879 The documentation of Guile's raw `struct' API has also been improved.
881 ** (ice-9 and-let-star) and (ice-9 curried-definitions) now documented
883 These modules were missing from the manual.
887 ** New "functional record setters" as a GNU extension of SRFI-9
889 The (srfi srfi-9 gnu) module now provides three new macros to deal with
890 "updates" of immutable records: `define-immutable-record-type',
891 `set-field', and `set-fields'.
893 The first one allows record type "functional setters" to be defined;
894 such setters keep the record unchanged, and instead return a new record
895 with only one different field. The remaining macros provide the same
896 functionality, and also optimize updates of multiple or nested fields.
897 See the manual for details.
899 ** web: New `http-get*', `response-body-port', and `text-content-type?'
902 These procedures return a port from which to read the response's body.
903 Unlike `http-get' and `read-response-body', they allow the body to be
904 processed incrementally instead of being stored entirely in memory.
906 The `text-content-type?' predicate allows users to determine whether the
907 content type of a response is textual.
909 See the manual for details.
911 ** `string-split' accepts character sets and predicates
913 The `string-split' procedure can now be given a SRFI-14 character set or
914 a predicate, instead of just a character.
918 Previously, in R6RS modules, Guile incorrectly ignored components of
919 SRFI module names after the SRFI number, making it impossible to specify
920 sub-libraries. This release corrects this, bringing us into accordance
923 ** `define-public' is no a longer curried definition by default
925 The (ice-9 curried-definitions) should be used for such uses. See the
930 ** Remove reference to `scm_init_popen' when `fork' is unavailable
932 This fixes a MinGW build issue (http://bugs.gnu.org/12477).
934 ** Fix race between installing `guild' and the `guile-tools' symlink
938 ** Procedures returned by `eval' now have docstrings
939 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12173)
940 ** web client: correctly handle uri-query, etc. in relative URI headers
941 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12827)
942 ** Fix docs for R6RS `hashtable-copy'
943 ** R6RS `string-for-each' now accepts multiple string arguments
944 ** Fix out-of-range error in the compiler's CSE pass
945 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12883)
946 ** Add missing R6RS `open-file-input/output-port' procedure
947 ** Futures: Avoid creating the worker pool more than once
948 ** Fix invalid assertion about mutex ownership in threads.c
949 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12719)
950 ** Have `SCM_NUM2FLOAT' and `SCM_NUM2DOUBLE' use `scm_to_double'
951 ** The `scandir' procedure now uses `lstat' instead of `stat'
952 ** Fix `generalized-vector->list' indexing bug with shared arrays
953 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12465)
954 ** web: Change `http-get' to try all the addresses for the given URI
955 ** Implement `hash' for structs
956 (http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2012-10/msg00031.html)
957 ** `read' now adds source properties for data types beyond pairs
958 ** Improve error reporting in `append!'
959 ** In fold-matches, set regexp/notbol unless matching string start
960 ** Don't stat(2) and access(2) the .go location before using it
961 ** SRFI-19: use zero padding for hours in ISO 8601 format, not blanks
962 ** web: Fix uri-encoding for strings with no unreserved chars, and octets 0-15
963 ** More robust texinfo alias handling
964 ** Optimize `format' and `simple-format'
965 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12033)
966 ** Angle of -0.0 is pi, not zero
969 Changes in 2.0.6 (since 2.0.5):
973 ** New optimization pass: common subexpression elimination (CSE)
975 Guile's optimizer will now run a CSE pass after partial evaluation.
976 This pass propagates static information about branches taken, bound
977 lexicals, and effects from an expression's dominators. It can replace
978 common subexpressions with their boolean values (potentially enabling
979 dead code elimination), equivalent bound lexicals, or it can elide them
980 entirely, depending on the context in which they are executed. This
981 pass is especially useful in removing duplicate type checks, such as
982 those produced by SRFI-9 record accessors.
984 ** Improvements to the partial evaluator
986 Peval can now hoist tests that are common to both branches of a
987 conditional into the test. This can help with long chains of
988 conditionals, such as those generated by the `match' macro. Peval can
989 now do simple beta-reductions of procedures with rest arguments. It
990 also avoids residualizing degenerate lexical aliases, even when full
991 inlining is not possible. Finally, peval now uses the effects analysis
992 introduced for the CSE pass. More precise effects analysis allows peval
995 ** Run finalizers asynchronously in asyncs
997 Finalizers are now run asynchronously, via an async. See Asyncs in the
998 manual. This allows Guile and user code to safely allocate memory while
1001 ** Update SRFI-14 character sets to Unicode 6.1
1003 Note that this update causes the Latin-1 characters `§' and `¶' to be
1004 reclassified as punctuation. They were previously considered to be part
1005 of `char-set:symbol'.
1007 ** Better source information for datums
1009 When the `positions' reader option is on, as it is by default, Guile's
1010 reader will record source information for more kinds of datums.
1012 ** Improved error and warning messages
1014 `syntax-violation' errors now prefer `subform' for source info, with
1015 `form' as fallback. Syntactic errors in `cond' and `case' now produce
1016 better errors. `case' can now warn on duplicate datums, or datums that
1017 cannot be usefully compared with `eqv?'. `-Warity-mismatch' now handles
1018 applicable structs. `-Wformat' is more robust in the presence of
1019 `gettext'. Finally, various exceptions thrown by the Web modules now
1020 define appropriate exception printers.
1022 ** A few important bug fixes in the HTTP modules.
1024 Guile's web server framework now checks if an application returns a body
1025 where it is not permitted, for example in response to a HEAD request,
1026 and warn or truncate the response as appropriate. Bad requests now
1027 cause a 400 Bad Request response to be printed before closing the port.
1028 Finally, some date-printing and URL-parsing bugs were fixed.
1030 ** Pretty-print improvements
1032 When Guile needs to pretty-print Tree-IL, it will try to reconstruct
1033 `cond', `or`, and other derived syntax forms from the primitive tree-IL
1034 forms. It also uses the original names instead of the fresh unique
1035 names, when it is unambiguous to do so. This can be seen in the output
1036 of REPL commands like `,optimize'.
1038 Also, the `pretty-print' procedure has a new keyword argument,
1041 ** Fix memory leak involving applicable SMOBs
1043 At some point in the 1.9.x series, Guile began leaking any applicable
1044 SMOB that was actually applied. (There was a weak-key map from SMOB to
1045 trampoline functions, where the value had a strong reference on the
1046 key.) This has been fixed. There was much rejoicing!
1048 ** Support for HTTP/1.1 chunked transfer coding
1050 See "Transfer Codings" in the manual, for more.
1052 ** Micro-optimizations
1054 A pile of micro-optimizations: the `string-trim' function when called
1055 with `char-set:whitespace'; the `(web http)' parsers; SMOB application;
1056 conversion of raw UTF-8 and UTF-32 data to and from SCM strings; vlists
1057 and vhashes; `read' when processing string literals.
1059 ** Incompatible change to `scandir'
1061 As was the original intention, `scandir' now runs the `select?'
1062 procedure on all items, including subdirectories and the `.' and `..'
1063 entries. It receives the basename of the file in question instead of
1064 the full name. We apologize for this incompatible change to this
1065 function introduced in the 2.0.4 release.
1069 The manual has been made much more consistent in its naming conventions
1070 with regards to formal parameters of functions. Thanks to Bake Timmons.
1074 ** New C function: `scm_to_pointer'
1075 ** New C inline functions: `scm_new_smob', `scm_new_double_smob'
1076 ** (ice-9 format): Add ~h specifier for localized number output.
1077 ** (web response): New procedure: `response-must-not-include-body?'
1078 ** New predicate: 'supports-source-properties?'
1079 ** New C helpers: `scm_c_values', `scm_c_nvalues'
1080 ** Newly public inline C function: `scm_unget_byte'
1081 ** (language tree-il): New functions: `tree-il=?', `tree-il-hash'
1082 ** New fluid: `%default-port-conversion-strategy'
1083 ** New syntax: `=>' within `case'
1084 ** (web http): `make-chunked-input-port', `make-chunked-output-port'
1085 ** (web http): `declare-opaque-header!'
1087 Search the manual for these identifiers, for more information.
1091 ** `close-io-port' deprecated
1095 ** `scm_sym2var' deprecated
1097 In most cases, replace with `scm_lookup' or `scm_module_variable'. Use
1098 `scm_define' or `scm_module_ensure_local_variable' if the second
1099 argument is nonzero. See "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual, for
1102 ** Lookup closures deprecated
1104 These were never documented. See "Module System Reflection" in the
1105 manual for replacements.
1109 ** Fix compilation against uninstalled Guile on non-GNU platforms.
1110 ** Fix `SCM_I_ERROR' definition for MinGW without networking.
1111 ** Fix compilation with the Sun C compiler.
1112 ** Fix check for `clock_gettime' on OpenBSD and some other systems.
1113 ** Fix build with --enable-debug-malloc.
1114 ** Honor $(program_transform_name) for the `guile-tools' symlink.
1115 ** Fix cross-compilation of GOOPS-using code.
1119 ** Fix use of unitialized stat buffer in search-path of absolute paths.
1120 ** Avoid calling `freelocale' with a NULL argument.
1121 ** Work around erroneous tr_TR locale in Darwin 8 in tests.
1122 ** Fix `getaddrinfo' test for Darwin 8.
1123 ** Use Gnulib's `regex' module for better regex portability.
1124 ** `source-properties' and friends work on any object
1125 ** Rewrite open-process in C, for robustness related to threads and fork
1126 ** Fix <TAG>vector-length when applied to other uniform vector types
1127 ** Fix escape-only prompt optimization (was disabled previously)
1128 ** Fix a segfault when /dev/urandom is not accessible
1129 ** Fix flush on soft ports, so that it actually runs.
1130 ** Better compatibility of SRFI-9 records with core records
1131 ** Fix and clarify documentation of `sorted?'.
1132 ** Fix IEEE-754 endianness conversion in bytevectors.
1133 ** Correct thunk check in the `wind' instruction.
1134 ** Add @acronym support to texinfo modules
1135 ** Fix docbook->texi for <ulink> without URL
1136 ** Fix `setvbuf' to leave the line/column number unchanged.
1137 ** Add missing public declaration for `scm_take_from_input_buffers'.
1138 ** Fix relative file name canonicalization with empty %LOAD-PATH entries.
1139 ** Import newer (ice-9 match) from Chibi-Scheme.
1140 ** Fix unbound variables and unbound values in ECMAScript runtime.
1141 ** Make SRFI-6 string ports Unicode-capable.
1144 Changes in 2.0.5 (since 2.0.4):
1146 This release fixes the binary interface information (SONAME) of
1147 libguile, which was incorrect in 2.0.4. It does not contain other
1151 Changes in 2.0.4 (since 2.0.3):
1155 ** Better debuggability for interpreted procedures.
1157 Guile 2.0 came with a great debugging experience for compiled
1158 procedures, but the story for interpreted procedures was terrible. Now,
1159 at least, interpreted procedures have names, and the `arity' procedure
1160 property is always correct (or, as correct as it can be, in the presence
1163 ** Support for cross-compilation.
1165 One can now use a native Guile to cross-compile `.go' files for a
1166 different architecture. See the documentation for `--target' in the
1167 "Compilation" section of the manual, for information on how to use the
1168 cross-compiler. See the "Cross building Guile" section of the README,
1169 for more on how to cross-compile Guile itself.
1171 ** The return of `local-eval'.
1173 Back by popular demand, `the-environment' and `local-eval' allow the
1174 user to capture a lexical environment, and then evaluate arbitrary
1175 expressions in that context. There is also a new `local-compile'
1176 command. See "Local Evaluation" in the manual, for more. Special
1177 thanks to Mark Weaver for an initial implementation of this feature.
1179 ** Fluids can now have default values.
1181 Fluids are used for dynamic and thread-local binding. They have always
1182 inherited their values from the context or thread that created them.
1183 However, there was a case in which a new thread would enter Guile, and
1184 the default values of all the fluids would be `#f' for that thread.
1186 This has now been fixed so that `make-fluid' has an optional default
1187 value for fluids in unrelated dynamic roots, which defaults to `#f'.
1189 ** Garbage collector tuning.
1191 The garbage collector has now been tuned to run more often under some
1194 *** Unmanaged allocation
1196 The new `scm_gc_register_allocation' function will notify the collector
1197 of unmanaged allocation. This will cause the collector to run sooner.
1198 Guile's `scm_malloc', `scm_calloc', and `scm_realloc' unmanaged
1199 allocators eventually call this function. This leads to better
1200 performance under steady-state unmanaged allocation.
1202 *** Transient allocation
1204 When the collector runs, it will try to record the total memory
1205 footprint of a process, if the platform supports this information. If
1206 the memory footprint is growing, the collector will run more frequently.
1207 This reduces the increase of the resident size of a process in response
1208 to a transient increase in allocation.
1210 *** Management of threads, bignums
1212 Creating a thread will allocate a fair amount of memory. Guile now does
1213 some GC work (using `GC_collect_a_little') when allocating a thread.
1214 This leads to a better memory footprint when creating many short-lived
1217 Similarly, bignums can occupy a lot of memory. Guile now offers hooks
1218 to enable custom GMP allocators that end up calling
1219 `scm_gc_register_allocation'. These allocators are enabled by default
1220 when running Guile from the command-line. To enable them in libraries,
1221 set the `scm_install_gmp_memory_functions' variable to a nonzero value
1222 before loading Guile.
1224 ** SRFI-39 parameters are available by default.
1226 Guile now includes support for parameters, as defined by SRFI-39, in the
1227 default environment. See "Parameters" in the manual, for more
1228 information. `current-input-port', `current-output-port', and
1229 `current-error-port' are now parameters.
1231 ** Add `current-warning-port'.
1233 Guile now outputs warnings on a separate port, `current-warning-port',
1234 initialized to the value that `current-error-port' has on startup.
1236 ** Syntax parameters.
1238 Following Racket's lead, Guile now supports syntax parameters. See
1239 "Syntax parameters" in the manual, for more.
1241 Also see Barzilay, Culpepper, and Flatt's 2011 SFP workshop paper,
1242 "Keeping it Clean with syntax-parameterize".
1244 ** Parse command-line arguments from the locale encoding.
1246 Guile now attempts to parse command-line arguments using the user's
1247 locale. However for backwards compatibility with other 2.0.x releases,
1248 it does so without actually calling `setlocale'. Please report any bugs
1249 in this facility to bug-guile@gnu.org.
1251 ** One-armed conditionals: `when' and `unless'
1253 Guile finally has `when' and `unless' in the default environment. Use
1254 them whenever you would use an `if' with only one branch. See
1255 "Conditionals" in the manual, for more.
1257 ** `current-filename', `add-to-load-path'
1259 There is a new form, `(current-filename)', which expands out to the
1260 source file in which it occurs. Combined with the new
1261 `add-to-load-path', this allows simple scripts to easily add nearby
1262 directories to the load path. See "Load Paths" in the manual, for more.
1264 ** `random-state-from-platform'
1266 This procedure initializes a random seed using good random sources
1267 available on your platform, such as /dev/urandom. See "Random Number
1268 Generation" in the manual, for more.
1270 ** Warn about unsupported `simple-format' options.
1272 The `-Wformat' compilation option now reports unsupported format options
1273 passed to `simple-format'.
1277 Besides the sections already mentioned, the following manual sections
1278 are new in this release: "Modules and the File System", "Module System
1279 Reflection", "Syntax Transformer Helpers", and "Local Inclusion".
1283 ** (ice-9 session): `apropos-hook'
1284 ** New print option: `escape-newlines', defaults to #t.
1285 ** (ice-9 ftw): `file-system-fold', `file-system-tree', `scandir'
1286 ** `scm_c_value_ref': access to multiple returned values from C
1287 ** scm_call (a varargs version), scm_call_7, scm_call_8, scm_call_9
1288 ** Some new syntax helpers in (system syntax)
1290 Search the manual for these identifiers and modules, for more.
1294 ** FreeBSD build fixes.
1295 ** OpenBSD compilation fixes.
1296 ** Solaris 2.10 test suite fixes.
1297 ** IA64 compilation fix.
1298 ** MinGW build fixes.
1299 ** Work around instruction reordering on SPARC and HPPA in the VM.
1300 ** Gnulib updates: added `dirfd', `setenv' modules.
1304 ** Add a deprecated alias for $expt.
1305 ** Add an exception printer for `getaddrinfo-error'.
1306 ** Add deprecated shim for `scm_display_error' with stack as first argument.
1307 ** Add warnings for unsupported `simple-format' options.
1308 ** Allow overlapping regions to be passed to `bytevector-copy!'.
1309 ** Better function prologue disassembly
1310 ** Compiler: fix miscompilation of (values foo ...) in some contexts.
1311 ** Compiler: fix serialization of #nil-terminated lists.
1312 ** Compiler: allow values bound in non-tail let expressions to be collected.
1313 ** Deprecate SCM_ASRTGO.
1314 ** Document invalidity of (begin) as expression; add back-compat shim.
1315 ** Don't leak file descriptors when mmaping objcode.
1316 ** Empty substrings no longer reference the original stringbuf.
1317 ** FFI: Fix `set-pointer-finalizer!' to leave the type cell unchanged.
1318 ** FFI: Hold a weak reference to the CIF made by `procedure->pointer'.
1319 ** FFI: Hold a weak reference to the procedure passed to `procedure->pointer'.
1320 ** FFI: Properly unpack small integer return values in closure call.
1321 ** Fix R6RS `fold-left' so the accumulator is the first argument.
1322 ** Fix bit-set*! bug from 2005.
1323 ** Fix bug in `make-repl' when `lang' is actually a <language>.
1324 ** Fix bugs related to mutation, the null string, and shared substrings.
1325 ** Fix <dynwind> serialization.
1326 ** Fix erroneous check in `set-procedure-properties!'.
1327 ** Fix generalized-vector-{ref,set!} for slices.
1328 ** Fix error messages involving definition forms.
1329 ** Fix primitive-eval to return #<unspecified> for definitions.
1330 ** HTTP: Extend handling of "Cache-Control" header.
1331 ** HTTP: Fix qstring writing of cache-extension values
1332 ** HTTP: Fix validators for various list-style headers.
1333 ** HTTP: Permit non-date values for Expires header.
1334 ** HTTP: `write-request-line' writes absolute paths, not absolute URIs.
1335 ** Hack the port-column of current-output-port after printing a prompt.
1336 ** Make sure `regexp-quote' tests use Unicode-capable string ports.
1337 ** Peval: Fix bugs in the new optimizer.
1338 ** Statistically unique marks and labels, for robust hygiene across sessions.
1339 ** Web: Allow URIs with empty authorities, like "file:///etc/hosts".
1340 ** `,language' at REPL sets the current-language fluid.
1341 ** `primitive-load' returns the value(s) of the last expression.
1342 ** `scm_from_stringn' always returns unique strings.
1343 ** `scm_i_substring_copy' tries to narrow the substring.
1344 ** i18n: Fix gc_malloc/free mismatch on non-GNU systems.
1347 Changes in 2.0.3 (since 2.0.2):
1349 * Speed improvements
1351 ** Guile has a new optimizer, `peval'.
1353 `Peval' is a partial evaluator that performs constant folding, dead code
1354 elimination, copy propagation, and inlining. By default it runs on
1355 every piece of code that Guile compiles, to fold computations that can
1356 happen at compile-time, so they don't have to happen at runtime.
1358 If we did our job right, the only impact you would see would be your
1359 programs getting faster. But if you notice slowdowns or bloated code,
1360 please send a mail to bug-guile@gnu.org with details.
1362 Thanks to William R. Cook, Oscar Waddell, and Kent Dybvig for inspiring
1363 peval and its implementation.
1365 You can see what peval does on a given piece of code by running the new
1366 `,optimize' REPL meta-command, and comparing it to the output of
1367 `,expand'. See "Compile Commands" in the manual, for more.
1369 ** Fewer calls to `stat'.
1371 Guile now stats only the .go file and the .scm file when loading a fresh
1376 ** New module: `(web client)', a simple synchronous web client.
1378 See "Web Client" in the manual, for more.
1380 ** Users can now install compiled `.go' files.
1382 See "Installing Site Packages" in the manual.
1384 ** Remove Front-Cover and Back-Cover text from the manual.
1386 The manual is still under the GNU Free Documentation License, but no
1387 longer has any invariant sections.
1389 ** More helpful `guild help'.
1391 `guild' is Guile's multi-tool, for use in shell scripting. Now it has a
1392 nicer interface for querying the set of existing commands, and getting
1393 help on those commands. Try it out and see!
