1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
8 (During the 1.9 series, we will keep an incremental NEWS for the latest
9 prerelease, and a full NEWS corresponding to 1.8 -> 2.0.)
11 Changes in 1.9.3 (since the 1.9.2 prerelease):
14 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
16 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
17 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
18 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
20 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
21 code easier and less error-prone.
23 ** Files loaded with `load' will now be compiled automatically.
25 As with files loaded via `primitive-load-path', `load' will also compile
26 its target if autocompilation is enabled, and a fresh compiled file is
29 There are two points of difference to note, however. First, `load' does
30 not search `GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH' for the file; it only looks in the
31 autocompilation directory, normally a subdirectory of ~/.cache/guile.
33 Secondly, autocompilation also applies to files loaded via the -l
34 command-line argument -- so the user may experience a slight slowdown
35 the first time they run a Guile script, as the script is autocompiled.
37 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
39 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
40 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
41 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
42 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
43 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
46 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
47 code. This use is now discouraged.
49 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
51 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
52 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
53 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
56 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
57 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
58 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
60 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
62 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
64 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
65 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
66 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
67 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
69 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
71 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
72 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
75 ** Unicode symbol support
77 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
79 ** New readline history functions
81 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
82 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
83 History library functions.
85 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
86 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
88 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
91 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
92 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
93 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
94 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
96 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
98 ** scm_array_p has one argument, not two
100 Use of the second argument produced a deprecation warning, so it is
101 unlikely that any code out there actually used this functionality.
103 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
105 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
106 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
108 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
110 ** And of course, the usual collection of bugfixes
112 Interested users should see the ChangeLog for more information.
116 Changes in 1.9.x (since the 1.8.x series):
118 * New modules (see the manual for details)
120 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
121 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
122 ** `(rnrs bytevector)', the R6RS bytevector API
123 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
124 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
126 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
128 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
130 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
131 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
133 ** The stack limit is now initialized from the environment.
135 If getrlimit(2) is available and a stack limit is set, Guile will set
136 its stack limit to 80% of the rlimit. Otherwise the limit is 160000
137 words, a four-fold increase from the earlier default limit.
139 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
140 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
142 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
143 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
144 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
147 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
149 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. While
150 it is self-documenting to an extent, the new REPL has not yet been
151 documented in the manual. This will be fixed before 2.0.
153 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
155 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
158 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
160 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
162 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
163 not apply to the compiler.
165 ** Files loaded with `primitive-load-path' will now be compiled
168 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
169 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
170 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
172 Note that this mechanism depends on preservation of the .scm and .go
173 modification times; if the .scm or .go files are moved after
174 installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
177 Autocompiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
178 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
179 will be created if needed.
181 To inhibit autocompilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
182 variable to 0, or pass --no-autocompile on the Guile command line.
184 Note that there is currently a bug here: automatic compilation will
185 sometimes be attempted when it shouldn't.
187 For example, the old (lang elisp) modules are meant to be interpreted,
188 not compiled. This bug will be fixed before 2.0. FIXME 2.0: Should say
189 something here about module-transformer called for compile.
191 ** Files loaded with `load' will now be compiled automatically.
193 As with files loaded via `primitive-load-path', `load' will also compile
194 its target if autocompilation is enabled, and a fresh compiled file is
197 There are two points of difference to note, however. First, `load' does
198 not search `GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH' for the file; it only looks in the
199 autocompilation directory, normally a subdirectory of ~/.cache/guile.
201 Secondly, autocompilation also applies to files loaded via the -l
202 command-line argument -- so the user may experience a slight slowdown
203 the first time they run a Guile script, as the script is autocompiled.
205 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
207 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
208 in the next prerelease.
210 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
212 ** BUG: (procedure-property func 'arity) does not work on compiled
215 This will be fixed one way or another before 2.0.
217 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
218 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
219 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments',
221 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
222 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
223 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
224 procedures' docstrings for more information.