1395 ** New macro: `define-syntax-rule'
1397 `define-syntax-rule' is a shorthand to make a `syntax-rules' macro with
1398 one clause. See "Syntax Rules" in the manual, for more.
1400 ** The `,time' REPL meta-command now has more precision.
1402 The output of this command now has microsecond precision, instead of
1403 10-millisecond precision.
1405 ** `(ice-9 match)' can now match records.
1407 See "Pattern Matching" in the manual, for more on matching records.
1409 ** New module: `(language tree-il debug)'.
1411 This module provides a tree-il verifier. This is useful for people that
1412 generate tree-il, usually as part of a language compiler.
1414 ** New functions: `scm_is_exact', `scm_is_inexact'.
1416 These provide a nice C interface for Scheme's `exact?' and `inexact?',
1421 See the git log (or the ChangeLog) for more details on these bugs.
1423 ** Fix order of importing modules and resolving duplicates handlers.
1424 ** Fix a number of bugs involving extended (merged) generics.
1425 ** Fix invocation of merge-generics duplicate handler.
1426 ** Fix write beyond array end in arrays.c.
1427 ** Fix read beyond end of hashtable size array in hashtab.c.
1428 ** (web http): Locale-independent parsing and serialization of dates.
1429 ** Ensure presence of Host header in HTTP/1.1 requests.
1430 ** Fix take-right and drop-right for improper lists.
1431 ** Fix leak in get_current_locale().
1432 ** Fix recursive define-inlinable expansions.
1433 ** Check that srfi-1 procedure arguments are procedures.
1434 ** Fix r6rs `map' for multiple returns.
1435 ** Fix scm_tmpfile leak on POSIX platforms.
1436 ** Fix a couple of leaks (objcode->bytecode, make-boot-program).
1437 ** Fix guile-lib back-compatibility for module-stexi-documentation.
1438 ** Fix --listen option to allow other ports.
1439 ** Fix scm_to_latin1_stringn for substrings.
1440 ** Fix compilation of untyped arrays of rank not 1.
1441 ** Fix unparse-tree-il of <dynset>.
1442 ** Fix reading of #||||#.
1443 ** Fix segfault in GOOPS when class fields are redefined.
1444 ** Prefer poll(2) over select(2) to allow file descriptors above FD_SETSIZE.
1447 Changes in 2.0.2 (since 2.0.1):
1451 ** `guile-tools' renamed to `guild'
1453 The new name is shorter. Its intended future use is for a CPAN-like
1454 system for Guile wizards and journeyfolk to band together to share code;
1455 hence the name. `guile-tools' is provided as a backward-compatible
1456 symbolic link. See "Using Guile Tools" in the manual, for more.
1458 ** New control operators: `shift' and `reset'
1460 See "Shift and Reset" in the manual, for more information.
1462 ** `while' as an expression
1464 Previously the return value of `while' was unspecified. Now its
1465 values are specified both in the case of normal termination, and via
1466 termination by invoking `break', possibly with arguments. See "while
1467 do" in the manual for more.
1469 ** Disallow access to handles of weak hash tables
1471 `hash-get-handle' and `hash-create-handle!' are no longer permitted to
1472 be called on weak hash tables, because the fields in a weak handle could
1473 be nulled out by the garbage collector at any time, but yet they are
1474 otherwise indistinguishable from pairs. Use `hash-ref' and `hash-set!'
1477 ** More precision for `get-internal-run-time', `get-internal-real-time'
1479 On 64-bit systems which support POSIX clocks, Guile's internal timing
1480 procedures offer nanosecond resolution instead of the 10-millisecond
1481 resolution previously available. 32-bit systems now use 1-millisecond
1484 ** Guile now measures time spent in GC
1486 `gc-stats' now returns a meaningful value for `gc-time-taken'.
1490 The statprof profiler now exports a `gcprof' procedure, driven by the
1491 `after-gc-hook', to see which parts of your program are causing GC. Let
1492 us know if you find it useful.
1494 ** `map', `for-each' and some others now implemented in Scheme
1496 We would not mention this in NEWS, as it is not a user-visible change,
1497 if it were not for one thing: `map' and `for-each' are no longer
1498 primitive generics. Instead they are normal bindings, which can be
1499 wrapped by normal generics. This fixes some modularity issues between
1500 core `map', SRFI-1 `map', and GOOPS.
1502 Also it's pretty cool that we can do this without a performance impact.
1504 ** Add `scm_peek_byte_or_eof'.
1506 This helper is like `scm_peek_char_or_eof', but for bytes instead of
1509 ** Implement #:stop-at-first-non-option option for getopt-long
1511 See "getopt-long Reference" in the manual, for more information.
1513 ** Improve R6RS conformance for conditions in the I/O libraries
1515 The `(rnrs io simple)' module now raises the correct R6RS conditions in
1516 error cases. `(rnrs io ports)' is also more correct now, though it is
1517 still a work in progress.
1519 ** All deprecated routines emit warnings
1521 A few deprecated routines were lacking deprecation warnings. This has
1524 * Speed improvements
1526 ** Constants in compiled code now share state better
1528 Constants with shared state, like `("foo")' and `"foo"', now share state
1529 as much as possible, in the entire compilation unit. This cuts compiled
1530 `.go' file sizes in half, generally, and speeds startup.
1532 ** VLists: optimize `vlist-fold-right', and add `vhash-fold-right'
1534 These procedures are now twice as fast as they were.
1536 ** UTF-8 ports to bypass `iconv' entirely
1538 This reduces memory usage in a very common case.
1540 ** Compiler speedups
1542 The compiler is now about 40% faster. (Note that this is only the case
1543 once the compiler is itself compiled, so the build still takes as long
1548 Some assertions that were mostly useful for sanity-checks on the
1549 bytecode compiler are now off for both "regular" and "debug" engines.
1550 This together with a fix to cache a TLS access and some other tweaks
1551 improve the VM's performance by about 20%.
1553 ** SRFI-1 list-set optimizations
1555 lset-adjoin and lset-union now have fast paths for eq? sets.
1557 ** `memq', `memv' optimizations
1559 These procedures are now at least twice as fast than in 2.0.1.
1563 ** Deprecate scm_whash API
1565 `scm_whash_get_handle', `SCM_WHASHFOUNDP', `SCM_WHASHREF',
1566 `SCM_WHASHSET', `scm_whash_create_handle', `scm_whash_lookup', and
1567 `scm_whash_insert' are now deprecated. Use the normal hash table API
1570 ** Deprecate scm_struct_table
1572 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME',
1573 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS',
1574 `scm_struct_table', and `scm_struct_create_handle' are now deprecated.
1575 These routines formed part of the internals of the map between structs
1578 ** Deprecate scm_internal_dynamic_wind
1580 The `scm_t_inner' type and `scm_internal_dynamic_wind' are deprecated,
1581 as the `scm_dynwind' API is better, and this API encourages users to
1582 stuff SCM values into pointers.
1584 ** Deprecate scm_immutable_cell, scm_immutable_double_cell
1586 These routines are deprecated, as the GC_STUBBORN API doesn't do
1591 Andreas Rottman kindly transcribed the missing parts of the `(rnrs io
1592 ports)' documentation from the R6RS documentation. Thanks Andreas!
1596 ** Fix double-loading of script in -ds case
1597 ** -x error message fix
1598 ** iconveh-related cross-compilation fixes
1599 ** Fix small integer return value packing on big endian machines.
1600 ** Fix hash-set! in weak-value table from non-immediate to immediate
1601 ** Fix call-with-input-file & relatives for multiple values
1602 ** Fix `hash' for inf and nan
1603 ** Fix libguile internal type errors caught by typing-strictness==2
1604 ** Fix compile error in MinGW fstat socket detection
1605 ** Fix generation of auto-compiled file names on MinGW
1606 ** Fix multithreaded access to internal hash tables
1607 ** Emit a 1-based line number in error messages
1608 ** Fix define-module ordering
1609 ** Fix several POSIX functions to use the locale encoding
1610 ** Add type and range checks to the complex generalized vector accessors
1611 ** Fix unaligned accesses for bytevectors of complex numbers
1613 ** Fix erroneous VM stack overflow for canceled threads
1616 Changes in 2.0.1 (since 2.0.0):
1620 ** guile.m4 supports linking with rpath
1622 The GUILE_FLAGS macro now sets GUILE_LIBS and GUILE_LTLIBS, which
1623 include appropriate directives to the linker to include libguile-2.0.so
1624 in the runtime library lookup path.
1626 ** `begin' expands macros in its body before other expressions
1628 This enables support for programs like the following:
1633 (or (= x 0) (odd? (- x 1)))))
1636 ((odd? x) (not (even? x)))))
1639 ** REPL reader usability enhancements
1641 The REPL now flushes input after a read error, which should prevent one
1642 error from causing other errors. The REPL also now interprets comments
1645 ** REPL output has configurable width
1647 The REPL now defaults to output with the current terminal's width, in
1648 columns. See "Debug Commands" in the manual for more information on
1651 ** Better C access to the module system
1653 Guile now has convenient C accessors to look up variables or values in
1654 modules and their public interfaces. See `scm_c_public_ref' and friends
1655 in "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual.
1657 ** Added `scm_call_5', `scm_call_6'
1659 See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
1661 ** Added `scm_from_latin1_keyword', `scm_from_utf8_keyword'
1663 See "Keyword Procedures" in the manual, for more. Note that
1664 `scm_from_locale_keyword' should not be used when the name is a C string
1667 ** R6RS unicode and string I/O work
1669 Added efficient implementations of `get-string-n' and `get-string-n!'
1670 for binary ports. Exported `current-input-port', `current-output-port'
1671 and `current-error-port' from `(rnrs io ports)', and enhanced support
1674 ** Added `pointer->scm', `scm->pointer' to `(system foreign)'
1676 These procedure are useful if one needs to pass and receive SCM values
1677 to and from foreign functions. See "Foreign Variables" in the manual,
1680 ** Added `heap-allocated-since-gc' to `(gc-stats)'
1682 Also fixed the long-standing bug in the REPL `,stat' command.
1684 ** Add `on-error' REPL option
1686 This option controls what happens when an error occurs at the REPL, and
1687 defaults to `debug', indicating that Guile should enter the debugger.
1688 Other values include `report', which will simply print a backtrace
1689 without entering the debugger. See "System Commands" in the manual.
1691 ** Enforce immutability of string literals
1693 Attempting to mutate a string literal now causes a runtime error.
1695 ** Fix pthread redirection
1697 Guile 2.0.0 shipped with headers that, if configured with pthread
1698 support, would re-define `pthread_create', `pthread_join', and other API
1699 to redirect to the BDW-GC wrappers, `GC_pthread_create', etc. This was
1700 unintended, and not necessary: because threads must enter Guile with
1701 `scm_with_guile', Guile can handle thread registration itself, without
1702 needing to make the GC aware of all threads. This oversight has been
1705 ** `with-continuation-barrier' now unwinds on `quit'
1707 A throw to `quit' in a continuation barrier will cause Guile to exit.
1708 Before, it would do so before unwinding to the barrier, which would
1709 prevent cleanup handlers from running. This has been fixed so that it
1710 exits only after unwinding.
1712 ** `string->pointer' and `pointer->string' have optional encoding arg
1714 This allows users of the FFI to more easily deal in strings with
1715 particular (non-locale) encodings, like "utf-8". See "Void Pointers and
1716 Byte Access" in the manual, for more.
1718 ** R6RS fixnum arithmetic optimizations
1720 R6RS fixnum operations are are still slower than generic arithmetic,
1723 ** New procedure: `define-inlinable'
1725 See "Inlinable Procedures" in the manual, for more.
1727 ** New procedure: `exact-integer-sqrt'
1729 See "Integer Operations" in the manual, for more.
1731 ** "Extended read syntax" for symbols parses better
1733 In #{foo}# symbols, backslashes are now treated as escapes, as the
1734 symbol-printing code intended. Additionally, "\x" within #{foo}# is now
1735 interpreted as starting an R6RS hex escape. This is backward compatible
1736 because the symbol printer would never produce a "\x" before. The
1737 printer also works better too.
1739 ** Added `--fresh-auto-compile' option
1741 This allows a user to invalidate the auto-compilation cache. It's
1742 usually not needed. See "Compilation" in the manual, for a discussion.
1746 ** GOOPS documentation updates
1750 Thanks to Mark Harig for improvements to guile.1.
1752 ** SRFI-23 documented
1754 The humble `error' SRFI now has an entry in the manual.
1758 ** `(ice-9 binary-ports)': "R6RS I/O Ports", in the manual
1759 ** `(ice-9 eval-string)': "Fly Evaluation", in the manual
1760 ** `(ice-9 command-line)', not documented yet
1764 ** Fixed `iconv_t' memory leak on close-port
1765 ** Fixed some leaks with weak hash tables
1766 ** Export `vhash-delq' and `vhash-delv' from `(ice-9 vlist)'
1767 ** `after-gc-hook' works again
1768 ** `define-record-type' now allowed in nested contexts
1769 ** `exact-integer-sqrt' now handles large integers correctly
1770 ** Fixed C extension examples in manual
1771 ** `vhash-delete' honors HASH argument
1772 ** Make `locale-digit-grouping' more robust
1773 ** Default exception printer robustness fixes
1774 ** Fix presence of non-I CPPFLAGS in `guile-2.0.pc'
1775 ** `read' updates line/column numbers when reading SCSH block comments
1776 ** Fix imports of multiple custom interfaces of same module
1777 ** Fix encoding scanning for non-seekable ports
1778 ** Fix `setter' when called with a non-setter generic
1779 ** Fix f32 and f64 bytevectors to not accept rationals
1780 ** Fix description of the R6RS `finite?' in manual
1781 ** Quotient, remainder and modulo accept inexact integers again
1782 ** Fix `continue' within `while' to take zero arguments
1783 ** Fix alignment for structures in FFI
1784 ** Fix port-filename of stdin, stdout, stderr to match the docs
1785 ** Fix weak hash table-related bug in `define-wrapped-pointer-type'
1786 ** Fix partial continuation application with pending procedure calls
1787 ** scm_{to,from}_locale_string use current locale, not current ports
1788 ** Fix thread cleanup, by using a pthread_key destructor
1789 ** Fix `quit' at the REPL
1790 ** Fix a failure to sync regs in vm bytevector ops
1791 ** Fix (texinfo reflection) to handle nested structures like syntax patterns
1792 ** Fix stexi->html double translation
1793 ** Fix tree-il->scheme fix for <prompt>
1794 ** Fix compilation of <prompt> in <fix> in single-value context
1795 ** Fix race condition in ensure-writable-dir
1796 ** Fix error message on ,disassemble "non-procedure"
1797 ** Fix prompt and abort with the boot evaluator
1798 ** Fix `procedure->pointer' for functions returning `void'
1799 ** Fix error reporting in dynamic-pointer
1800 ** Fix problems detecting coding: in block comments
1801 ** Fix duplicate load-path and load-compiled-path in compilation environment
1802 ** Add fallback read(2) suppport for .go files if mmap(2) unavailable
1803 ** Fix c32vector-set!, c64vector-set!
1804 ** Fix mistakenly deprecated read syntax for uniform complex vectors
1805 ** Fix parsing of exact numbers with negative exponents
1806 ** Ignore SIGPIPE in (system repl server)
1807 ** Fix optional second arg to R6RS log function
1808 ** Fix R6RS `assert' to return true value.
1809 ** Fix fencepost error when seeking in bytevector input ports
1810 ** Gracefully handle `setlocale' errors when starting the REPL
1811 ** Improve support of the `--disable-posix' configure option
1812 ** Make sure R6RS binary ports pass `binary-port?' regardless of the locale
1813 ** Gracefully handle unterminated UTF-8 sequences instead of hitting an `assert'
1817 Changes in 2.0.0 (changes since the 1.8.x series):
1819 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1821 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
1822 ** `(srfi srfi-27)', sources of random bits
1823 ** `(srfi srfi-38)', External Representation for Data With Shared Structure
1824 ** `(srfi srfi-42)', eager comprehensions
1825 ** `(srfi srfi-45)', primitives for expressing iterative lazy algorithms
1826 ** `(srfi srfi-67)', compare procedures
1827 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
1828 ** `(ice-9 futures)', fine-grain parallelism
1829 ** `(rnrs bytevectors)', the R6RS bytevector API
1830 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
1831 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
1832 ** `(ice-9 vlist)', lists with constant-time random access; hash lists
1833 ** `(system foreign)', foreign function interface
1834 ** `(sxml match)', a pattern matcher for SXML
1835 ** `(srfi srfi-9 gnu)', extensions to the SRFI-9 record library
1836 ** `(system vm coverage)', a line-by-line code coverage library
1837 ** `(web uri)', URI data type, parser, and unparser
1838 ** `(web http)', HTTP header parsers and unparsers
1839 ** `(web request)', HTTP request data type, reader, and writer
1840 ** `(web response)', HTTP response data type, reader, and writer
1841 ** `(web server)', Generic HTTP server
1842 ** `(ice-9 poll)', a poll wrapper
1843 ** `(web server http)', HTTP-over-TCP web server implementation
1845 ** Replaced `(ice-9 match)' with Alex Shinn's compatible, hygienic matcher.
1847 Guile's copy of Andrew K. Wright's `match' library has been replaced by
1848 a compatible hygienic implementation by Alex Shinn. It is now
1849 documented, see "Pattern Matching" in the manual.
1851 Compared to Andrew K. Wright's `match', the new `match' lacks
1852 `match-define', `match:error-control', `match:set-error-control',
1853 `match:error', `match:set-error', and all structure-related procedures.
1855 ** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
1857 The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
1858 toolkit from Guile-Lib have been imported into Guile proper. See
1859 "Standard Library" in the manual for more details.
1861 ** Integration of lalr-scm, a parser generator
1863 Guile has included Dominique Boucher's fine `lalr-scm' parser generator
1864 as `(system base lalr)'. See "LALR(1) Parsing" in the manual, for more
1867 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1869 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
1871 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
1872 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
1874 ** Evaluating Scheme code does not use the C stack.
1876 Besides when compiling Guile itself, Guile no longer uses a recursive C
1877 function as an evaluator. This obviates the need to check the C stack
1878 pointer for overflow. Continuations still capture the C stack, however.
1880 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
1881 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
1883 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
1884 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
1885 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
1888 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
1890 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. See
1891 "Using Guile Interactively" in the manual, for more information.
1893 ** Remove old Emacs interface
1895 Guile had an unused `--emacs' command line argument that was supposed to
1896 help when running Guile inside Emacs. This option has been removed, and
1897 the helper functions `named-module-use!' and `load-emacs-interface' have
1900 ** Add `(system repl server)' module and `--listen' command-line argument
1902 The `(system repl server)' module exposes procedures to listen on
1903 sockets for connections, and serve REPLs to those clients. The --listen
1904 command-line argument allows any Guile program to thus be remotely
1907 See "Invoking Guile" for more information on `--listen'.
1909 ** Command line additions
1911 The guile binary now supports a new switch "-x", which can be used to
1912 extend the list of filename extensions tried when loading files
1915 ** New reader options: `square-brackets', `r6rs-hex-escapes',
1916 `hungry-eol-escapes'
1918 The reader supports a new option (changeable via `read-options'),
1919 `square-brackets', which instructs it to interpret square brackets as
1920 parentheses. This option is on by default.
1922 When the new `r6rs-hex-escapes' reader option is enabled, the reader
1923 will recognize string escape sequences as defined in R6RS. R6RS string
1924 escape sequences are incompatible with Guile's existing escapes, though,
1925 so this option is off by default.
1927 Additionally, Guile follows the R6RS newline escaping rules when the
1928 `hungry-eol-escapes' option is enabled.
1930 See "String Syntax" in the manual, for more information.
1932 ** Function profiling and tracing at the REPL
1934 The `,profile FORM' REPL meta-command can now be used to statistically
1935 profile execution of a form, to see which functions are taking the most
1936 time. See `,help profile' for more information.
1938 Similarly, `,trace FORM' traces all function applications that occur
1939 during the execution of `FORM'. See `,help trace' for more information.
1941 ** Recursive debugging REPL on error
1943 When Guile sees an error at the REPL, instead of saving the stack, Guile
1944 will directly enter a recursive REPL in the dynamic context of the
1945 error. See "Error Handling" in the manual, for more information.
1947 A recursive REPL is the same as any other REPL, except that it
1948 has been augmented with debugging information, so that one can inspect
1949 the context of the error. The debugger has been integrated with the REPL
1950 via a set of debugging meta-commands.
1952 For example, one may access a backtrace with `,backtrace' (or
1953 `,bt'). See "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for more
1956 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
1958 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
1961 ** Guile now adds its install prefix to the LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH
1963 Users may now install Guile to nonstandard prefixes and just run
1964 `/path/to/bin/guile', instead of also having to set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH to
1965 include `/path/to/lib'.
1967 ** Guile's Emacs integration is now more keyboard-friendly
1969 Backtraces may now be disclosed with the keyboard in addition to the
1972 ** Load path change: search in version-specific paths before site paths
1974 When looking for a module, Guile now searches first in Guile's
1975 version-specific path (the library path), *then* in the site dir. This
1976 allows Guile's copy of SSAX to override any Guile-Lib copy the user has
1977 installed. Also it should cut the number of `stat' system calls by half,
1980 ** Value history in the REPL on by default
1982 By default, the REPL will save computed values in variables like `$1',
1983 `$2', and the like. There are programmatic and interactive interfaces to
1984 control this. See "Value History" in the manual, for more information.
1986 ** Readline tab completion for arguments
1988 When readline is enabled, tab completion works for arguments too, not
1989 just for the operator position.
1991 ** Expression-oriented readline history
1993 Guile's readline history now tries to operate on expressions instead of
1994 input lines. Let us know what you think!
1996 ** Interactive Guile follows GNU conventions
1998 As recommended by the GPL, Guile now shows a brief copyright and
1999 warranty disclaimer on startup, along with pointers to more information.
2001 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2003 ** Support for R6RS libraries
2005 The `library' and `import' forms from the latest Scheme report have been
2006 added to Guile, in such a way that R6RS libraries share a namespace with
2007 Guile modules. R6RS modules may import Guile modules, and are available
2008 for Guile modules to import via use-modules and all the rest. See "R6RS
2009 Libraries" in the manual for more information.
2011 ** Implementations of R6RS libraries
2013 Guile now has implementations for all of the libraries defined in the
2014 R6RS. Thanks to Julian Graham for this excellent hack. See "R6RS
2015 Standard Libraries" in the manual for a full list of libraries.
2017 ** Partial R6RS compatibility
2019 Guile now has enough support for R6RS to run a reasonably large subset
2022 Guile is not fully R6RS compatible. Many incompatibilities are simply
2023 bugs, though some parts of Guile will remain R6RS-incompatible for the
2024 foreseeable future. See "R6RS Incompatibilities" in the manual, for more
2027 Please contact bug-guile@gnu.org if you have found an issue not
2028 mentioned in that compatibility list.
2030 ** New implementation of `primitive-eval'
2032 Guile's `primitive-eval' is now implemented in Scheme. Actually there is
2033 still a C evaluator, used when building a fresh Guile to interpret the
2034 compiler, so we can compile eval.scm. Thereafter all calls to
2035 primitive-eval are implemented by VM-compiled code.
2037 This allows all of Guile's procedures, be they interpreted or compiled,
2038 to execute on the same stack, unifying multiple-value return semantics,
2039 providing for proper tail recursion between interpreted and compiled
2040 code, and simplifying debugging.
2042 As part of this change, the evaluator no longer mutates the internal
2043 representation of the code being evaluated in a thread-unsafe manner.
2045 There are two negative aspects of this change, however. First, Guile
2046 takes a lot longer to compile now. Also, there is less debugging
2047 information available for debugging interpreted code. We hope to improve
2048 both of these situations.
2050 There are many changes to the internal C evalator interface, but all
2051 public interfaces should be the same. See the ChangeLog for details. If
2052 we have inadvertantly changed an interface that you were using, please
2053 contact bug-guile@gnu.org.
2055 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
2057 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
2058 not apply to the compiler.
2060 ** No more `local-eval'
2062 `local-eval' used to exist so that one could evaluate code in the
2063 lexical context of a function. Since there is no way to get the lexical
2064 environment any more, as that concept has no meaning for the compiler,
2065 and a different meaning for the interpreter, we have removed the
2068 If you think you need `local-eval', you should probably implement your
2069 own metacircular evaluator. It will probably be as fast as Guile's
2072 ** Scheme source files will now be compiled automatically.
2074 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
2075 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
2076 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
2078 Note that this mechanism depends on the timestamp of the .go file being
2079 newer than that of the .scm file; if the .scm or .go files are moved
2080 after installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
2083 Auto-compiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
2084 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
2085 will be created if needed.
2087 To inhibit automatic compilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
2088 variable to 0, or pass --no-auto-compile on the Guile command line.
2090 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
2092 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
2093 in the next prerelease.
2095 ** New POSIX procedure: `getsid'
2097 Scheme binding for the `getsid' C library call.
2099 ** New POSIX procedure: `getaddrinfo'
2101 Scheme binding for the `getaddrinfo' C library function.
2103 ** Multicast socket options
2105 Support was added for the IP_MULTICAST_TTL and IP_MULTICAST_IF socket
2106 options. See "Network Sockets and Communication" in the manual, for
2109 ** `recv!', `recvfrom!', `send', `sendto' now deal in bytevectors
2111 These socket procedures now take bytevectors as arguments, instead of
2112 strings. There is some deprecated string support, however.
2114 ** New GNU procedures: `setaffinity' and `getaffinity'.
2116 See "Processes" in the manual, for more information.
2118 ** New procedures: `compose', `negate', and `const'
2120 See "Higher-Order Functions" in the manual, for more information.
2122 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
2124 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
2125 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
2126 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments'
2128 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
2129 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
2130 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
2131 procedures' docstrings for more information.
2133 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
2134 combining arity and formals. For example:
2136 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
2137 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
2139 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
2142 ** Removed: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
2144 These procedures created primitive fexprs for the old evaluator, and are
2145 no longer supported. If you feel that you need these functions, you
2146 probably need to write your own metacircular evaluator (which will
2147 probably be as fast as Guile's, anyway).
2149 ** New language: ECMAScript
2151 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
2152 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
2153 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
2154 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
2156 ** New language: Brainfuck
2158 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
2159 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
2160 languages. See the manual for details, or
2161 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
2162 Brainfuck language itself.
2164 ** New language: Elisp
2166 Guile now has an experimental Emacs Lisp compiler and runtime. You can
2167 now switch to Elisp at the repl: `,language elisp'. All kudos to Daniel
2168 Kraft and Brian Templeton, and all bugs to bug-guile@gnu.org.
2170 ** Better documentation infrastructure for macros
2172 It is now possible to introspect on the type of a macro, e.g.
2173 syntax-rules, identifier-syntax, etc, and extract information about that
2174 macro, such as the syntax-rules patterns or the defmacro arguments.
2175 `(texinfo reflection)' takes advantage of this to give better macro
2178 ** Support for arbitrary procedure metadata
2180 Building on its support for docstrings, Guile now supports multiple
2181 docstrings, adding them to the tail of a compiled procedure's
2182 properties. For example:
2188 (procedure-properties foo)
2189 => ((name . foo) (documentation . "one") (documentation . "two"))
2191 Also, vectors of pairs are now treated as additional metadata entries:
2194 #((quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
2196 (procedure-properties bar)
2197 => ((name . bar) (quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
2199 This allows arbitrary literals to be embedded as metadata in a compiled
2202 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
2205 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
2207 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
2208 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
2209 like this works now:
2211 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
2212 (define (helper x) ...)
2214 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
2216 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
2219 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
2220 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
2222 ** Support for version information in Guile's `module' form
2224 Guile modules now have a `#:version' field. See "R6RS Version
2225 References", "General Information about Modules", "Using Guile Modules",
2226 and "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual for more information.
2228 ** Support for renaming bindings on module export
2230 Wherever Guile accepts a symbol as an argument to specify a binding to
2231 export, it now also accepts a pair of symbols, indicating that a binding
2232 should be renamed on export. See "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual
2233 for more information.
2235 ** New procedure: `module-export-all!'
2237 This procedure exports all current and future bindings from a module.
2238 Use as `(module-export-all! (current-module))'.
2240 ** New procedure `reload-module', and `,reload' REPL command
2242 See "Module System Reflection" and "Module Commands" in the manual, for
2245 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
2247 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. See "Eval When"
2248 in the manual, for more information.
2250 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
2253 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
2254 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
2256 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
2258 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
2260 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
2262 It is possible to circumvent this restriction with e.g.
2263 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. Contact the list if you
2266 ** Support for `letrec*'
2268 Guile now supports `letrec*', a recursive lexical binding operator in
2269 which the identifiers are bound in order. See "Local Bindings" in the
2270 manual, for more details.
2272 ** Internal definitions now expand to `letrec*'
2274 Following the R6RS, internal definitions now expand to letrec* instead
2275 of letrec. The following program is invalid for R5RS, but valid for
2280 (define baz (+ bar 20))
2283 ;; R5RS and Guile <= 1.8:
2284 (foo) => Unbound variable: bar
2285 ;; R6RS and Guile >= 2.0:
2288 This change should not affect correct R5RS programs, or programs written
2289 in earlier Guile dialects.
2291 ** Macro expansion produces structures instead of s-expressions
2293 In the olden days, macroexpanding an s-expression would yield another
2294 s-expression. Though the lexical variables were renamed, expansions of
2295 core forms like `if' and `begin' were still non-hygienic, as they relied
2296 on the toplevel definitions of `if' et al being the conventional ones.
2298 The solution is to expand to structures instead of s-expressions. There
2299 is an `if' structure, a `begin' structure, a `toplevel-ref' structure,
2300 etc. The expander already did this for compilation, producing Tree-IL
2301 directly; it has been changed now to do so when expanding for the
2304 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
2306 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
2307 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
2310 (define (helper x) ...)
2311 (define-macro (foo bar)
2314 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
2317 (define (helper x) ...)
2318 (define-macro (foo bar)
2319 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
2321 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
2325 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
2327 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
2329 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
2336 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
2337 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
2340 ** Support for settable identifier syntax
2342 Following the R6RS, "variable transformers" are settable
2343 identifier-syntax. See "Identifier macros" in the manual, for more
2346 ** syntax-case treats `_' as a placeholder
2348 Following R6RS, a `_' in a syntax-rules or syntax-case pattern matches
2349 anything, and binds no pattern variables. Unlike the R6RS, Guile also
2350 permits `_' to be in the literals list for a pattern.
2352 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
2354 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
2358 (define-macro (ref x) x)
2361 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
2362 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
2363 macros before code that uses them.
2365 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
2368 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
2370 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
2371 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
2372 (double-literal 2) => 4
2374 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
2375 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
2376 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
2378 (eval-when (load compile eval)
2379 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
2380 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
2381 (double-literal 2) => 4
2383 See the documentation for eval-when for more information.
2385 ** `macroexpand' produces structures, not S-expressions.
2387 Given the need to maintain referential transparency, both lexically and
2388 modular, the result of expanding Scheme expressions is no longer itself
2389 an s-expression. If you want a human-readable approximation of the
2390 result of `macroexpand', call `tree-il->scheme' from `(language
2393 ** Removed function: `macroexpand-1'
2395 It is unclear how to implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though
2396 PLT Scheme does prove that it is possible.
2398 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
2400 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
2401 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
2402 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
2404 ** Incompatible change to #'
2406 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
2407 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
2408 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
2409 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
2411 ** `unquote' and `unquote-splicing' accept multiple expressions
2413 As per the R6RS, these syntax operators can now accept any number of
2414 expressions to unquote.
2416 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
2418 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
2421 ** Prompts: Delimited, composable continuations
2423 Guile now has prompts as part of its primitive language. See "Prompts"
2424 in the manual, for more information.
2426 Expressions entered in at the REPL, or from the command line, are
2427 surrounded by a prompt with the default prompt tag.
2429 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
2430 works (with compiled procedures)
2432 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
2433 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
2434 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
2435 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
2437 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
2438 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
2439 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
2440 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
2441 number of stack frames.
2443 ** Backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
2444 active in the current continuation
2446 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
2447 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
2448 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
2449 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
2451 ** `positions' reader option enabled by default
2453 This change allows primitive-load without --auto-compile to also
2454 propagate source information through the expander, for better errors and
2455 to let macros know their source locations. The compiler was already
2456 turning it on anyway.
2458 ** New macro: `current-source-location'
2460 The macro returns the current source location (to be documented).
2462 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
2463 through to the expanded code
2465 This should result in better backtraces.
2467 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
2469 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
2471 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
2473 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
2474 default. Use the `(ice-9 curried-definitions)' module to get back the
2477 ** New procedure, `define!'
2479 `define!' is a procedure that takes two arguments, a symbol and a value,
2480 and binds the value to the symbol in the current module. It's useful to
2481 programmatically make definitions in the current module, and is slightly
2482 less verbose than `module-define!'.
2484 ** All modules have names now
2486 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
2487 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
2488 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
2489 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
2491 ** The module namespace is now separate from the value namespace
2493 It was a little-known implementation detail of Guile's module system
2494 that it was built on a single hierarchical namespace of values -- that
2495 if there was a module named `(foo bar)', then in the module named
2496 `(foo)' there was a binding from `bar' to the `(foo bar)' module.
2498 This was a neat trick, but presented a number of problems. One problem
2499 was that the bindings in a module were not apparent from the module
2500 itself; perhaps the `(foo)' module had a private binding for `bar', and
2501 then an external contributor defined `(foo bar)'. In the end there can
2502 be only one binding, so one of the two will see the wrong thing, and
2503 produce an obtuse error of unclear provenance.
2505 Also, the public interface of a module was also bound in the value
2506 namespace, as `%module-public-interface'. This was a hack from the early
2507 days of Guile's modules.
2509 Both of these warts have been fixed by the addition of fields in the
2510 `module' data type. Access to modules and their interfaces from the
2511 value namespace has been deprecated, and all accessors use the new
2512 record accessors appropriately.
2514 When Guile is built with support for deprecated code, as is the default,
2515 the value namespace is still searched for modules and public interfaces,
2516 and a deprecation warning is raised as appropriate.
2518 Finally, to support lazy loading of modules as one used to be able to do
2519 with module binder procedures, Guile now has submodule binders, called
2520 if a given submodule is not found. See boot-9.scm for more information.
2522 ** New procedures: module-ref-submodule, module-define-submodule,
2523 nested-ref-module, nested-define-module!, local-ref-module,
2526 These new accessors are like their bare variants, but operate on
2527 namespaces instead of values.
2529 ** The (app modules) module tree is officially deprecated
2531 It used to be that one could access a module named `(foo bar)' via
2532 `(nested-ref the-root-module '(app modules foo bar))'. The `(app
2533 modules)' bit was a never-used and never-documented abstraction, and has
2534 been deprecated. See the following mail for a full discussion:
2536 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2010-04/msg00168.html
2538 The `%app' binding is also deprecated.
2540 ** `module-filename' field and accessor
2542 Modules now record the file in which they are defined. This field may be
2543 accessed with the new `module-filename' procedure.
2545 ** Modules load within a known environment
2547 It takes a few procedure calls to define a module, and those procedure
2548 calls need to be in scope. Now we ensure that the current module when
2549 loading a module is one that has the needed bindings, instead of relying
2552 ** `load' is a macro (!) that resolves paths relative to source file dir
2554 The familiar Schem `load' procedure is now a macro that captures the
2555 name of the source file being expanded, and dispatches to the new
2556 `load-in-vicinity'. Referencing `load' by bare name returns a closure
2557 that embeds the current source file name.
2559 This fix allows `load' of relative paths to be resolved with respect to
2560 the location of the file that calls `load'.
2562 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
2564 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
2565 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
2566 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
2568 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
2569 values to the expected number
2571 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
2572 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
2573 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
2575 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
2576 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
2577 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
2578 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
2580 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
2581 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
2582 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
2584 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
2587 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
2589 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
2591 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
2592 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
2593 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
2594 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
2595 the interpreter would proceed.
2597 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
2598 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
2599 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
2600 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
2602 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
2604 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
2605 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
2606 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
2607 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
2608 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
2609 you to contact the Guile developers.
2611 ** Hygienic macros documented as the primary syntactic extension mechanism.
2613 The macro documentation was finally fleshed out with some documentation
2614 on `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros, and other parts of the macro
2615 expansion process. See "Macros" in the manual, for details.
2617 ** psyntax is now the default expander
2619 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
2620 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
2623 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
2624 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
2625 code in question was memoized.
2627 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
2628 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
2629 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
2630 `x432' instead of `x'.
2632 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
2633 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
2634 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
2635 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
2637 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
2639 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
2640 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
2641 `macroexpand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
2644 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
2645 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
2646 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
2647 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
2649 ** Tail patterns in syntax-case
2651 Guile has pulled in some more recent changes from the psyntax portable
2652 syntax expander, to implement support for "tail patterns". Such patterns
2653 are supported by syntax-rules and syntax-case. This allows a syntax-case
2654 match clause to have ellipses, then a pattern at the end. For example:
2657 (syntax-rules (else)
2658 ((_ val match-clause ... (else e e* ...))
2661 Note how there is MATCH-CLAUSE, which is ellipsized, then there is a
2662 tail pattern for the else clause. Thanks to Andreas Rottmann for the
2663 patch, and Kent Dybvig for the code.
2665 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
2666 by nonhygienic macros.
2668 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
2669 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
2672 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
2673 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
2674 (define-macro (ref x)
2676 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
2681 (define-syntax bind-x
2683 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
2684 (define-macro (ref x)
2686 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
2688 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
2689 if you have defmacros that expand to hygienic macros, it is possible to
2690 run into situations like this. For example, if you have a defmacro that
2691 generates a `while' expression, the `break' bound by the `while' may not
2692 be visible within other parts of your defmacro. The solution is to port
2693 from defmacros to syntax-rules or syntax-case.
2695 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
2697 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
2698 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
2700 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
2701 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
2704 ** Macros may now have docstrings.
2706 `object-documentation' from `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to
2707 retrieve the docstring, once you have a macro value -- but see the above
2708 note about first-class macros. Docstrings are associated with the syntax
2709 transformer procedures.
2711 ** `case-lambda' is now available in the default environment.
2713 The binding in the default environment is equivalent to the one from the
2714 `(srfi srfi-16)' module. Use the srfi-16 module explicitly if you wish
2715 to maintain compatibility with Guile 1.8 and earlier.
2717 ** Procedures may now have more than one arity.
2719 This can be the case, for example, in case-lambda procedures. The
2720 arities of compiled procedures may be accessed via procedures from the
2721 `(system vm program)' module; see "Compiled Procedures", "Optional
2722 Arguments", and "Case-lambda" in the manual.
2724 ** Deprecate arity access via (procedure-properties proc 'arity)
2726 Instead of accessing a procedure's arity as a property, use the new
2727 `procedure-minimum-arity' function, which gives the most permissive
2728 arity that the function has, in the same format as the old arity
2731 ** `lambda*' and `define*' are now available in the default environment
2733 As with `case-lambda', `(ice-9 optargs)' continues to be supported, for
2734 compatibility purposes. No semantic change has been made (we hope).
2735 Optional and keyword arguments now dispatch via special VM operations,
2736 without the need to cons rest arguments, making them very fast.
2738 ** New syntax: define-once
2740 `define-once' is like Lisp's `defvar': it creates a toplevel binding,
2741 but only if one does not exist already.
2743 ** New function, `truncated-print', with `format' support
2745 `(ice-9 pretty-print)' now exports `truncated-print', a printer that
2746 will ensure that the output stays within a certain width, truncating the
2747 output in what is hopefully an intelligent manner. See the manual for
2750 There is a new `format' specifier, `~@y', for doing a truncated
2751 print (as opposed to `~y', which does a pretty-print). See the `format'
2752 documentation for more details.
2754 ** Better pretty-printing
2756 Indentation recognizes more special forms, like `syntax-case', and read
2757 macros like `quote' are printed better.
2759 ** Passing a number as the destination of `format' is deprecated
2761 The `format' procedure in `(ice-9 format)' now emits a deprecation
2762 warning if a number is passed as its first argument.
2764 Also, it used to be that you could omit passing a port to `format', in
2765 some cases. This still works, but has been formally deprecated.
2767 ** SRFI-4 vectors reimplemented in terms of R6RS bytevectors
2769 Guile now implements SRFI-4 vectors using bytevectors. Often when you
2770 have a numeric vector, you end up wanting to write its bytes somewhere,
2771 or have access to the underlying bytes, or read in bytes from somewhere
2772 else. Bytevectors are very good at this sort of thing. But the SRFI-4
2773 APIs are nicer to use when doing number-crunching, because they are
2774 addressed by element and not by byte.