226 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
227 combining arity and formals. For example:
229 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
230 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
232 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
235 ** Deprecated: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
237 These procedures will not work with syncase expansion, and indeed are
238 not used in the normal course of Guile. They are still used by the old
239 Emacs Lisp support, however.
241 ** New language: ECMAScript
243 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
244 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
245 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
246 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
248 ** New language: Brainfuck
250 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
251 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
252 languages. See the manual for details, or
253 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
254 Brainfuck language itself.
256 ** Defmacros may now have docstrings.
258 Indeed, any macro may have a docstring. `object-documentation' from
259 `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to retrieve the docstring, once you
260 have a macro value -- but see the above note about first-class macros.
261 Docstrings are associated with the syntax transformer procedures.
263 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
266 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
268 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
269 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
272 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
273 (define (helper x) ...)
275 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
277 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
280 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
281 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
283 ** New function, `procedure-module'
285 While useful on its own, `procedure-module' is used by psyntax on syntax
286 transformers to determine the module in which to scope introduced
289 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
291 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. It is still
292 missing documentation, however.
294 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
297 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
298 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
300 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
302 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
304 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
306 It is certainly possible to circumvent this resriction with e.g.
307 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. We would appreciate
308 feedback about this change (a consequence of using psyntax as the
309 default expander), and may choose to revisit this situation before 2.0
310 in response to user feedback.
312 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
314 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
315 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
318 (define (helper x) ...)
319 (define-macro (foo bar)
322 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
325 (define (helper x) ...)
326 (define-macro (foo bar)
327 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
329 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
333 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
335 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
337 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
344 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
345 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
348 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
350 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
354 (define-macro (ref x) x)
357 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
358 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
359 macros before code that uses them.
361 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
364 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
366 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
367 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
368 (double-literal 2) => 4
370 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
371 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
372 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
374 (eval-when (load compile eval)
375 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
376 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
377 (double-literal 2) => 4
379 See the (currently missing) documentation for eval-when for more
382 ** New variable, %pre-modules-transformer
384 Need to document this one some more.
386 ** Temporarily removed functions: `macroexpand', `macroexpand-1'
388 `macroexpand' will be added back before 2.0. It is unclear how to
389 implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though PLT Scheme does prove
392 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
394 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
395 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
396 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
398 ** Incompatible change to #'
400 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
401 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
402 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
403 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
405 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
407 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
410 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
411 works (with compiled procedures)
413 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
414 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
415 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
416 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
418 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
419 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
420 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
421 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
422 number of stack frames.
424 ** backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
425 active in the current continuation
427 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
428 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
429 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
430 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
432 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
433 through to the expanded code
435 This should result in better backtraces.
437 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
439 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
441 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
443 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
444 default. If there is sufficient demand, this syntax can be supported
447 ** All modules have names now
449 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
450 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
451 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
452 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
454 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
456 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
457 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
458 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
460 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
461 values to the expected number
463 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
464 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
465 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
467 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
468 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
469 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
470 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
472 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
473 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
474 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
476 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
479 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
481 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
483 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
484 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
485 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
486 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
487 the interpreter would proceed.
489 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
490 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
491 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
492 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
494 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
496 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
497 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
498 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
499 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
500 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
501 you to contact the Guile developers.
503 ** psyntax is now the default expander
505 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
506 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
509 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
510 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
511 code in question was memoized.
513 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
514 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
515 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
516 `x432' instead of `x'.
518 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
519 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
520 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
521 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
523 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
525 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
526 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
527 `sc-expand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
530 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
531 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
532 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
533 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
535 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
536 by nonhygienic macros.
538 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
539 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
542 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
543 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
544 (define-macro (ref x)
551 (define-syntax bind-x
553 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
554 (define-macro (ref x)
558 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
559 as code is ported over from defmacros to syntax-case, it is possible to
560 run into situations like this. In the future, Guile will probably port
561 its `while' macro to syntax-case, which makes this issue one to know
564 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
566 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
567 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
569 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
570 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
573 This decision may be revisited before the 2.0 release. Feedback welcome
574 to guile-devel@gnu.org (subscription required) or bug-guile@gnu.org (no
575 subscription required).