2776 So as a compromise, Guile allows all bytevector functions to operate on
2777 numeric vectors. They address the underlying bytes in the native
2778 endianness, as one would expect.
2780 Following the same reasoning, that it's just bytes underneath, Guile
2781 also allows uniform vectors of a given type to be accessed as if they
2782 were of any type. One can fill a u32vector, and access its elements with
2783 u8vector-ref. One can use f64vector-ref on bytevectors. It's all the
2786 In this way, uniform numeric vectors may be written to and read from
2787 input/output ports using the procedures that operate on bytevectors.
2789 Calls to SRFI-4 accessors (ref and set functions) from Scheme are now
2790 inlined to the VM instructions for bytevector access.
2792 See "SRFI-4" in the manual, for more information.
2794 ** Nonstandard SRFI-4 procedures now available from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'
2796 Guile's `(srfi srfi-4)' now only exports those srfi-4 procedures that
2797 are part of the standard. Complex uniform vectors and the
2798 `any->FOOvector' family are now available only from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'.
2800 Guile's default environment imports `(srfi srfi-4)', and probably should
2801 import `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)' as well.
2803 See "SRFI-4 Extensions" in the manual, for more information.
2805 ** New syntax: include-from-path.
2807 `include-from-path' is like `include', except it looks for its file in
2808 the load path. It can be used to compile other files into a file.
2810 ** New syntax: quasisyntax.
2812 `quasisyntax' is to `syntax' as `quasiquote' is to `quote'. See the R6RS
2813 documentation for more information. Thanks to Andre van Tonder for the
2816 ** `*unspecified*' is identifier syntax
2818 `*unspecified*' is no longer a variable, so it is optimized properly by
2819 the compiler, and is not `set!'-able.
2821 ** Changes and bugfixes in numerics code
2823 *** Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operators
2825 Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operator pairs with
2826 different semantics than the R5RS operators. They support not only
2827 integers, but all reals, including exact rationals and inexact
2828 floating point numbers.
2830 These procedures accept two real numbers N and D, where the divisor D
2831 must be non-zero. Each set of operators computes an integer quotient
2832 Q and a real remainder R such that N = Q*D + R and |R| < |D|. They
2833 differ only in how N/D is rounded to produce Q.
2835 `euclidean-quotient' returns the integer Q and `euclidean-remainder'
2836 returns the real R such that N = Q*D + R and 0 <= R < |D|. `euclidean/'
2837 returns both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each
2838 separately. Note that when D > 0, `euclidean-quotient' returns
2839 floor(N/D), and when D < 0 it returns ceiling(N/D).
2841 `centered-quotient', `centered-remainder', and `centered/' are similar
2842 except that the range of remainders is -abs(D/2) <= R < abs(D/2), and
2843 `centered-quotient' rounds N/D to the nearest integer. Note that these
2844 operators are equivalent to the R6RS integer division operators `div',
2845 `mod', `div-and-mod', `div0', `mod0', and `div0-and-mod0'.
2847 `floor-quotient' and `floor-remainder' compute Q and R, respectively,
2848 where Q has been rounded toward negative infinity. `floor/' returns
2849 both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each separately.
2850 Note that when applied to integers, `floor-remainder' is equivalent to
2851 the R5RS integer-only `modulo' operator. `ceiling-quotient',
2852 `ceiling-remainder', and `ceiling/' are similar except that Q is
2853 rounded toward positive infinity.
2855 For `truncate-quotient', `truncate-remainder', and `truncate/', Q is
2856 rounded toward zero. Note that when applied to integers,
2857 `truncate-quotient' and `truncate-remainder' are equivalent to the
2858 R5RS integer-only operators `quotient' and `remainder'.
2860 For `round-quotient', `round-remainder', and `round/', Q is rounded to
2861 the nearest integer, with ties going to the nearest even integer.
2863 *** Complex number changes
2865 Guile is now able to represent non-real complex numbers whose
2866 imaginary part is an _inexact_ zero (0.0 or -0.0), per R6RS.
2867 Previously, such numbers were immediately changed into inexact reals.
2869 (real? 0.0+0.0i) now returns #f, per R6RS, although (zero? 0.0+0.0i)
2870 still returns #t, per R6RS. (= 0 0.0+0.0i) and (= 0.0 0.0+0.0i) are
2871 #t, but the same comparisons using `eqv?' or `equal?' are #f.
2873 Like other non-real numbers, these complex numbers with inexact zero
2874 imaginary part will raise exceptions is passed to procedures requiring
2875 reals, such as `<', `>', `<=', `>=', `min', `max', `positive?',
2876 `negative?', `inf?', `nan?', `finite?', etc.
2878 **** `make-rectangular' changes
2880 scm_make_rectangular `make-rectangular' now returns a real number only
2881 if the imaginary part is an _exact_ 0. Previously, it would return a
2882 real number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
2884 scm_c_make_rectangular now always returns a non-real complex number,
2885 even if the imaginary part is zero. Previously, it would return a
2886 real number if the imaginary part was zero.
2888 **** `make-polar' changes
2890 scm_make_polar `make-polar' now returns a real number only if the
2891 angle or magnitude is an _exact_ 0. If the magnitude is an exact 0,
2892 it now returns an exact 0. Previously, it would return a real
2893 number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
2895 scm_c_make_polar now always returns a non-real complex number, even if
2896 the imaginary part is 0.0. Previously, it would return a real number
2897 if the imaginary part was 0.0.
2899 **** `imag-part' changes
2901 scm_imag_part `imag-part' now returns an exact 0 if applied to an
2902 inexact real number. Previously it returned an inexact zero in this
2905 *** `eqv?' and `equal?' now compare numbers equivalently
2907 scm_equal_p `equal?' now behaves equivalently to scm_eqv_p `eqv?' for
2908 numeric values, per R5RS. Previously, equal? worked differently,
2909 e.g. `(equal? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #t but `(eqv? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #f,
2910 and `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f but `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
2913 *** `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' now returns #t
2915 Previously, `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f, although
2916 `(let ((x +nan.0)) (equal? x x))' and `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
2917 both returned #t. R5RS requires that `equal?' behave like
2918 `eqv?' when comparing numbers.
2920 *** Change in handling products `*' involving exact 0
2922 scm_product `*' now handles exact 0 differently. A product containing
2923 an exact 0 now returns an exact 0 if and only if the other arguments
2924 are all exact. An inexact zero is returned if and only if the other
2925 arguments are all finite but not all exact. If an infinite or NaN
2926 value is present, a NaN value is returned. Previously, any product
2927 containing an exact 0 yielded an exact 0, regardless of the other
2930 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' changes when the base is 0
2932 While `(expt 0 0)' is still 1, and `(expt 0 N)' for N > 0 is still
2933 zero, `(expt 0 N)' for N < 0 is now a NaN value, and likewise for
2934 integer-expt. This is more correct, and conforming to R6RS, but seems
2935 to be incompatible with R5RS, which would return 0 for all non-zero
2938 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' are more generic, less strict
2940 When raising to an exact non-negative integer exponent, `expt' and
2941 `integer-expt' are now able to exponentiate any object that can be
2942 multiplied using `*'. They can also raise an object to an exact
2943 negative integer power if its reciprocal can be taken using `/'.
2944 In order to allow this, the type of the first argument is no longer
2945 checked when raising to an exact integer power. If the exponent is 0
2946 or 1, the first parameter is not manipulated at all, and need not
2947 even support multiplication.
2949 *** Infinities are no longer integers, nor rationals
2951 scm_integer_p `integer?' and scm_rational_p `rational?' now return #f
2952 for infinities, per R6RS. Previously they returned #t for real
2953 infinities. The real infinities and NaNs are still considered real by
2954 scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
2956 *** NaNs are no longer rationals
2958 scm_rational_p `rational?' now returns #f for NaN values, per R6RS.
2959 Previously it returned #t for real NaN values. They are still
2960 considered real by scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
2962 *** `inf?' and `nan?' now throw exceptions for non-reals
2964 The domain of `inf?' and `nan?' is the real numbers. Guile now signals
2965 an error when a non-real number or non-number is passed to these
2966 procedures. (Note that NaNs _are_ considered numbers by scheme, despite
2969 *** `rationalize' bugfixes and changes
2971 Fixed bugs in scm_rationalize `rationalize'. Previously, it returned
2972 exact integers unmodified, although that was incorrect if the epsilon
2973 was at least 1 or inexact, e.g. (rationalize 4 1) should return 3 per
2974 R5RS and R6RS, but previously it returned 4. It also now handles
2975 cases involving infinities and NaNs properly, per R6RS.
2977 *** Trigonometric functions now return exact numbers in some cases
2979 scm_sin `sin', scm_cos `cos', scm_tan `tan', scm_asin `asin', scm_acos
2980 `acos', scm_atan `atan', scm_sinh `sinh', scm_cosh `cosh', scm_tanh
2981 `tanh', scm_sys_asinh `asinh', scm_sys_acosh `acosh', and
2982 scm_sys_atanh `atanh' now return exact results in some cases.
2984 *** New procedure: `finite?'
2986 Add scm_finite_p `finite?' from R6RS to guile core, which returns #t
2987 if and only if its argument is neither infinite nor a NaN. Note that
2988 this is not the same as (not (inf? x)) or (not (infinite? x)), since
2989 NaNs are neither finite nor infinite.
2991 *** Improved exactness handling for complex number parsing
2993 When parsing non-real complex numbers, exactness specifiers are now
2994 applied to each component, as is done in PLT Scheme. For complex
2995 numbers written in rectangular form, exactness specifiers are applied
2996 to the real and imaginary parts before calling scm_make_rectangular.
2997 For complex numbers written in polar form, exactness specifiers are
2998 applied to the magnitude and angle before calling scm_make_polar.
3000 Previously, exactness specifiers were applied to the number as a whole
3001 _after_ calling scm_make_rectangular or scm_make_polar.
3003 For example, (string->number "#i5.0+0i") now does the equivalent of:
3005 (make-rectangular (exact->inexact 5.0) (exact->inexact 0))
3007 which yields 5.0+0.0i. Previously it did the equivalent of:
3009 (exact->inexact (make-rectangular 5.0 0))
3013 ** Unicode characters
3015 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
3016 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
3017 probably be introduced at some point.
3021 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
3022 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
3023 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
3025 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
3026 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
3027 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
3028 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
3032 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
3034 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
3036 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
3037 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
3038 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
3039 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
3040 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
3043 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
3044 code. This use is now discouraged. Binary input and output is
3045 currently supported by opening ports in the ISO-8859-1 locale.
3047 ** Source files default to UTF-8.
3049 If source files do not specify their encoding via a `coding:' block,
3050 the default encoding is UTF-8, instead of being taken from the current
3053 ** Interactive Guile installs the current locale.
3055 Instead of leaving the user in the "C" locale, running the Guile REPL
3056 installs the current locale. [FIXME xref?]
3058 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
3060 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
3061 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
3062 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
3065 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
3066 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
3067 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
3069 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
3071 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
3073 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
3074 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
3075 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
3076 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
3078 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
3080 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
3081 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
3082 Unicode code points.
3084 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
3086 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
3087 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
3088 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
3091 ** EBCDIC support is removed
3093 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
3094 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
3095 and was unmaintained.
3097 ** Compile-time warnings
3099 Guile can warn about potentially unbound free variables. Pass the
3100 -Wunbound-variable on the `guile-tools compile' command line, or add
3101 `#:warnings '(unbound-variable)' to your `compile' or `compile-file'
3102 invocation. Warnings are also enabled by default for expressions entered
3105 Guile can also warn when you pass the wrong number of arguments to a
3106 procedure, with -Warity-mismatch, or `arity-mismatch' in the
3107 `#:warnings' as above.
3109 Other warnings include `-Wunused-variable' and `-Wunused-toplevel', to
3110 warn about unused local or global (top-level) variables, and `-Wformat',
3111 to check for various errors related to the `format' procedure.
3113 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
3115 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
3118 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
3120 This slightly improves program startup times.
3122 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
3124 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
3126 ** New threads are in `(guile-user)' by default, not `(guile)'
3128 It used to be that a new thread entering Guile would do so in the
3129 `(guile)' module, unless this was the first time Guile was initialized,
3130 in which case it was `(guile-user)'. This has been fixed to have all
3131 new threads unknown to Guile default to `(guile-user)'.
3133 ** New helpers: `print-exception', `set-exception-printer!'
3135 These functions implement an extensible exception printer. Guile
3136 registers printers for all of the exceptions it throws. Users may add
3137 their own printers. There is also `scm_print_exception', for use by C
3138 programs. Pleasantly, this allows SRFI-35 and R6RS exceptions to be
3139 printed appropriately.
3141 ** GOOPS dispatch in scheme
3143 As an implementation detail, GOOPS dispatch is no longer implemented by
3144 special evaluator bytecodes, but rather directly via a Scheme function
3145 associated with an applicable struct. There is some VM support for the
3146 underlying primitives, like `class-of'.
3148 This change will in the future allow users to customize generic function
3149 dispatch without incurring a performance penalty, and allow us to
3150 implement method combinations.
3152 ** Applicable struct support
3154 One may now make structs from Scheme that may be applied as procedures.
3155 To do so, make a struct whose vtable is `<applicable-struct-vtable>'.
3156 That struct will be the vtable of your applicable structs; instances of
3157 that new struct are assumed to have the procedure in their first slot.
3158 `<applicable-struct-vtable>' is like Common Lisp's
3159 `funcallable-standard-class'. Likewise there is
3160 `<applicable-struct-with-setter-vtable>', which looks for the setter in
3161 the second slot. This needs to be better documented.
3165 GOOPS had a number of concepts that were relevant to the days of Tcl,
3166 but not any more: operators and entities, mainly. These objects were
3167 never documented, and it is unlikely that they were ever used. Operators
3168 were a kind of generic specific to the Tcl support. Entities were
3169 replaced by applicable structs, mentioned above.
3171 ** New struct slot allocation: "hidden"
3173 A hidden slot is readable and writable, but will not be initialized by a
3174 call to make-struct. For example in your layout you would say "ph"
3175 instead of "pw". Hidden slots are useful for adding new slots to a
3176 vtable without breaking existing invocations to make-struct.
3178 ** eqv? not a generic
3180 One used to be able to extend `eqv?' as a primitive-generic, but no
3181 more. Because `eqv?' is in the expansion of `case' (via `memv'), which
3182 should be able to compile to static dispatch tables, it doesn't make
3183 sense to allow extensions that would subvert this optimization.
3185 ** `inet-ntop' and `inet-pton' are always available.
3187 Guile now use a portable implementation of `inet_pton'/`inet_ntop', so
3188 there is no more need to use `inet-aton'/`inet-ntoa'. The latter
3189 functions are deprecated.
3191 ** `getopt-long' parsing errors throw to `quit', not `misc-error'
3193 This change should inhibit backtraces on argument parsing errors.
3194 `getopt-long' has been modified to print out the error that it throws
3197 ** New primitive: `tmpfile'.
3199 See "File System" in the manual.
3201 ** Random generator state may be serialized to a datum
3203 `random-state->datum' will serialize a random state to a datum, which
3204 may be written out, read back in later, and revivified using
3205 `datum->random-state'. See "Random" in the manual, for more details.
3207 ** Fix random number generator on 64-bit platforms
3209 There was a nasty bug on 64-bit platforms in which asking for a random
3210 integer with a range between 2**32 and 2**64 caused a segfault. After
3211 many embarrassing iterations, this was fixed.
3213 ** Fast bit operations.
3215 The bit-twiddling operations `ash', `logand', `logior', and `logxor' now
3216 have dedicated bytecodes. Guile is not just for symbolic computation,
3217 it's for number crunching too.
3219 ** Faster SRFI-9 record access
3221 SRFI-9 records are now implemented directly on top of Guile's structs,
3222 and their accessors are defined in such a way that normal call-sites
3223 inline to special VM opcodes, while still allowing for the general case
3224 (e.g. passing a record accessor to `apply').
3226 ** R6RS block comment support
3228 Guile now supports R6RS nested block comments. The start of a comment is
3229 marked with `#|', and the end with `|#'.
3231 ** `guile-2' cond-expand feature
3233 To test if your code is running under Guile 2.0 (or its alpha releases),
3234 test for the `guile-2' cond-expand feature. Like this:
3236 (cond-expand (guile-2 (eval-when (compile)
3237 ;; This must be evaluated at compile time.
3238 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
3240 ;; Earlier versions of Guile do not have a
3241 ;; separate compilation phase.
3242 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
3244 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
3246 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
3248 ** New fluid: `%file-port-name-canonicalization'
3250 This fluid parameterizes the file names that are associated with file
3251 ports. If %file-port-name-canonicalization is 'absolute, then file names
3252 are canonicalized to be absolute paths. If it is 'relative, then the
3253 name is canonicalized, but any prefix corresponding to a member of
3254 `%load-path' is stripped off. Otherwise the names are passed through
3257 In addition, the `compile-file' and `compile-and-load' procedures bind
3258 %file-port-name-canonicalization to their `#:canonicalization' keyword
3259 argument, which defaults to 'relative. In this way, one might compile
3260 "../module/ice-9/boot-9.scm", but the path that gets residualized into
3261 the .go is "ice-9/boot-9.scm".
3263 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
3265 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
3267 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
3269 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
3271 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
3273 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
3275 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
3276 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
3277 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
3279 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
3281 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
3282 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
3284 ** New readline history functions
3286 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
3287 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
3288 History library functions.
3290 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
3291 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
3293 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
3296 ** Deprecate the old `scm-style-repl'
3298 The following bindings from boot-9 are now found in `(ice-9
3299 scm-style-repl)': `scm-style-repl', `error-catching-loop',
3300 `error-catching-repl', `bad-throw', `scm-repl-silent'
3301 `assert-repl-silence', `repl-print-unspecified',
3302 `assert-repl-print-unspecified', `scm-repl-verbose',
3303 `assert-repl-verbosity', `scm-repl-prompt', `set-repl-prompt!', `repl',
3304 `default-pre-unwind-handler', `handle-system-error',
3306 The following bindings have been deprecated, with no replacement:
3307 `pre-unwind-handler-dispatch'.
3309 The following bindings have been totally removed:
3310 `before-signal-stack'.
3312 Deprecated forwarding shims have been installed so that users that
3313 expect these bindings in the main namespace will still work, but receive
3314 a deprecation warning.
3316 ** `set-batch-mode?!' replaced by `ensure-batch-mode!'
3318 "Batch mode" is a flag used to tell a program that it is not running
3319 interactively. One usually turns it on after a fork. It may not be
3320 turned off. `ensure-batch-mode!' deprecates the old `set-batch-mode?!',
3321 because it is a better interface, as it can only turn on batch mode, not
3324 ** Deprecate `save-stack', `the-last-stack'
3326 It used to be that the way to debug programs in Guile was to capture the
3327 stack at the time of error, drop back to the REPL, then debug that
3328 stack. But this approach didn't compose, was tricky to get right in the
3329 presence of threads, and was not very powerful.
3331 So `save-stack', `stack-saved?', and `the-last-stack' have been moved to
3332 `(ice-9 save-stack)', with deprecated bindings left in the root module.
3334 ** `top-repl' has its own module
3336 The `top-repl' binding, called with Guile is run interactively, is now
3337 is its own module, `(ice-9 top-repl)'. A deprecated forwarding shim was
3338 left in the default environment.
3340 ** `display-error' takes a frame
3342 The `display-error' / `scm_display_error' helper now takes a frame as an
3343 argument instead of a stack. Stacks are still supported in deprecated
3344 builds. Additionally, `display-error' will again source location
3345 information for the error.
3347 ** No more `(ice-9 debug)'
3349 This module had some debugging helpers that are no longer applicable to
3350 the current debugging model. Importing this module will produce a
3351 deprecation warning. Users should contact bug-guile for support.
3353 ** Remove obsolete debug-options
3355 Removed `breakpoints', `trace', `procnames', `indent', `frames',
3356 `maxdepth', and `debug' debug-options.
3358 ** `backtrace' debug option on by default
3360 Given that Guile 2.0 can always give you a backtrace, backtraces are now
3363 ** `turn-on-debugging' deprecated
3365 ** Remove obsolete print-options
3367 The `source' and `closure-hook' print options are obsolete, and have
3370 ** Remove obsolete read-options
3372 The "elisp-strings" and "elisp-vectors" read options were unused and
3373 obsolete, so they have been removed.
3375 ** Remove eval-options and trap-options
3377 Eval-options and trap-options are obsolete with the new VM and
3380 ** Remove (ice-9 debugger) and (ice-9 debugging)
3382 See "Traps" and "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for information
3383 on their replacements.
3385 ** Remove the GDS Emacs integration
3387 See "Using Guile in Emacs" in the manual, for info on how we think you
3388 should use Guile with Emacs.
3390 ** Deprecated: `lazy-catch'
3392 `lazy-catch' was a form that captured the stack at the point of a
3393 `throw', but the dynamic state at the point of the `catch'. It was a bit
3394 crazy. Please change to use `catch', possibly with a throw-handler, or
3395 `with-throw-handler'.
3397 ** Deprecated: primitive properties
3399 The `primitive-make-property', `primitive-property-set!',
3400 `primitive-property-ref', and `primitive-property-del!' procedures were
3401 crufty and only used to implement object properties, which has a new,
3402 threadsafe implementation. Use object properties or weak hash tables
3405 ** Deprecated `@bind' syntax
3407 `@bind' was part of an older implementation of the Emacs Lisp language,
3408 and is no longer used.
3410 ** Miscellaneous other deprecations
3412 `cuserid' has been deprecated, as it only returns 8 bytes of a user's
3413 login. Use `(passwd:name (getpwuid (geteuid)))' instead.
3415 Additionally, the procedures `apply-to-args', `has-suffix?', `scheme-file-suffix'
3416 `get-option', `for-next-option', `display-usage-report',
3417 `transform-usage-lambda', `collect', and `set-batch-mode?!' have all
3420 ** Add support for unbound fluids
3422 See `make-unbound-fluid', `fluid-unset!', and `fluid-bound?' in the
3425 ** Add `variable-unset!'
3427 See "Variables" in the manual, for more details.
3429 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
3431 * Changes to the C interface
3433 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
3435 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
3436 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
3437 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
3439 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
3440 code easier and less error-prone.
3442 ** New procedures: `scm_to_stringn', `scm_from_stringn'
3443 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,latin1}_symbol{n,}
3444 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,utf32,latin1}_string{n,}
3446 These new procedures convert to and from string representations in
3447 particular encodings.
3449 Users should continue to use locale encoding for user input, user
3450 output, or interacting with the C library.
3452 Use the Latin-1 functions for ASCII, and for literals in source code.
3454 Use UTF-8 functions for interaction with modern libraries which deal in
3455 UTF-8, and UTF-32 for interaction with utf32-using libraries.
3457 Otherwise, use scm_to_stringn or scm_from_stringn with a specific
3460 ** New type definitions for `scm_t_intptr' and friends.
3462 `SCM_T_UINTPTR_MAX', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MIN', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MAX',
3463 `SIZEOF_SCM_T_BITS', `scm_t_intptr' and `scm_t_uintptr' are now
3464 available to C. Have fun!
3466 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
3468 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
3470 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
3473 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
3474 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
3476 ** Procedures-with-setters are now implemented using applicable structs
3478 From a user's perspective this doesn't mean very much. But if, for some
3479 odd reason, you used the SCM_PROCEDURE_WITH_SETTER_P, SCM_PROCEDURE, or
3480 SCM_SETTER macros, know that they're deprecated now. Also, scm_tc7_pws
3483 ** Remove old evaluator closures
3485 There used to be ranges of typecodes allocated to interpreted data
3486 structures, but that it no longer the case, given that interpreted
3487 procedure are now just regular VM closures. As a result, there is a
3488 newly free tc3, and a number of removed macros. See the ChangeLog for
3491 ** Primitive procedures are now VM trampoline procedures
3493 It used to be that there were something like 12 different typecodes
3494 allocated to primitive procedures, each with its own calling convention.
3495 Now there is only one, the gsubr. This may affect user code if you were
3496 defining a procedure using scm_c_make_subr rather scm_c_make_gsubr. The
3497 solution is to switch to use scm_c_make_gsubr. This solution works well
3498 both with the old 1.8 and with the current 1.9 branch.
3500 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying "gsubrs",
3501 primitive procedures with specified numbers of required, optional, and
3502 rest arguments. Now, however, Guile represents gsubrs as normal VM
3503 procedures, with appropriate bytecode to parse out the correct number of
3504 arguments, including optional and rest arguments, and then with a
3505 special bytecode to apply the gsubr.
3507 This allows primitive procedures to appear on the VM stack, allowing
3508 them to be accurately counted in profiles. Also they now have more
3509 debugging information attached to them -- their number of arguments, for
3510 example. In addition, the VM can completely inline the application
3511 mechanics, allowing for faster primitive calls.
3513 However there are some changes on the C level. There is no more
3514 `scm_tc7_gsubr' or `scm_tcs_subrs' typecode for primitive procedures, as
3515 they are just VM procedures. Likewise the macros `SCM_GSUBR_TYPE',
3516 `SCM_GSUBR_MAKTYPE', `SCM_GSUBR_REQ', `SCM_GSUBR_OPT', and
3517 `SCM_GSUBR_REST' are gone, as are `SCM_SUBR_META_INFO', `SCM_SUBR_PROPS'
3518 `SCM_SET_SUBR_GENERIC_LOC', and `SCM_SUBR_ARITY_TO_TYPE'.
3520 Perhaps more significantly, `scm_c_make_subr',
3521 `scm_c_make_subr_with_generic', `scm_c_define_subr', and
3522 `scm_c_define_subr_with_generic'. They all operated on subr typecodes,
3523 and there are no more subr typecodes. Use the scm_c_make_gsubr family
3526 Normal users of gsubrs should not be affected, though, as the
3527 scm_c_make_gsubr family still is the correct way to create primitive
3530 ** Remove deprecated array C interfaces
3532 Removed the deprecated array functions `scm_i_arrayp',
3533 `scm_i_array_ndim', `scm_i_array_mem', `scm_i_array_v',
3534 `scm_i_array_base', `scm_i_array_dims', and the deprecated macros
3535 `SCM_ARRAYP', `SCM_ARRAY_NDIM', `SCM_ARRAY_CONTP', `SCM_ARRAY_MEM',
3536 `SCM_ARRAY_V', `SCM_ARRAY_BASE', and `SCM_ARRAY_DIMS'.
3538 ** Remove unused snarf macros
3540 `SCM_DEFINE1', `SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC_1', `SCM_PROC1, and `SCM_GPROC1'
3541 are no more. Use SCM_DEFINE or SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC instead.
3543 ** New functions: `scm_call_n', `scm_c_run_hookn'
3545 `scm_call_n' applies to apply a function to an array of arguments.
3546 `scm_c_run_hookn' runs a hook with an array of arguments.
3548 ** Some SMOB types changed to have static typecodes
3550 Fluids, dynamic states, and hash tables used to be SMOB objects, but now
3551 they have statically allocated tc7 typecodes.
3553 ** Preparations for changing SMOB representation
3555 If things go right, we'll be changing the SMOB representation soon. To
3556 that end, we did a lot of cleanups to calls to e.g. SCM_CELL_WORD_2(x) when
3557 the code meant SCM_SMOB_DATA_2(x); user code will need similar changes
3558 in the future. Code accessing SMOBs using SCM_CELL macros was never
3559 correct, but until now things still worked. Users should be aware of
3562 ** Changed invocation mechanics of applicable SMOBs
3564 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying SMOB
3565 objects. Now, with the VM, when Guile sees a SMOB, it looks up a VM
3566 trampoline procedure for it, and use the normal mechanics to apply the
3567 trampoline. This simplifies procedure application in the normal,
3570 The upshot is that the mechanics used to apply a SMOB are different from
3571 1.8. Descriptors no longer have `apply_0', `apply_1', `apply_2', and
3572 `apply_3' functions, and the macros SCM_SMOB_APPLY_0 and friends are now
3573 deprecated. Just use the scm_call_0 family of procedures.
3575 ** Removed support shlibs for SRFIs 1, 4, 13, 14, and 60
3577 Though these SRFI support libraries did expose API, they encoded a
3578 strange version string into their library names. That version was never
3579 programmatically exported, so there was no way people could use the
3582 This was a fortunate oversight, as it allows us to remove the need for
3583 extra, needless shared libraries --- the C support code for SRFIs 4, 13,
3584 and 14 was already in core --- and allow us to incrementally return the
3585 SRFI implementation to Scheme.
3587 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
3589 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
3591 ** Undeprecate `scm_the_root_module ()'
3593 It's useful to be able to get the root module from C without doing a
3596 ** Inline vector allocation
3598 Instead of having vectors point out into the heap for their data, their
3599 data is now allocated inline to the vector object itself. The same is
3600 true for bytevectors, by default, though there is an indirection
3601 available which should allow for making a bytevector from an existing
3604 ** New struct constructors that don't involve making lists
3606 `scm_c_make_struct' and `scm_c_make_structv' are new varargs and array
3607 constructors, respectively, for structs. You might find them useful.
3611 In Guile 1.8, there were debugging frames on the C stack. Now there is
3612 no more need to explicitly mark the stack in this way, because Guile has
3613 a VM stack that it knows how to walk, which simplifies the C API
3614 considerably. See the ChangeLog for details; the relevant interface is
3615 in libguile/stacks.h. The Scheme API has not been changed significantly.
3617 ** Removal of Guile's primitive object system.
3619 There were a number of pieces in `objects.[ch]' that tried to be a
3620 minimal object system, but were never documented, and were quickly
3621 obseleted by GOOPS' merge into Guile proper. So `scm_make_class_object',
3622 `scm_make_subclass_object', `scm_metaclass_standard', and like symbols
3623 from objects.h are no more. In the very unlikely case in which these
3624 were useful to you, we urge you to contact guile-devel.
3628 Actually the future is still in the state that it was, is, and ever
3629 shall be, Amen, except that `futures.c' and `futures.h' are no longer a
3630 part of it. These files were experimental, never compiled, and would be
3631 better implemented in Scheme anyway. In the future, that is.
3633 ** Deprecate trampolines
3635 There used to be C functions `scm_trampoline_0', `scm_trampoline_1', and
3636 so on. The point was to do some precomputation on the type of the
3637 procedure, then return a specialized "call" procedure. However this
3638 optimization wasn't actually an optimization, so it is now deprecated.
3639 Just use `scm_call_0', etc instead.
3641 ** Deprecated `scm_badargsp'
3643 This function is unused in Guile, but was part of its API.
3645 ** Better support for Lisp `nil'.
3647 The bit representation of `nil' has been tweaked so that it is now very
3648 efficient to check e.g. if a value is equal to Scheme's end-of-list or
3649 Lisp's nil. Additionally there are a heap of new, specific predicates
3650 like scm_is_null_or_nil.
3652 ** Better integration of Lisp `nil'.
3654 `scm_is_boolean', `scm_is_false', and `scm_is_null' all return true now
3655 for Lisp's `nil'. This shouldn't affect any Scheme code at this point,
3656 but when we start to integrate more with Emacs, it is possible that we
3657 break code that assumes that, for example, `(not x)' implies that `x' is
3658 `eq?' to `#f'. This is not a common assumption. Refactoring affected
3659 code to rely on properties instead of identities will improve code
3660 correctness. See "Nil" in the manual, for more details.
3662 ** Support for static allocation of strings, symbols, and subrs.
3664 Calls to snarfing CPP macros like SCM_DEFINE macro will now allocate
3665 much of their associated data as static variables, reducing Guile's
3668 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
3669 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
3671 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
3673 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
3674 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
3676 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
3678 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
3679 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
3680 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
3681 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
3683 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
3685 * Changes to the distribution
3687 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
3689 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
3690 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
3695 Guile's build is visually quieter, due to the use of Automake 1.11's
3696 AM_SILENT_RULES. Build as `make V=1' to see all of the output.
3698 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
3700 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
3701 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
3703 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
3705 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
3706 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
3707 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
3710 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
3712 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
3713 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
3715 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
3717 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
3718 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
3720 ** Parallel installability fixes
3722 Guile now installs its header files to a effective-version-specific
3723 directory, and includes the effective version (e.g. 2.0) in the library
3724 name (e.g. libguile-2.0.so).
3726 This change should be transparent to users, who should detect Guile via
3727 the guile.m4 macro, or the guile-2.0.pc pkg-config file. It will allow
3728 parallel installs for multiple versions of Guile development
3731 ** Dynamically loadable extensions may be placed in a Guile-specific path
3733 Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
3734 (e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
3735 be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
3736 directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensiondir
3737 guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
3739 ** User Scheme code may be placed in a version-specific path
3741 Before, there was only one way to install user Scheme code to a
3742 version-specific Guile directory: install to Guile's own path,
3743 e.g. /usr/share/guile/2.0. The site directory,
3744 e.g. /usr/share/guile/site, was unversioned. This has been changed to
3745 add a version-specific site directory, e.g. /usr/share/guile/site/2.0,
3746 searched before the global site directory.
3748 ** New dependency: libgc
3750 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
3752 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
3754 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
3755 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
3757 ** New dependency: libffi
3759 See http://sourceware.org/libffi/, for more information.
3763 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
3767 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
3768 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
3769 ** Fix `wrong type arg' exceptions with IPv6 addresses
3772 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
3774 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3776 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
3780 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
3781 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
3782 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
3783 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
3784 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
3785 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
3786 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
3787 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
3788 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
3789 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
3790 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
3792 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
3794 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
3795 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
3796 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
3799 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
3802 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
3804 * New features (see the manual for details)
3806 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
3808 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
3810 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
3811 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
3812 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
3814 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
3816 * Changes to the distribution
3818 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
3820 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
3821 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
3823 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
3825 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
3826 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
3831 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
3832 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
3833 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
3834 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
3835 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
3836 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
3837 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
3838 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
3839 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
3840 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
3841 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
3842 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
3843 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
3844 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
3846 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
3847 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
3848 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
3849 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
3850 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
3853 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
3855 * Infrastructure changes
3857 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
3859 The new repository can be accessed using
3860 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
3861 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
3863 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
3865 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
3867 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3871 * New features (see the manual for details)
3873 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
3874 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
3875 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
3877 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
3878 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
3879 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
3880 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
3882 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
3884 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
3885 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
3886 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
3890 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
3891 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
3893 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
3894 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
3896 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
3897 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
3899 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
3900 lead to a stack overflow.
3902 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
3903 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
3904 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
3905 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
3906 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
3907 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
3908 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
3909 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
3910 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
3911 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
3912 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
3913 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
3914 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
3915 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
3916 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
3917 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
3920 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
3924 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
3925 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
3926 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
3927 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
3928 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
3929 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
3930 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
3931 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
3932 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
3933 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
3934 system and library calls.
3935 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
3936 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
3937 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
3938 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
3939 uniform vectors on AIX.
3940 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
3941 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
3942 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
3943 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
3944 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
3946 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3950 * Documentation fixes and improvements
3952 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
3954 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
3955 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
3957 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
3959 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
3961 * Changes to the distribution
3963 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
3965 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
3966 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
3967 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
3969 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
3971 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
3974 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
3976 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3983 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
3984 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
3985 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
3986 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
3987 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
3988 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
3989 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
3991 * Implementation improvements
3993 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
3994 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
3997 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
3999 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
4001 ** set-program-arguments
4004 * Incompatible changes
4006 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
4008 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
4009 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
4010 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
4011 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
4016 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
4017 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
4018 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
4019 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
4020 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
4021 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
4023 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
4024 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
4025 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
4026 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
4027 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
4028 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
4029 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
4030 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
4031 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
4032 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
4033 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
4034 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
4035 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
4036 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
4037 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
4038 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
4041 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
4043 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
4045 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
4047 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
4048 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
4049 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
4050 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
4051 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
4052 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
4060 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
4062 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
4064 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
4066 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
4068 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
4070 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
4072 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
4073 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
4074 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
4076 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
4078 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
4080 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
4081 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
4083 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
4085 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
4086 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
4088 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
4090 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
4092 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
4094 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
4096 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
4098 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
4100 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
4102 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
4104 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
4106 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
4107 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
4108 file was on a different device.
4111 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
4113 * Changes to the distribution
4115 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
4117 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
4119 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
4121 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
4123 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
4125 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
4128 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
4130 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
4131 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
4132 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
4133 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
4134 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
4135 items like the versioned share directory name
4136 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
4138 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
4139 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
4140 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
4141 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
4142 with each micro release during a stable series.
4144 ** Thread implementation has changed.
4146 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
4147 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
4148 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
4149 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
4150 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
4153 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
4154 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
4155 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
4156 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
4159 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
4160 in which case "null" threads are used.
4162 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
4163 "Blocking", and others.
4165 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
4167 This is a milder form of deprecation.
4169 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
4170 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
4171 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
4172 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
4173 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
4175 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
4176 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
4178 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
4180 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
4181 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
4183 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
4186 This SRFI is always available.
4188 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
4190 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
4191 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
4192 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
4193 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
4196 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
4198 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
4199 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
4200 parameters without currying.
4202 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
4204 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
4205 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
4207 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
4208 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
4211 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
4212 with a renaming import, for example.
4214 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
4216 The official version is good enough now.
4218 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
4220 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
4221 provided. Use 'make html'.
4223 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
4225 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
4226 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
4227 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
4228 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
4230 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
4232 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
4235 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4237 ** New command line option `-L'.
4239 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
4241 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
4243 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
4244 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
4246 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
4248 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
4249 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
4251 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
4253 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
4254 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
4257 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
4260 (define-module (demo)
4264 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
4267 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4269 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
4271 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
4272 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
4273 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
4275 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
4277 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
4278 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
4280 ** New function hashx-remove!
4282 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
4284 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
4285 barriers and dynamic states.
4287 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
4288 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
4289 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
4292 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
4293 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
4294 Barriers" in the manual.
4296 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
4297 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
4299 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
4301 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
4302 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
4303 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
4304 variable %load-path.
4306 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
4308 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
4309 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
4311 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
4312 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
4313 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
4315 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
4316 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
4318 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
4319 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
4320 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
4322 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
4323 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
4324 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
4327 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
4328 substrings and read-only strings.
4330 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
4331 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
4334 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
4336 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
4345 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
4346 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
4347 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
4349 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
4350 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
4351 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
4352 on an ANSI terminal:
4354 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
4355 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
4358 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
4360 See the manual for details.
4362 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
4364 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
4367 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
4369 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
4370 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
4371 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
4372 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
4374 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
4375 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
4376 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
4379 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
4381 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
4382 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
4393 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
4397 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
4402 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
4406 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
4410 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
4413 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
4414 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
4415 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
4416 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
4418 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
4419 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
4422 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
4425 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
4429 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
4431 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
4432 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
4433 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
4436 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
4439 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
4441 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
4444 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
4445 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
4448 (define-module (foo)
4453 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
4454 has been detected is to
4456 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
4457 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
4458 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
4461 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
4464 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
4466 to your .guile init file.
4468 ** New define-module option: :replace
4470 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
4473 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
4474 for the core binding `format'.
4476 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
4478 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
4479 a prefix to all imported bindings.
4481 (define-module (foo)
4482 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
4484 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
4487 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
4489 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
4490 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
4491 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
4493 ** New function: effective-version
4495 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
4496 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
4497 to the distribution" above.
4499 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
4501 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
4502 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
4504 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
4506 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
4507 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
4509 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
4511 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
4512 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
4515 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
4517 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
4519 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
4521 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
4522 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
4523 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
4526 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
4527 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
4528 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
4529 'system-async-mark'.
4531 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
4532 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
4534 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
4535 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
4536 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
4539 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
4541 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
4542 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
4545 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
4546 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
4548 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
4549 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
4550 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
4551 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
4552 level for the current thread.
4554 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
4556 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
4558 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
4559 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
4562 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
4564 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
4566 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
4569 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
4571 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
4574 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
4575 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
4576 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
4578 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
4579 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
4580 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
4581 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
4592 ERROR: Numerical overflow
4594 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
4597 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
4599 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
4600 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
4601 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
4612 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
4614 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
4615 them is also done exactly, of course:
4620 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
4621 for exact arguments.
4623 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
4624 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
4626 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
4628 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
4629 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
4630 equal to a floating point number. For example:
4632 (inexact->exact 1.234)
4633 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
4635 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
4637 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
4640 ** New function 'rationalize'.
4642 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
4643 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
4645 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
4648 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
4649 result when both its arguments are exact.
4651 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
4653 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
4654 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
4655 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
4657 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
4659 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
4660 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
4661 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
4663 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
4666 ** pretty-print has more options.