577 ** Unicode characters
579 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
580 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
581 probably be introduced at some point.
585 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
586 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
587 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
589 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
590 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
591 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
592 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
596 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
598 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
600 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
601 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
602 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
603 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
604 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
607 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
608 code. This use is now discouraged.
610 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
612 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
613 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
614 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
617 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
618 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
619 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
621 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
623 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
625 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
626 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
627 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
628 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
630 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
632 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
633 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
636 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
638 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
639 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
640 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
643 ** EBCDIC support is removed
645 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
646 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
647 and was unmaintained.
649 ** New macro type: syncase-macro
651 XXX Need to decide whether to document this for 2.0, probably should:
652 make-syncase-macro, make-extended-syncase-macro, macro-type,
653 syncase-macro-type, syncase-macro-binding
655 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
657 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
660 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
662 This slightly improves program startup times.
664 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
666 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
668 ** Fix bad interaction between `false-if-exception' and stack-call.
670 Exceptions thrown by `false-if-exception' were erronously causing the
671 stack to be saved, causing later errors to show the incorrectly-saved
672 backtrace. This has been fixed.
674 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
676 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
678 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
680 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
682 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
684 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
686 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
688 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
690 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
691 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
692 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
694 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
696 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
697 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
699 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
700 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
702 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
705 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
707 * Changes to the C interface
709 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
711 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
712 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
713 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
715 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
716 code easier and less error-prone.
718 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
720 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
722 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
725 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
726 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
728 ** scm_primitive_load_path has additional argument, exception_on_error
730 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
732 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
734 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
735 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
737 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
739 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
740 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
742 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
744 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
745 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
746 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
747 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
749 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
751 ** scm_array_p has one argument, not two
753 Use of the second argument produced a deprecation warning, so it is
754 unlikely that any code out there actually used this functionality.
756 * Changes to the distribution
758 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
760 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
761 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
764 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
766 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
767 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
769 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
771 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
772 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
773 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
776 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
778 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
779 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
781 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
783 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
784 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
786 ** New dependency: libgc
788 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
790 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
792 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
793 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
797 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
801 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
802 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
805 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
807 * New modules (see the manual for details)
809 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
813 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
814 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
815 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
816 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
817 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
818 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
819 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
820 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
821 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
822 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
823 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
825 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
827 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
828 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
829 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
832 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
835 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
837 * New features (see the manual for details)
839 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
841 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
843 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
844 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
845 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
847 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
849 * Changes to the distribution
851 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
853 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
854 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
856 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
858 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
859 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
864 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
865 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
866 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
867 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
868 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
869 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
870 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
871 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
872 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
873 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
874 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
875 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
876 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
877 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
879 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
880 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
881 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
882 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
883 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
886 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
888 * Infrastructure changes
890 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
892 The new repository can be accessed using
893 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
894 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
896 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
898 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
900 * New modules (see the manual for details)
904 * New features (see the manual for details)
906 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
907 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
908 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
910 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
911 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
912 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
913 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
915 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
917 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
918 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
919 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
923 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
924 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
926 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
927 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
929 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
930 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
932 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
933 lead to a stack overflow.
935 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
936 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
937 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
938 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
939 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
940 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
941 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
942 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
943 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
944 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
945 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
946 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
947 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
948 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
949 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
950 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
953 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
957 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
958 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
959 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
960 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
961 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
962 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
963 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
964 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
965 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
966 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
967 system and library calls.
968 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
969 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
970 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
971 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
972 uniform vectors on AIX.