4668 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
4669 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
4670 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
4672 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
4674 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
4675 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
4676 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
4678 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
4680 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
4681 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
4683 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
4685 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
4686 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
4689 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
4691 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
4692 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
4693 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
4694 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
4695 without the soft port blocking.
4697 ** Deprecated: undefine
4699 There is no replacement for undefine.
4701 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
4702 have been discouraged.
4704 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
4705 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
4706 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
4709 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
4711 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
4713 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
4714 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
4715 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
4716 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
4719 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
4720 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
4721 be removed in the next major Guile release.
4723 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
4725 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
4726 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
4727 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
4728 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
4729 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
4730 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
4732 * Changes to the C interface
4734 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
4735 take a 'delete' function argument.
4737 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
4738 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
4740 This is an incompatible change.
4742 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
4744 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
4745 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
4746 --disable-deprecated.
4748 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
4750 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
4751 Scheme values has been added.
4753 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
4754 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
4757 - int scm_is_* (...)
4759 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
4760 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
4762 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
4764 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
4765 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
4768 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
4770 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
4771 scm_from_int for ints.
4773 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
4774 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
4775 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
4777 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
4779 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
4780 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
4781 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
4784 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
4786 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
4788 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
4790 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
4791 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
4792 following alternatives.
4794 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
4795 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
4796 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
4797 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
4799 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
4800 do the validating for you.
4802 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
4803 have been discouraged.
4805 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
4806 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
4809 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
4811 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
4812 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
4815 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
4817 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
4820 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
4823 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
4825 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
4826 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
4828 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
4829 scm_truncate_number should have.
4831 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
4832 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
4834 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
4837 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
4838 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
4839 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
4841 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
4842 easier to use from C.
4844 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
4845 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
4847 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
4848 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
4849 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
4852 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
4853 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
4854 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
4855 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
4858 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
4859 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
4860 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
4861 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
4862 and is thus quite efficient.
4864 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
4866 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
4867 about the character encoding.
4869 Replace according to the following table:
4871 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
4872 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
4873 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
4874 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
4875 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
4876 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
4877 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
4878 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
4879 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
4881 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
4882 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
4884 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
4886 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
4887 now also available to C code.
4889 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
4891 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
4892 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
4893 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
4895 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
4898 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
4900 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
4901 unceremoniously removed.
4903 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
4904 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
4905 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
4907 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
4908 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
4909 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
4910 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
4911 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
4912 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
4915 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
4917 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
4918 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
4919 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
4920 manual for more details.
4922 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
4923 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
4925 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
4926 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
4927 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
4929 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
4931 Migrate according to the following table:
4933 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
4934 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
4935 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
4936 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
4937 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
4938 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
4939 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
4941 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
4942 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
4943 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
4944 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
4945 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
4946 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
4947 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
4949 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
4951 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
4952 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
4954 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
4955 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
4956 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
4957 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
4959 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
4961 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
4962 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
4963 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
4965 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
4966 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
4968 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
4969 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
4970 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
4971 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
4973 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
4975 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
4976 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
4977 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
4978 prevent a potential memory leak:
4985 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
4987 mem = scm_malloc (100);
4988 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
4990 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
4991 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
4998 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
4999 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
5003 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
5005 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
5007 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
5008 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
5009 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
5011 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
5012 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
5014 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
5016 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
5018 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
5019 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
5020 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
5022 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
5023 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
5025 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
5026 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
5027 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
5028 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
5031 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
5033 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
5034 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
5035 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
5037 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
5039 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
5040 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
5042 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
5044 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
5045 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
5047 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
5049 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
5050 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
5051 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
5053 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
5055 You should not have used them.
5057 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
5059 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
5060 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
5062 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
5064 This macro is not intended for public use.
5066 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
5068 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
5070 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
5072 Use scm_is_real instead.
5074 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
5076 Use scm_is_complex instead.
5078 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
5080 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
5081 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
5083 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
5084 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
5086 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
5087 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
5089 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
5091 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
5094 ** New function: scm_effective_version
5096 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
5097 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
5098 to the distribution" above.
5100 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
5102 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
5103 arguments are now passed directly:
5105 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
5107 This is an incompatible change.
5109 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
5111 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
5112 function in the init section.
5114 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
5116 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
5118 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
5119 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
5120 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
5121 stays roughly constant.
5123 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
5124 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
5125 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
5126 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
5127 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
5130 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
5131 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
5132 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
5133 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
5135 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
5136 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
5137 objects for every type.
5140 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
5142 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
5144 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
5146 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
5147 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
5148 initializes a new cell (see below).
5150 ** New functions for memory management
5152 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
5153 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
5154 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
5155 cause aborts in long running programs.
5157 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
5158 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
5160 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
5161 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
5162 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
5163 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
5164 details and for upgrading instructions.
5166 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
5167 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
5168 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
5170 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
5172 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
5173 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
5174 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
5175 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
5176 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
5178 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
5179 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
5180 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
5182 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
5183 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
5185 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
5187 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
5188 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
5189 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
5190 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
5191 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
5193 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
5195 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
5198 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
5200 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
5202 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
5204 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
5205 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
5207 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
5209 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
5210 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
5212 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
5213 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
5215 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
5217 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
5219 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
5220 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
5221 blocking it is not well defined.
5223 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
5225 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
5226 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
5227 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
5228 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
5229 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
5230 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
5231 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
5232 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
5233 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
5234 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
5235 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
5236 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
5237 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
5238 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
5239 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
5240 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
5241 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
5242 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
5243 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
5244 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
5245 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
5246 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
5247 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
5248 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
5249 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
5250 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
5251 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
5252 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
5253 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
5254 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
5255 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
5257 * Changes to bundled modules
5261 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
5262 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
5263 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
5264 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
5265 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
5268 Changes since Guile 1.4:
5270 * Changes to the distribution
5272 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
5274 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
5276 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
5277 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
5278 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
5279 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
5280 indicate major changes in Guile.
5282 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
5283 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
5284 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
5285 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
5287 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
5288 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
5289 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
5290 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
5291 micro version number.
5293 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
5295 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
5297 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
5298 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
5300 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
5302 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
5303 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
5304 See INSTALL and README for more information.
5306 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
5308 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
5309 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
5310 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
5313 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
5315 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
5318 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
5320 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
5321 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
5323 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
5325 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
5326 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
5329 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
5331 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
5334 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
5337 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
5339 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
5341 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
5342 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
5343 open-output-string, get-output-string.
5345 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
5347 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
5349 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
5352 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
5354 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
5356 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
5358 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
5359 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
5360 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
5362 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
5364 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
5366 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
5367 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
5376 See README there for more info.
5378 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
5379 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
5382 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
5384 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
5386 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
5388 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
5389 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
5390 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
5392 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
5394 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
5395 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
5396 to be named `and-let*', of course.
5398 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
5399 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
5401 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
5404 (oop goops describe)
5406 (oop goops active-slot)
5407 (oop goops composite-slot)
5409 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
5410 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
5411 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
5413 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
5415 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
5416 in the default environment:
5418 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
5419 %read-line write-line
5421 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
5422 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
5424 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
5426 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
5429 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
5430 can be used for similar functionality.
5432 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
5434 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
5435 it defines two procedures:
5437 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
5439 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
5440 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
5441 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
5444 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
5446 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
5447 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
5448 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
5449 write large strings.
5451 ** New module (ice-9 match)
5453 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
5454 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
5456 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
5458 for complete documentation.
5460 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
5462 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
5463 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
5464 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
5465 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
5467 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
5468 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
5472 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
5473 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
5474 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
5477 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
5480 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
5481 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
5483 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
5484 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
5487 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
5490 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
5492 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
5494 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5496 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
5498 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
5499 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
5500 Scheme programs easier.
5502 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
5503 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
5504 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
5505 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
5506 `cond-expand' when using this option.
5509 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
5510 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
5512 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
5515 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
5517 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
5518 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
5519 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
5522 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5524 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
5526 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
5527 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
5528 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
5529 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
5530 was also ASCII, for example.
5532 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
5534 tag - no replacement.
5535 fseek - replaced by seek.
5536 list* - replaced by cons*.
5538 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
5542 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
5543 (define m (make-safe-module))
5544 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
5545 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
5546 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
5548 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
5550 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
5551 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
5552 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
5554 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
5556 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
5557 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
5558 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
5559 from the issues related to the module system.
5561 *** New function: load-extension
5563 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
5565 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
5567 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
5568 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
5569 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
5571 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
5573 This function registers a initialization function for use by
5574 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
5575 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
5576 support dynamic linking).
5578 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
5580 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
5581 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
5582 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
5583 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
5586 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
5587 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
5588 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
5589 library and initialize it explicitly.
5591 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
5592 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
5594 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
5596 (define-module (foo bar))
5598 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
5600 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
5602 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
5603 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
5605 (scheme-report-environment 5)
5606 (null-environment 5)
5607 (interaction-environment)
5613 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
5615 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
5616 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
5617 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
5618 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
5620 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
5621 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
5622 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
5623 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
5624 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
5625 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
5626 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
5627 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
5628 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
5629 one eval to the next.
5631 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
5632 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
5633 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
5634 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
5635 subforms are at the top-level as well.
5637 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
5638 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
5639 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
5640 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
5641 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
5642 used in a lexical environment.
5644 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
5645 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
5646 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
5647 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
5648 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
5649 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
5651 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
5653 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
5654 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
5655 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
5656 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
5657 new facilities: selection and renaming.
5659 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
5660 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
5661 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
5663 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
5664 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
5666 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
5667 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
5668 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5670 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5671 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
5673 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
5674 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
5675 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
5676 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
5679 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
5680 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
5681 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
5682 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5684 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5685 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
5686 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
5688 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
5689 ;; and all four by upcasing.
5690 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
5691 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
5692 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
5694 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5696 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5697 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
5698 :renamer upcase-symbol))
5700 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
5701 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
5702 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
5704 See manual for more info.
5706 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
5708 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
5709 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
5710 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
5712 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
5714 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
5715 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
5716 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
5718 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
5719 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
5720 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
5721 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
5723 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
5725 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
5726 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
5728 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
5729 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
5730 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
5731 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
5732 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
5735 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
5736 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
5737 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
5738 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
5739 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
5740 successful and #f if it wasn't.
5742 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
5743 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
5744 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
5745 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
5746 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
5748 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
5749 objects are usually permanent.
5751 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
5752 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
5754 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
5756 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
5757 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
5760 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
5764 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
5769 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
5771 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
5772 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
5773 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
5774 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
5776 ** New function `make-object-property'
5778 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
5779 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
5783 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
5784 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
5788 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
5789 source properties eventually.
5791 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
5793 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
5794 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
5795 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
5797 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
5798 will be removed in the next release.
5800 ** New define-module option: pure
5802 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
5807 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
5810 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
5812 Export names NAME1 ...
5814 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
5815 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
5819 (define-module (foo)
5821 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
5824 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
5829 ** New function: object->string OBJ
5831 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
5833 ** New function: port? X
5835 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
5836 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
5838 ** New function: file-port?
5840 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
5842 ** New function: port-for-each proc
5844 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
5845 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
5846 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
5847 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
5848 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
5850 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
5852 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
5853 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
5854 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
5855 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
5856 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
5859 ** New function: close-fdes fd
5861 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
5862 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
5863 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
5864 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
5867 ** New function: crypt password salt
5869 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
5872 ** New function: chroot path
5874 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
5876 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
5878 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
5881 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
5883 Get or set the priority of the running process.
5885 ** New function: getpass prompt
5887 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
5890 ** New function: flock file operation
5892 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
5894 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
5896 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
5899 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
5901 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
5902 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
5903 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
5904 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
5905 of the temporary file.
5907 ** New function: open-input-string string
5909 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
5910 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
5911 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
5913 ** New function: open-output-string
5915 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
5916 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
5918 ** New function: get-output-string
5920 Return the contents of an output string port.
5922 ** New function: identity
5924 Return the argument.
5926 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
5927 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
5929 ** New function: inet-pton family address
5931 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
5932 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
5933 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
5936 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
5937 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
5939 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
5941 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
5942 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
5943 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
5946 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
5947 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
5948 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
5952 Use `identity' instead.
5958 ** Deprecated: return-it
5962 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
5964 Use `string-length' instead.
5966 ** Deprecated: flags
5968 Use `logior' instead.
5970 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
5972 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
5973 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
5974 port-for-each is more flexible.
5976 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
5977 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
5978 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
5980 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
5982 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
5984 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
5986 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
5988 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
5990 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
5991 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
5993 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
5994 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
5996 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
5997 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
5999 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
6001 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
6002 Removed function: builtin-bindings
6004 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
6005 Use module system operations for all variables.
6007 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
6009 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
6012 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
6014 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
6015 The following bugs have been fixed:
6017 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
6018 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
6021 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
6022 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
6023 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
6025 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
6026 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
6028 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
6029 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
6032 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
6033 The expansion used to be like so:
6035 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
6037 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
6039 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
6041 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
6042 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
6044 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
6046 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
6047 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
6048 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
6052 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
6053 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
6055 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
6060 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
6061 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
6063 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
6064 and `d', other keywords allowed.
6065 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
6067 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
6070 * Changes to the C interface
6072 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
6074 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
6075 with "_t". What a concept.
6077 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
6079 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
6081 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
6085 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
6086 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
6088 *** C Functions removed
6090 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
6091 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
6092 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
6093 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
6094 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
6095 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
6096 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
6098 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
6100 Use scm_mem2string instead.
6102 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
6104 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
6106 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
6107 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
6109 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
6111 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
6114 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
6116 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
6118 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
6120 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
6121 Evaluation" in the manual.
6123 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
6125 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
6126 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
6128 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
6130 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
6131 Constructors" in the manual.
6133 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
6135 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
6136 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
6138 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
6140 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
6142 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
6143 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
6144 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
6146 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
6148 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
6150 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
6151 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
6152 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
6155 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
6157 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
6159 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
6160 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
6162 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
6164 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
6165 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
6166 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
6167 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
6169 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
6170 scm_primitive_property_ref
6171 scm_primitive_property_set_x
6172 scm_primitive_property_del_x
6174 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
6175 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
6177 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
6179 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
6180 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
6181 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
6182 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
6184 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
6186 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
6187 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
6188 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
6189 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
6190 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
6191 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
6192 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
6194 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
6195 scm_remember_upto_here
6197 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
6199 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
6201 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
6202 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
6204 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
6206 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
6208 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
6210 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
6212 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
6214 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
6215 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
6216 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
6217 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
6218 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
6219 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
6221 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
6223 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
6225 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
6226 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
6227 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
6229 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
6231 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
6232 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
6233 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
6235 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
6237 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
6238 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
6241 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
6244 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
6245 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
6248 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
6250 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
6252 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
6254 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
6256 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
6258 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
6260 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
6261 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
6262 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
6263 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
6264 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
6265 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
6266 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
6267 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
6268 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
6269 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
6270 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
6271 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
6272 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
6273 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
6274 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
6276 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
6277 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
6278 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
6279 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
6280 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
6281 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
6282 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
6283 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
6284 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
6285 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
6286 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
6287 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
6288 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
6289 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
6290 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
6291 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
6292 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
6293 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
6294 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
6295 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
6296 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
6297 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
6298 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
6299 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
6300 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
6301 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
6302 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
6303 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
6304 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
6306 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
6308 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
6310 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
6311 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
6313 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
6315 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
6317 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
6319 Use scm_string_hash instead.
6321 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
6323 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
6325 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
6327 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
6329 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
6332 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
6333 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
6335 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
6337 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
6339 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
6341 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
6343 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
6345 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
6347 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
6349 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
6352 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
6354 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
6356 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
6358 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
6359 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
6361 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
6362 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
6364 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
6366 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
6367 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
6368 scm_module_define, scm_define.
6370 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
6372 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
6374 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
6375 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
6377 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
6378 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
6379 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
6380 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
6382 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
6383 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
6384 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
6386 Use the new ones from above instead.
6388 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
6390 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
6391 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
6392 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
6394 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
6395 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
6397 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
6398 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
6401 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
6402 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
6404 Use the new functions instead.
6406 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
6409 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
6411 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
6413 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
6416 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
6418 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
6421 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
6423 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
6426 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
6427 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
6428 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
6430 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
6432 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
6433 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
6435 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
6436 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
6437 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
6438 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
6441 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
6443 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
6444 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
6445 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
6446 inexact for an exact.
6448 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
6449 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
6450 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
6453 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
6454 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
6455 accept an inexact argument.
6457 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
6458 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
6460 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
6463 ** New number validation macros:
6464 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
6468 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
6470 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
6471 scm_unprotect_object.
6473 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
6475 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
6477 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
6480 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
6482 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
6486 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
6488 * Changes to the distribution
6490 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
6492 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
6493 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
6494 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
6495 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
6496 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
6497 obtain these programs.
6498 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
6499 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
6501 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
6502 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
6503 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
6504 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
6505 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
6507 However, this approach means that minor differences between
6508 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
6509 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
6510 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
6514 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
6517 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
6518 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
6519 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
6520 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
6522 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
6524 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
6526 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
6527 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
6529 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
6530 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
6532 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
6533 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
6535 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
6536 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
6537 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
6538 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
6540 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
6542 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
6546 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
6547 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
6549 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
6551 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
6552 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
6554 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
6555 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
6556 number of objects of that kind.
6558 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
6560 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
6561 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
6562 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
6563 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
6564 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
6566 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
6568 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
6570 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
6572 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
6575 ** New module (ice-9 time)
6577 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
6579 ** New module (ice-9 history)
6581 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
6583 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6585 ** New command line option --debug
6587 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
6589 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
6591 ** New help facility
6593 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
6594 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
6595 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
6596 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
6597 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
6598 (help) gives this text
6600 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
6601 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
6603 Examples: (help help)
6605 (help "output-string")
6607 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
6609 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
6611 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
6612 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
6615 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
6616 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
6617 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
6620 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
6621 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
6622 use absolute filenames when possible.
6624 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
6625 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
6626 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
6629 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
6631 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
6632 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
6633 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
6634 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
6636 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
6638 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
6640 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
6641 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
6642 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
6644 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
6645 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
6646 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
6648 (read-enable 'positions)
6649 (debug-enable 'debug)
6651 ** Backtraces in scripts
6653 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
6657 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
6659 at the top of the script.
6661 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
6662 The second enables backtraces.)
6664 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
6666 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
6667 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
6668 substantially faster than before.
6670 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
6671 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
6673 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
6674 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
6676 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
6678 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
6679 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
6680 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
6682 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
6683 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
6684 when this hook is run in the future.
6686 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
6687 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
6689 ** Improvements to garbage collector
6691 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
6692 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
6695 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
6696 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
6697 more and more memory for certain programs.)
6699 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
6700 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
6702 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
6703 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
6705 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
6706 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
6707 in order not to need further allocation.)
6709 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
6712 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
6713 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
6714 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
6715 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
6717 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
6719 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
6722 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
6724 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
6727 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
6728 GC in percent of total heap size
6731 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
6732 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
6734 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
6736 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
6737 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
6739 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
6741 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
6742 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
6744 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
6746 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
6747 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
6751 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
6752 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
6754 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
6756 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6758 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
6760 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
6762 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
6764 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
6765 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
6767 (simple-format port message . args)
6768 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
6769 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
6770 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
6771 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
6772 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
6773 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
6774 Does not add a trailing newline."
6776 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
6778 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
6779 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
6781 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
6782 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
6784 ** Deprecated: list*
6786 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
6788 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
6790 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
6791 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
6793 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
6794 is returned as result.
6796 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
6798 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
6800 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
6802 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
6803 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
6806 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
6808 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
6810 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
6811 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
6813 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6815 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
6817 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
6819 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6821 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
6823 Thanks to Greg Badros!
6825 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
6827 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
6828 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
6829 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
6831 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
6834 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
6836 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
6837 the readability of argument checking.
6839 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
6841 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
6843 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
6845 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
6846 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
6847 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
6848 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
6849 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
6850 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
6851 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
6853 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
6855 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
6857 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
6858 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
6860 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
6862 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
6863 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
6866 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
6868 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
6869 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
6870 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
6872 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
6873 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
6874 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
6876 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
6877 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
6878 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
6879 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
6880 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
6881 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
6882 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
6884 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
6885 scm_end_input (object);
6886 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
6887 ptob->flush (object);
6889 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
6890 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
6893 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
6895 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
6897 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
6898 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
6899 removed in a future version.
6901 ** The format of error message strings has changed
6903 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
6904 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
6905 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
6906 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
6908 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
6909 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
6911 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
6914 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
6916 in your configure.in.
6918 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
6923 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
6929 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
6931 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
6935 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
6936 (define make-message string-append)
6938 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
6940 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
6944 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
6949 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
6953 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
6955 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
6956 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
6958 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
6960 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
6961 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
6962 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
6963 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
6964 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
6965 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
6967 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
6968 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
6969 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
6971 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
6972 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
6973 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
6976 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
6977 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
6978 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
6979 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
6980 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
6982 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
6983 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
6984 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
6985 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
6986 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
6987 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
6988 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
6990 Destructors are not yet implemented.
6992 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
6993 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
6994 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
6996 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
6997 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
6998 KEY in the calling thread.
7000 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
7001 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
7002 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
7003 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
7004 associated with the key.
7006 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
7008 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
7009 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
7011 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
7013 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
7014 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
7015 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
7017 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
7019 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
7020 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
7022 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
7024 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
7026 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
7027 returned is undefined.
7029 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
7030 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
7031 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
7033 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
7034 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
7035 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
7037 ** New C level GC hooks
7039 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
7041 scm_before_gc_c_hook
7044 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
7045 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
7046 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
7048 scm_before_mark_c_hook
7049 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
7050 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
7052 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
7053 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
7056 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
7058 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
7059 allocation parameters
7061 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
7062 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
7063 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
7067 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
7068 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
7069 scm_default_max_segment_size
7071 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
7073 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
7074 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
7076 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
7078 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
7079 object and count on the object being protected until
7080 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
7082 The functions also have better time complexity.
7084 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
7085 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
7086 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
7087 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
7088 are no longer needed.
7090 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
7092 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
7093 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
7094 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
7095 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
7097 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
7099 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
7101 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
7103 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
7104 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
7105 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
7106 until this issue has been settled.
7108 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
7110 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
7112 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
7115 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
7117 * Changes to system call interfaces:
7119 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
7120 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
7121 descriptors were checked.
7123 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
7124 atomically written to a pipe.
7126 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
7127 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
7128 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
7129 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
7130 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
7131 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
7132 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
7135 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
7136 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
7137 is changed without calling tzset.
7139 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
7141 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
7142 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
7143 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
7145 (define write-network-long
7146 (lambda (value port)
7147 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
7148 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
7149 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
7151 (define read-network-long
7153 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
7154 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
7155 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
7157 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
7158 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
7160 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
7161 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
7162 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
7163 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
7165 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
7166 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
7167 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
7168 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
7172 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
7174 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7178 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
7179 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
7180 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
7186 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
7187 for a description of available commands.
7189 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
7190 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
7191 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
7193 (debug-enable 'backwards)
7195 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
7196 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
7198 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
7200 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
7202 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
7203 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
7204 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
7205 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
7206 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
7207 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
7210 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
7212 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
7213 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
7214 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
7215 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
7217 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
7218 the file and should not be affected by this change.
7220 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
7222 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7224 ** Readline support has changed again.
7226 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
7227 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
7228 to activate readline is now
7230 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
7233 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
7235 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
7236 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
7237 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
7240 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
7241 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
7242 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
7245 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
7246 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
7247 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
7248 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
7249 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
7250 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
7252 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
7253 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
7255 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
7257 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
7258 object it receives is the same string passed to
7259 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
7260 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
7261 string, not the suffix.
7263 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
7264 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
7265 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
7267 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
7269 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
7270 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
7271 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
7272 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
7275 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
7277 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
7279 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
7280 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
7281 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
7282 appear from left to right.
7284 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
7287 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
7289 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
7290 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
7292 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
7296 *** New function: hook? OBJ
7298 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
7300 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
7302 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
7303 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
7304 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
7306 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
7308 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
7310 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
7312 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
7315 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
7317 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
7318 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
7319 mentioning it here anyway.
7321 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
7323 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
7324 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
7325 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
7326 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
7329 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
7331 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
7333 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
7335 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
7336 otherwise return #f.
7338 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
7340 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
7341 returned by `opendir'.
7343 ** New function: using-readline?
7345 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
7347 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
7349 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
7350 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
7352 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7354 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
7356 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
7357 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
7358 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
7360 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
7362 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
7363 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
7365 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
7367 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
7368 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
7369 documentation slots are not yet used.
7371 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
7373 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
7374 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
7375 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
7380 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
7381 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
7382 (string-append x y))
7384 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
7385 can also be used for concatenating strings.
7387 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
7388 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
7389 be made in a clean way.]
7391 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
7393 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
7395 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
7397 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
7398 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
7400 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7402 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
7404 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
7406 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
7408 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
7409 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
7410 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
7411 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
7414 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7416 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
7418 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
7420 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
7422 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
7423 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
7425 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7427 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
7429 Evaluates the body of a special form.
7431 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
7433 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
7434 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
7435 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
7436 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
7437 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
7438 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
7440 This should not make any difference for most users.
7442 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
7444 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
7445 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
7447 *** New functions for applying generic functions
7449 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
7450 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
7451 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
7452 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
7453 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
7455 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
7457 It is now replaced by:
7459 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
7461 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
7462 binds a variable named NAME to it.
7464 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
7466 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
7467 This might change when we get the new module system.
7469 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
7473 Changes since Guile 1.3:
7475 * Changes to mailing lists
7477 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
7479 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
7482 * Changes to the distribution
7484 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
7486 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
7487 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
7488 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
7489 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
7490 you explicitly specify it.
7492 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
7493 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
7494 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
7495 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
7496 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
7499 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
7500 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
7501 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
7502 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
7504 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
7505 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
7506 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
7509 You can activate the readline support by issuing
7511 (use-modules (readline-activator))
7514 from your ".guile" file, for example.
7516 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7518 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
7519 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
7520 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
7521 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
7523 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
7524 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
7527 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7529 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
7530 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
7531 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
7532 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
7533 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
7534 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
7535 the Guile interpreter or other unwanted results. An example of
7536 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
7548 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
7549 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
7550 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
7551 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
7552 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
7557 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
7558 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
7566 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
7571 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
7572 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
7575 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
7576 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
7577 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
7578 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
7580 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
7582 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
7584 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
7585 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
7587 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
7589 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
7591 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
7592 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
7594 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
7597 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
7599 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
7601 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
7603 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
7605 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
7607 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
7609 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
7610 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
7611 when the hook was created.
7613 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
7614 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
7615 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
7616 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
7617 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
7618 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
7619 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
7620 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
7621 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
7623 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
7624 the dlopen family of functions.
7626 ** New function `provided?'
7628 - Function: provided? FEATURE
7629 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
7630 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
7631 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
7633 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
7635 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
7636 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
7637 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
7638 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
7641 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
7642 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
7643 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
7644 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
7646 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
7647 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
7648 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
7651 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
7652 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
7653 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
7654 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
7655 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
7656 but with the flag set.
7658 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
7660 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
7661 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
7663 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
7664 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
7665 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
7666 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
7667 available Scheme format implementations.
7669 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
7670 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
7671 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
7672 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
7673 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
7674 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
7675 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
7676 output is to the current error port if available by the
7677 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
7680 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
7681 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
7682 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
7683 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
7684 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
7685 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
7686 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
7687 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
7689 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
7690 be executed at a time.
7693 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
7695 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
7696 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
7697 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
7699 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
7700 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
7701 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
7702 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
7703 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
7704 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
7705 general form of a directive is:
7707 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
7709 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
7711 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
7713 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
7714 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
7715 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
7718 Any (print as `display' does).
7722 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
7726 S-expression (print as `write' does).
7730 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
7736 print number sign always.
7739 print comma separated.
7741 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
7747 print number sign always.
7750 print comma separated.
7752 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
7758 print number sign always.
7761 print comma separated.
7763 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
7769 print number sign always.
7772 print comma separated.
7774 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
7779 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
7783 print a number as a Roman numeral.
7786 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
7789 print a number as an ordinal English number.
7792 print a number as a cardinal English number.
7797 prints `y' and `ies'.
7800 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
7803 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
7808 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
7812 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
7815 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
7816 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
7818 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7821 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
7822 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
7824 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7827 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
7829 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
7831 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7834 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
7836 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
7838 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7841 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
7844 The sign appears before the padding.
7852 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
7854 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
7859 print N page separators.
7869 newline is ignored, white space left.
7872 newline is left, white space ignored.
7877 relative tabulation.
7883 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
7885 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
7888 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
7890 converts by `string-capitalize'.
7893 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
7896 converts by `string-upcase'.
7899 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
7901 jumps N arguments forward.
7904 jumps 1 argument backward.
7907 jumps N arguments backward.
7910 jumps to the 0th argument.
7913 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
7915 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
7916 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
7918 take argument from N.
7921 true test conditional.
7924 if-else-then conditional.
7930 default clause follows.
7933 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
7935 at most N iterations.
7938 args from next arg (a list of lists).
7941 args from the rest of arguments.
7944 args from the rest args (lists).
7955 aborts if N <= M <= K
7957 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
7960 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
7963 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
7969 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
7971 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
7973 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
7974 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
7975 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
7976 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
7977 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
7978 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
7982 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
7986 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
7992 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
7995 Print a `#\space' character
7997 print N `#\space' characters.
8000 Print a `#\tab' character
8002 print N `#\tab' characters.
8005 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
8006 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
8007 must be a positive decimal number.
8010 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
8011 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
8012 be processed by `read'.
8015 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
8016 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
8017 be processed by `read'.
8020 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
8023 prints format version.
8026 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
8027 and format it accordingly.
8029 *** Configuration Variables
8031 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
8032 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
8033 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
8034 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
8037 format:symbol-case-conv
8038 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
8039 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
8040 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
8041 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
8042 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
8044 format:iobj-case-conv
8045 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
8046 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
8049 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
8052 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
8058 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
8059 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
8060 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
8061 `format' padding style.
8064 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
8065 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
8066 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
8067 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
8071 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
8072 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
8073 directive parameters or modifiers)).
8076 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
8077 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
8078 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
8079 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
8080 parameters or modifiers)).
8083 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
8085 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
8087 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
8088 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
8090 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
8091 string-downcase! functions.
8093 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
8094 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
8096 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
8099 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
8102 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
8103 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
8105 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
8107 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
8108 the symbol had be read by `read'.
8110 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
8111 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
8112 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
8113 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
8114 would if STRING were input.
8116 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
8118 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
8119 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
8120 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
8121 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
8124 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
8126 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
8127 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
8130 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
8132 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
8133 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
8135 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
8136 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
8138 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
8139 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
8140 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
8141 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
8143 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
8144 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
8146 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
8147 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
8148 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
8150 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
8151 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
8153 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
8154 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
8155 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
8156 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
8157 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
8159 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
8160 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
8161 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
8162 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
8163 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
8164 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
8166 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
8167 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
8168 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
8171 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
8172 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
8173 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
8174 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
8175 the following grammar:
8176 ((apples (single-char #\a))
8177 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
8178 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
8179 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
8180 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
8181 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
8182 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
8183 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
8184 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
8185 last option in its combination)
8187 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
8188 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
8189 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
8190 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
8192 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
8193 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
8194 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
8196 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
8197 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
8198 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
8200 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
8201 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
8202 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
8203 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
8204 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
8205 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
8206 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
8207 ordinary argument strings.
8209 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
8210 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
8211 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
8212 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
8214 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
8215 as a list, associated with the empty list.
8217 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
8218 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
8219 - a required option is omitted
8220 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
8221 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
8222 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
8223 - an option predicate fails
8228 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
8231 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
8232 (verbose (required? #f)
8235 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
8236 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
8237 (predicate ,string?))))
8239 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
8240 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
8242 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
8243 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
8244 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
8245 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
8248 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
8250 It will be removed in a few releases.
8252 ** New syntax: lambda*
8253 ** New syntax: define*
8254 ** New syntax: define*-public
8255 ** New syntax: defmacro*
8256 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
8257 Guile now supports optional arguments.
8259 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
8260 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
8261 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
8262 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
8263 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
8265 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
8266 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
8267 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
8269 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
8271 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
8272 and examples for `lambda*':
8275 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
8277 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
8278 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
8279 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
8280 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
8281 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
8282 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
8283 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
8284 can be checked with the bound? macro.
8286 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
8288 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
8289 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
8290 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
8291 are given as keywords are bound to values.
8293 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
8294 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
8295 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
8296 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
8297 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
8298 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
8299 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
8300 and until the procedure is called.
8302 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
8304 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
8305 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
8306 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
8307 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
8308 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
8309 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
8310 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
8311 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
8312 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
8313 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
8315 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
8316 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
8317 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
8318 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
8321 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
8323 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
8324 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
8325 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
8326 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
8328 ** New syntax: and-let*
8329 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
8331 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
8332 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
8333 (<variable> <expression>)
8336 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
8337 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
8338 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
8341 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
8342 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
8343 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
8344 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
8345 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
8346 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
8347 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
8349 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
8350 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
8351 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
8352 shadow earlier bindings.
8354 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
8356 ** New sorting functions
8358 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
8359 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
8360 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
8361 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
8363 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
8364 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
8367 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
8368 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
8369 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
8371 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
8372 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
8373 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
8374 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
8376 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
8377 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
8378 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
8379 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
8380 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
8383 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
8384 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
8385 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
8386 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
8387 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
8388 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
8390 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
8391 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
8392 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
8394 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
8395 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
8396 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
8399 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
8400 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
8401 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
8403 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
8404 Added for compatibility with scsh.
8406 ** New built-in random number support
8408 *** New function: random N [STATE]
8409 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
8410 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
8411 returned have a uniform distribution.
8413 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
8414 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
8415 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
8416 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
8417 effect of the `random' operation.
8419 *** New variable: *random-state*
8420 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
8421 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
8422 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
8423 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
8424 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
8427 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
8428 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
8429 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
8430 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
8431 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
8433 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
8434 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
8435 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
8436 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
8437 initialized using SEED.
8439 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
8440 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
8441 range between 0 and 1.
8443 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
8444 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
8445 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
8446 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
8447 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
8448 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
8449 or a uniform vector of doubles.
8451 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
8452 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
8453 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
8454 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
8455 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
8456 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
8458 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
8459 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
8460 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
8461 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
8463 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
8464 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
8465 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
8466 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
8468 *** New function: random:exp STATE
8469 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
8470 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
8472 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
8474 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
8477 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
8478 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
8481 ** New function: make-guardian
8482 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
8483 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
8484 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
8485 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
8486 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
8488 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
8489 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
8490 one object if at all.
8492 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
8493 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
8494 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
8496 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
8497 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
8498 read again in last-in first-out order.
8500 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
8501 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
8503 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
8505 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
8506 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
8507 file position is used.
8509 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
8510 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
8511 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
8513 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
8514 redefined using seek.
8516 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
8517 size is not supplied.
8519 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
8520 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
8522 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
8523 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
8525 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
8527 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
8528 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
8529 and returns the contents as a single string.
8531 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
8532 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
8533 lists in serial order.
8535 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
8536 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
8537 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
8539 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
8540 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
8541 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
8542 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
8544 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
8545 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
8546 and #f if an error occured.
8548 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
8550 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
8551 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
8552 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
8553 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
8555 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
8557 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
8560 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
8562 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
8565 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8569 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
8570 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
8572 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
8573 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
8577 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8579 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
8581 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
8582 binds a variable named NAME to it.
8584 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
8586 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
8587 might change when we get the new module system.
8589 ** The smob interface
8591 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
8592 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
8594 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
8596 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
8600 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
8601 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
8602 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
8603 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
8604 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
8605 will be freed by the default free function.
8607 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
8608 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
8609 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8610 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8612 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
8613 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
8614 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8615 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8617 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
8619 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
8620 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
8624 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
8625 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8626 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8628 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
8629 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
8630 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8631 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8633 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
8634 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
8635 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
8637 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
8638 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
8639 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
8640 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
8642 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
8643 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
8644 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
8646 *** scm_newptob has been removed
8650 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
8652 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
8653 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
8654 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
8656 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
8657 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
8658 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
8660 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
8661 a string port's buffer.
8663 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
8664 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
8665 function pointers which together define the current random number
8666 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
8667 number library functions.
8669 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
8672 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
8673 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
8676 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
8677 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
8679 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
8680 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
8682 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
8683 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
8686 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
8687 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
8688 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
8689 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
8691 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
8692 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
8693 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
8694 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
8695 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
8696 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
8697 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
8699 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
8700 by libguile and the application.
8702 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
8703 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
8704 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
8705 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
8707 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
8708 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
8710 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
8711 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
8712 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
8714 ** Random number library functions
8715 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
8716 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
8717 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
8719 The default random state is stored in:
8721 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
8722 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
8723 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
8728 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
8730 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
8731 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
8732 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
8733 isn't a random state.
8735 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
8736 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
8738 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
8739 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
8740 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
8741 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
8743 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8744 Return 32 random bits.
8746 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8747 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
8749 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8750 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
8752 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8753 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
8755 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
8756 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
8758 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
8759 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
8760 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
8764 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
8766 * Changes to the distribution
8768 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
8769 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
8770 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
8773 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
8774 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
8775 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
8777 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
8778 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
8779 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
8780 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
8783 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
8784 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
8785 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
8787 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
8789 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
8791 *** Function: batch-mode?
8793 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
8796 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
8798 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
8799 case has not been implemented.
8801 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
8802 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
8803 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
8806 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
8807 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
8809 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
8811 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
8813 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
8815 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
8816 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
8819 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
8820 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
8821 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
8822 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
8825 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
8827 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
8828 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
8829 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
8830 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
8831 find those libraries.
8833 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
8834 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
8837 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
8839 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
8840 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
8841 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
8842 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
8844 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
8845 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
8846 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
8850 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
8852 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
8853 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
8854 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
8857 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
8858 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
8859 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
8860 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
8862 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
8863 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
8866 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
8867 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
8868 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
8869 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
8870 compiler where to find the libraries.
8872 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
8873 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
8874 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
8876 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
8877 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
8878 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
8879 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
8880 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
8884 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
8886 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
8887 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
8888 internationalization support.
8890 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
8891 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
8892 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
8893 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
8894 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
8896 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
8897 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
8898 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
8899 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
8900 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
8902 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
8903 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
8904 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
8905 any GNU mirror site.
8907 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
8909 ** New function: add-history STRING
8910 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
8911 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
8912 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
8914 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
8916 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
8917 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
8918 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
8921 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
8922 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
8923 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
8925 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
8927 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
8930 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
8931 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
8934 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
8935 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
8936 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
8937 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
8938 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
8939 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
8941 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
8942 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
8943 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
8944 of the form mentioned above.
8946 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
8947 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
8948 returned in the special `rest' list.
8950 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
8951 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
8953 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
8955 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
8957 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
8959 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
8960 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
8961 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
8962 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
8963 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
8964 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
8965 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
8966 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
8969 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
8971 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
8973 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
8974 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
8977 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
8978 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
8979 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
8983 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
8984 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
8985 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
8986 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
8987 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
8988 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
8989 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
8990 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
8993 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
8995 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
8996 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
8997 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
8999 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
9001 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
9002 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
9004 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
9005 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
9006 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
9008 Why do we have this function?
9009 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
9010 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
9011 primitive, and display it differently, and
9012 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
9013 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
9016 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
9017 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
9020 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
9021 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
9022 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
9023 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
9025 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
9026 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
9029 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
9030 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
9032 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
9034 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
9035 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
9036 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
9037 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
9038 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
9039 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
9040 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
9043 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
9045 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
9046 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
9048 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
9049 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
9050 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
9051 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
9052 properly continue the print chain.
9054 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
9055 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
9056 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
9057 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
9058 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
9059 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
9060 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
9061 print-state, it is simply ignored.
9063 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
9064 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
9065 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
9066 safest to not check for these pairs.
9068 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
9069 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
9070 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
9071 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
9073 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
9075 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
9076 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
9078 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
9080 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
9082 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
9083 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
9084 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
9086 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
9087 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
9088 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
9090 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
9091 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
9092 the following functions and macros:
9094 Function: make-fluid
9096 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
9097 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
9098 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
9099 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
9100 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
9102 Function: fluid? OBJ
9104 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
9106 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
9107 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
9109 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
9110 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
9112 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
9114 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
9115 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
9116 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
9117 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
9118 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
9119 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
9120 modified by `with-fluids*'.
9122 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
9124 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
9125 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
9126 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
9127 should evaluate to a fluid.
9129 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
9131 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
9132 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
9133 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
9134 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
9135 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
9137 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
9140 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
9142 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
9144 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
9146 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
9149 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
9150 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
9151 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
9152 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
9153 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
9156 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
9157 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
9158 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
9160 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
9161 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
9162 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
9164 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
9165 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
9166 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
9167 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
9169 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
9170 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
9171 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
9172 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
9174 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
9175 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
9176 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
9177 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
9179 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
9180 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
9181 their revealed counts set to zero.
9183 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9184 Returns an integer file descriptor.
9186 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9187 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
9189 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9190 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
9192 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9193 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
9194 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
9196 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
9197 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
9198 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
9200 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
9201 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
9202 default environment inherited by child processes.
9204 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
9205 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
9206 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
9208 The return value is unspecified.
9210 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
9211 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
9212 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
9213 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
9214 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
9216 The return value is unspecified.
9218 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
9219 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
9227 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
9228 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
9231 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
9234 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
9235 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
9236 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
9238 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
9239 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
9240 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
9241 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
9244 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
9245 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
9247 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
9248 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
9249 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
9250 the `environ' procedure.
9252 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
9253 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
9256 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
9257 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
9259 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
9260 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
9261 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
9262 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
9264 *** procedure: times
9265 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
9266 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
9267 return a selected component:
9270 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
9274 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
9277 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
9281 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
9282 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
9286 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
9287 terminated child processes.
9289 ** Removed: list-length
9290 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
9291 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
9293 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
9295 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
9297 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
9299 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
9300 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
9301 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
9302 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
9304 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
9305 extra complexity it introduces.
9307 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
9308 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
9310 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
9311 variable to any non-empty value.
9313 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
9314 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
9316 * Changes to the gh_ interface
9318 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
9319 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
9321 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
9323 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
9324 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
9326 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
9328 ** vector handling routines
9330 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
9331 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
9332 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
9333 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
9334 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
9336 ** pair and list routines
9338 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
9341 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
9343 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
9346 * Changes to the scm_ interface
9348 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
9350 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
9351 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
9352 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
9353 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
9354 site-specific initialization code.
9356 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
9357 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
9358 initialization processes.
9360 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
9361 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
9362 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
9363 initialized properly.
9365 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
9366 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
9367 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
9369 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
9370 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
9371 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
9372 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
9373 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
9375 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
9377 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
9378 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
9379 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
9380 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
9381 objects the smob refers to get marked.
9383 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
9384 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
9385 which look like this:
9388 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
9390 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
9391 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
9394 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
9395 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
9398 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
9400 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
9401 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
9402 you will need to change your functions slightly.
9404 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
9405 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
9406 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
9407 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
9408 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
9410 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
9411 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
9413 int (*free) (SCM port);
9414 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
9415 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
9416 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
9420 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
9421 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
9422 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
9424 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
9427 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
9428 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
9429 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
9431 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
9432 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
9433 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
9436 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
9440 struct timeval *timeout);
9442 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
9443 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
9444 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
9445 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
9446 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
9447 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
9449 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
9450 scm_catch_body_t body,
9452 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
9455 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
9456 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
9457 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
9458 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
9459 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
9460 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
9462 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
9464 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
9467 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
9468 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
9469 spawning threads from application C code.
9471 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
9472 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
9473 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
9474 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
9475 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
9476 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
9478 ** Removed functions:
9480 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
9481 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
9483 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
9485 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
9486 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
9488 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
9490 ** mbstrings are now removed
9492 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
9493 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
9495 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
9497 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
9498 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
9499 their new names and arguments:
9501 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
9502 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
9503 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
9504 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
9507 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
9509 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
9511 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
9514 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
9516 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
9517 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
9518 pass a #f arg to catch.
9520 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
9522 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
9523 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
9526 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
9527 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
9528 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
9529 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
9530 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
9531 reclaim its storage.
9533 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
9534 worrying that some other function you call will call
9535 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
9536 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
9537 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
9538 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
9541 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
9543 * Changes to the distribution
9545 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
9546 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
9549 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
9550 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
9552 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
9553 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
9555 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
9557 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
9558 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
9559 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
9561 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
9563 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
9564 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
9565 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
9566 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
9567 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
9568 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
9570 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
9571 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
9572 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
9575 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
9576 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
9577 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
9578 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
9580 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
9581 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
9582 libraries to your link command:
9584 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
9585 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
9586 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
9587 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
9589 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
9590 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
9591 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
9593 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
9595 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
9596 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
9599 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
9601 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
9602 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
9603 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
9604 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
9605 searched is system dependent.
9607 (dynamic-object? VAL)
9609 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
9611 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
9613 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
9614 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
9616 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
9618 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
9619 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
9620 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
9621 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
9622 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
9625 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
9627 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
9628 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
9629 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
9630 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
9631 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
9633 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
9635 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
9636 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
9638 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
9640 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
9641 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
9642 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
9645 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
9647 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
9648 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
9649 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
9650 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
9652 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
9653 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
9655 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
9657 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
9658 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
9660 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
9662 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
9663 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
9671 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
9673 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
9674 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
9675 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
9676 a more informative way.
9678 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
9679 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
9680 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
9681 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
9682 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
9683 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
9685 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
9686 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
9689 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
9690 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
9691 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
9694 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
9695 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
9696 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
9697 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
9698 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
9699 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
9701 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
9702 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
9703 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
9704 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
9707 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
9708 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
9709 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
9710 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
9711 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
9712 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
9714 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
9715 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
9716 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
9717 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
9718 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
9720 *** regexp functions
9722 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
9723 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
9724 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
9726 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
9727 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
9728 with SCSH regular expressions.
9730 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
9731 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
9732 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
9733 position of STR at which to begin matching.
9735 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
9736 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
9737 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
9738 `string-match' returns `#f'.
9740 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
9741 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
9742 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
9743 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
9744 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
9745 match strings against the compiled regexp.
9747 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
9748 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
9749 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
9750 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
9751 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
9753 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
9755 **** Constant: regexp/extended
9756 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
9757 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
9758 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
9760 **** Constant: regexp/icase
9761 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
9762 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
9764 **** Constant: regexp/newline
9765 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
9767 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
9770 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
9771 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
9772 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
9774 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
9775 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
9776 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
9778 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
9779 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
9780 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
9781 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
9782 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
9785 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
9787 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
9788 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
9789 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
9790 used when different portions of a string are passed to
9791 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
9792 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
9794 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
9795 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
9796 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
9798 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
9799 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
9802 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
9803 and replace them with the contents of another string.
9805 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
9806 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
9807 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
9808 may be one of the following arguments:
9810 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
9812 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
9814 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
9815 the regexp match is written.
9817 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
9818 following the regexp match is written.
9820 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
9821 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
9824 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
9825 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
9826 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
9827 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
9828 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
9829 which should be matched against this regular expression.
9831 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
9834 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
9835 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
9836 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
9837 written out to PORT.
9839 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
9840 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
9841 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
9842 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
9843 will return after processing a single match.
9845 *** Match Structures
9847 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
9848 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
9849 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
9850 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
9851 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
9852 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
9855 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
9856 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
9857 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
9858 information about the original target string that was matched against a
9859 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
9861 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
9862 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
9863 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
9865 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
9866 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
9867 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
9868 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
9869 number N did not match, return `#f'.
9871 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
9872 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
9874 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
9875 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
9877 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
9878 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
9880 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
9881 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
9883 **** Function: match:count MATCH
9884 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
9885 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
9886 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
9888 **** Function: match:string MATCH
9889 Return the original TARGET string.
9891 *** Backslash Escapes
9893 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
9894 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
9895 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
9896 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
9897 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
9898 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
9900 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
9901 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
9902 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
9903 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
9904 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
9905 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
9906 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
9907 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
9909 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
9910 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
9911 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
9912 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
9913 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
9914 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
9915 each match a single backslash in the target string.
9917 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
9918 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
9919 return the resulting string.
9921 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
9922 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
9923 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
9924 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
9925 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
9926 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
9927 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
9928 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
9929 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
9930 translated to the single character `*'.
9932 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
9933 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
9934 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
9935 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
9936 consecutive backslashes:
9938 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
9940 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
9941 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
9942 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
9944 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
9945 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
9946 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
9947 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
9948 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
9949 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
9951 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
9953 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
9954 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
9955 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
9956 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
9957 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
9958 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
9959 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
9960 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
9961 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
9962 cumbersome escape syntax.
9964 * Changes to the gh_ interface
9966 * Changes to the scm_ interface
9968 * Changes to system call interfaces:
9970 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
9973 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
9975 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
9977 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
9980 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
9981 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
9982 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
9983 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
9984 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
9986 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
9987 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
9988 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
9989 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
9990 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
9991 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
9992 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
9995 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
9996 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
9997 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
10000 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
10001 `force-output' on every port open for output.
10003 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
10004 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
10005 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
10006 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
10007 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
10008 installed, you can say:
10010 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
10013 * Changes to the scm_ interface
10015 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
10016 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
10017 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
10018 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
10019 new dynamic roots and threads.
10022 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
10024 * Changes to the distribution.
10026 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
10028 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
10029 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
10030 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
10031 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
10032 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
10033 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
10034 programming language. These are packaged together because the
10035 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
10037 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
10040 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
10041 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
10042 will distribute it.
10046 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
10048 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
10049 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
10051 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
10052 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
10053 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
10054 the (command-line) function.
10055 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
10056 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
10057 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
10059 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
10060 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
10061 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
10062 command line arguments
10063 -ds do -s script at this point
10064 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
10065 -h, --help display this help and exit
10066 -v, --version display version information and exit
10067 \ read arguments from following script lines
10069 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
10070 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
10072 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
10074 (define (main args)
10075 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
10079 (main (command-line))
10081 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
10083 ekko a speckled gecko
10085 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
10086 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
10087 following list of command-line arguments:
10089 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
10091 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
10092 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
10093 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
10094 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
10095 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
10097 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
10099 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
10101 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
10102 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
10105 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
10106 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
10107 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
10108 SCSH) for circumventing them.
10110 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
10111 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
10112 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
10113 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
10115 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
10118 (define (main args)
10119 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
10123 If the user invokes this script as follows:
10125 ekko a speckled gecko
10127 Unix expands this into
10129 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
10131 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
10132 read from the second line of the script, producing:
10134 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
10136 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
10137 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
10139 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
10140 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
10141 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
10142 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
10143 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
10144 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
10145 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
10146 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
10147 it only terminates the argument list.)
10148 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
10149 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
10150 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
10151 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
10152 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
10153 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
10154 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
10155 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
10157 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
10159 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
10160 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
10161 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
10162 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
10163 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
10165 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
10166 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
10167 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
10169 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
10171 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
10172 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
10173 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
10174 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
10177 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
10178 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
10179 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
10181 * Changes to Scheme functions
10183 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
10184 and disabled by default.
10186 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
10187 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
10188 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
10189 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
10191 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
10193 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
10195 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
10196 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
10198 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
10199 (read-set! keywords #f)
10201 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
10202 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
10203 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
10206 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
10207 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
10208 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
10209 `array-index-map!'.
10211 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
10212 support for Scheme functions.
10214 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
10215 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
10216 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
10217 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
10220 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
10221 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
10222 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
10225 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
10226 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
10227 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
10230 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
10231 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
10232 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
10233 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
10234 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
10235 display the result as a prompt.
10236 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
10238 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
10239 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
10240 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
10243 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
10244 procedure of zero arguments.
10246 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
10247 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
10248 argument is bound in the current module.
10250 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
10251 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
10252 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
10253 public bindings into the current module.
10255 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
10256 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
10258 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
10259 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
10261 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
10262 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
10264 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
10265 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
10267 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
10268 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
10270 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
10271 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
10272 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
10273 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
10274 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
10276 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
10277 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
10278 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
10279 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
10281 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
10284 ** Changes to I/O functions
10286 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
10287 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
10288 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
10290 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
10291 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
10292 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
10294 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
10295 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
10297 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
10298 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
10299 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
10300 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
10302 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
10304 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
10305 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
10307 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
10308 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
10309 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
10310 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
10311 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
10314 'trim omit delimiter from result
10315 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
10316 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
10317 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
10319 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
10321 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
10322 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
10324 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
10325 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
10326 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
10327 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
10328 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
10330 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
10331 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
10332 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
10334 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
10335 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
10336 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
10337 above, and defaults to 'peek.
10339 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
10340 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
10342 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
10343 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
10345 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
10347 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
10348 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
10349 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
10350 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
10351 a delimiting character.
10352 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
10354 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
10355 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
10356 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
10357 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
10358 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
10359 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
10361 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
10362 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
10364 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
10365 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
10366 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
10368 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
10369 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
10370 the array to read and write.
10372 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
10373 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
10376 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
10378 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
10381 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
10382 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
10383 Values for COMMAND are:
10385 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
10386 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
10387 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
10388 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
10389 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
10390 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
10391 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
10392 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
10394 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
10396 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
10397 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
10398 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
10399 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
10400 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
10401 corresponding return set will be the same.
10403 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
10406 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
10407 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
10408 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
10409 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
10410 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
10411 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
10412 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
10413 special file being created.
10415 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
10416 clashing with various SCSH forks.
10418 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
10419 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
10420 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
10421 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
10422 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
10423 and originating address.
10425 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
10426 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
10427 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
10429 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
10432 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
10433 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
10436 (status:exit-val STATUS)
10437 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
10438 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
10439 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
10440 this function returns #f.
10442 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
10443 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
10444 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
10447 (status:term-sig STATUS)
10448 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
10449 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
10452 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
10453 a valid STATUS value.
10455 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
10457 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
10458 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
10460 Component Accessor Setter
10461 ========================= ============ ============
10462 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
10463 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
10464 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
10465 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
10466 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
10467 year tm:year set-tm:year
10468 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
10469 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
10470 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
10471 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
10472 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
10474 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
10475 describing the host system:
10478 ============================================== ================
10479 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
10480 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
10481 release level of the operating system utsname:release
10482 version level of the operating system utsname:version
10483 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
10485 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
10486 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
10487 system's user database:
10490 ====================== =================
10491 user name passwd:name
10492 user password passwd:passwd
10494 group id passwd:gid
10495 real name passwd:gecos
10496 home directory passwd:dir
10497 shell program passwd:shell
10499 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
10500 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
10501 system's group database:
10504 ======================= ============
10505 group name group:name
10506 group password group:passwd
10508 group members group:mem
10510 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
10511 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
10515 ========================= ===============
10516 official name of host hostent:name
10517 alias list hostent:aliases
10518 host address type hostent:addrtype
10519 length of address hostent:length
10520 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
10522 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
10523 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
10527 ========================= ===============
10528 official name of net netent:name
10529 alias list netent:aliases
10530 net number type netent:addrtype
10531 net number netent:net
10533 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
10534 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
10535 internet protocols:
10538 ========================= ===============
10539 official protocol name protoent:name
10540 alias list protoent:aliases
10541 protocol number protoent:proto
10543 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
10544 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
10545 internet protocols:
10548 ========================= ===============
10549 official service name servent:name
10550 alias list servent:aliases
10551 port number servent:port
10552 protocol to use servent:proto
10554 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
10555 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
10558 ======================================== ===============
10559 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
10560 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
10561 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
10562 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
10564 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
10565 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
10566 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
10568 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
10569 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
10571 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
10572 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
10574 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
10575 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
10577 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
10579 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
10581 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
10582 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
10583 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
10585 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
10586 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
10587 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
10588 return the remaining characters as a string.
10590 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
10591 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
10592 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
10594 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
10596 * Changes to the gh_ interface
10598 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
10601 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
10604 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
10605 and returns the array
10607 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
10608 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
10609 the user to interpret the data both ways.
10611 * Changes to the scm_ interface
10613 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
10614 symbol's value from C code:
10616 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
10617 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
10618 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
10619 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
10621 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
10622 without assigning them a value.
10624 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
10625 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
10626 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
10628 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
10629 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
10630 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
10632 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
10633 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
10635 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
10636 doesn't actually care about that.
10638 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
10639 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
10640 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
10642 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
10643 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
10644 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
10645 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
10646 which we have just created and initialized.
10648 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
10649 should one occur. We call it like this:
10650 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
10652 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
10653 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
10654 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
10655 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
10656 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
10657 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
10660 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
10661 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
10662 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
10663 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
10664 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
10665 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
10666 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
10667 enclosed variables.
10669 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
10670 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
10671 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
10672 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
10673 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
10676 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
10677 scm_internal_catch, except:
10679 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
10680 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
10681 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
10682 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
10685 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
10686 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
10687 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
10689 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
10690 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
10691 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
10692 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
10695 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
10696 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
10697 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
10699 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
10700 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
10701 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
10702 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
10703 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
10705 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
10706 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
10707 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
10709 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
10710 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
10711 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
10713 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
10714 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
10716 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
10717 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
10718 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
10721 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
10722 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
10723 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
10724 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
10725 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
10726 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
10727 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
10728 interpreter" above.
10730 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
10731 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
10733 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
10734 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
10735 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
10736 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
10737 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
10740 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
10741 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
10743 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
10744 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
10747 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
10748 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
10750 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10753 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
10754 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
10755 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
10756 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
10757 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
10758 given the following arguments:
10760 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
10762 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
10764 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
10766 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10769 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
10770 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
10771 command-line arguments.
10773 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
10774 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
10775 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
10776 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
10777 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
10778 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
10781 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10784 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
10785 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
10787 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
10788 rearranged slightly. They are now:
10790 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10791 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
10792 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
10793 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
10795 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10796 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
10798 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10799 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
10800 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
10801 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
10803 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10804 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
10806 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
10807 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
10809 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
10811 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
10812 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
10813 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
10816 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
10817 returns a port instead of an FD object.
10819 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
10820 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
10825 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
10828 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
10830 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
10831 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
10832 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
10833 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
10835 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
10837 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
10839 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
10840 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
10841 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
10842 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
10843 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
10844 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
10845 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
10846 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
10847 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
10848 for more information.
10850 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
10851 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
10853 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
10854 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
10855 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
10856 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
10857 following two lines at the top of the file:
10859 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
10862 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
10863 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
10864 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
10866 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
10868 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
10870 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
10873 (display (car args))
10874 (if (pair? (cdr args))
10876 (loop (cdr args)))))
10879 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
10880 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
10881 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
10882 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
10883 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
10884 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
10888 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
10891 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
10894 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
10896 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
10897 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
10898 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
10899 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
10900 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
10903 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
10904 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
10905 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
10906 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
10907 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
10910 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
10913 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
10914 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
10915 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
10918 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
10919 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
10920 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
10922 to see a backtrace, and
10923 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
10924 to see them by default.
10928 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
10930 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
10932 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
10933 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
10936 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
10937 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
10938 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
10939 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
10942 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
10943 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
10944 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
10945 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
10946 functions which inspired them.
10948 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
10949 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
10953 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
10955 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
10957 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
10958 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
10961 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
10962 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
10963 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
10965 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
10966 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
10967 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
10968 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
10969 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
10971 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
10973 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
10974 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
10975 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
10978 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
10981 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
10983 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
10984 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
10985 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
10986 above should serve their purposes.
10988 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
10989 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
10990 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
10991 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
10993 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
10996 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
10997 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
10998 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
10999 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
11001 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
11002 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
11003 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
11004 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
11006 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
11007 for the `read' function.
11010 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
11011 to that of `integer?'.
11013 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
11014 use the R4RS names for these functions.
11016 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
11017 it simply returns the object's property list.
11019 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
11020 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
11021 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
11022 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
11024 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
11026 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
11029 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
11031 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
11032 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
11034 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
11036 void (*main_func) (),
11039 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
11040 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
11041 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
11042 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
11043 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
11045 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
11046 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
11047 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
11048 know which arguments have been processed.
11050 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
11051 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
11052 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
11053 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
11054 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
11056 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
11057 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
11058 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
11059 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
11060 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
11061 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
11062 people from making that mistake.
11064 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
11065 convenient ways to override these when desired.
11067 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
11069 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
11073 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
11076 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
11077 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
11078 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
11079 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
11082 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
11083 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
11084 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
11085 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
11088 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
11089 have been added to the Guile library.
11091 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
11092 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
11093 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
11096 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
11097 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
11098 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
11100 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
11101 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
11102 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
11103 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
11104 argument from the list.
11107 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
11110 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
11111 null-terminated string, and returns it.
11113 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
11114 to a Scheme port object.
11116 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
11117 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
11122 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
11124 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
11125 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
11126 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
11127 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
11128 code as a special datatype.
11130 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
11131 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
11132 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
11133 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
11134 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
11137 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
11138 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
11139 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
11140 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
11141 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
11143 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
11146 Copyright information:
11148 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
11150 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
11151 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
11152 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
11153 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
11155 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
11156 of this document, or of portions of it,
11157 under the above conditions, provided also that they
11158 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
11163 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"