973 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
974 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
975 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
976 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
977 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
979 * New modules (see the manual for details)
983 * Documentation fixes and improvements
985 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
987 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
988 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
990 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
992 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
994 * Changes to the distribution
996 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
998 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
999 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
1000 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
1002 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
1004 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
1007 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
1009 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1016 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
1017 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
1018 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
1019 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
1020 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
1021 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
1022 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
1024 * Implementation improvements
1026 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
1027 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
1030 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
1032 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
1034 ** set-program-arguments
1037 * Incompatible changes
1039 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
1041 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
1042 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
1043 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
1044 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
1049 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
1050 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
1051 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
1052 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
1053 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
1054 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
1056 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
1057 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
1058 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
1059 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
1060 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
1061 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
1062 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
1063 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
1064 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
1065 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
1066 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
1067 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
1068 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
1069 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
1070 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
1071 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
1074 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
1076 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
1078 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
1080 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
1081 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
1082 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
1083 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
1084 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
1085 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
1093 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
1095 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
1097 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
1099 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
1101 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
1103 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
1105 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
1106 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
1107 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
1109 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
1111 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
1113 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
1114 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
1116 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
1118 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
1119 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
1121 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
1123 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
1125 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
1127 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
1129 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
1131 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
1133 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
1135 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
1137 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
1139 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
1140 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
1141 file was on a different device.
1144 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
1146 * Changes to the distribution
1148 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
1150 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
1152 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
1154 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
1156 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
1158 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
1161 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
1163 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
1164 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
1165 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
1166 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
1167 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
1168 items like the versioned share directory name
1169 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
1171 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
1172 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
1173 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
1174 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
1175 with each micro release during a stable series.
1177 ** Thread implementation has changed.
1179 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
1180 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
1181 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
1182 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
1183 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
1186 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
1187 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
1188 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
1189 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
1192 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
1193 in which case "null" threads are used.
1195 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
1196 "Blocking", and others.
1198 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
1200 This is a milder form of deprecation.
1202 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
1203 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
1204 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
1205 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
1206 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
1208 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
1209 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
1211 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
1213 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
1214 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
1216 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
1219 This SRFI is always available.
1221 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
1223 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
1224 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
1225 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
1226 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
1229 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
1231 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
1232 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
1233 parameters without currying.
1235 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
1237 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
1238 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
1240 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
1241 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
1244 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
1245 with a renaming import, for example.
1247 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
1249 The official version is good enough now.
1251 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
1253 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
1254 provided. Use 'make html'.
1256 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
1258 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
1259 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
1260 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
1261 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
1263 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
1265 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
1268 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1270 ** New command line option `-L'.
1272 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
1274 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
1276 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
1277 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
1279 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
1281 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
1282 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
1284 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
1286 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
1287 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
1290 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
1293 (define-module (demo)
1297 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
1300 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1302 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
1304 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
1305 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
1306 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
1308 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
1310 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
1311 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
1313 ** New function hashx-remove!
1315 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
1317 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
1318 barriers and dynamic states.
1320 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
1321 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
1322 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
1325 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
1326 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
1327 Barriers" in the manual.
1329 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
1330 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
1332 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
1334 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
1335 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
1336 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
1337 variable %load-path.
1339 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
1341 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
1342 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
1344 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
1345 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
1346 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
1348 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
1349 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
1351 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
1352 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
1353 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
1355 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
1356 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
1357 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
1360 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
1361 substrings and read-only strings.
1363 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
1364 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
1367 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
1369 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
1378 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
1379 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
1380 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
1382 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
1383 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
1384 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
1385 on an ANSI terminal:
1387 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
1388 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
1391 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
1393 See the manual for details.
1395 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
1397 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
1400 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
1402 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
1403 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
1404 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
1405 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
1407 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
1408 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
1409 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
1412 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
1414 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
1415 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
1426 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
1430 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
1435 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
1439 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
1443 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
1446 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
1447 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
1448 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
1449 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
1451 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
1452 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
1455 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
1458 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
1462 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
1464 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
1465 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
1466 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
1469 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
1472 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
1474 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
1477 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
1478 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
1481 (define-module (foo)
1486 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
1487 has been detected is to
1489 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
1490 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
1491 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
1494 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
1497 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
1499 to your .guile init file.
1501 ** New define-module option: :replace
1503 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
1506 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
1507 for the core binding `format'.
1509 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
1511 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
1512 a prefix to all imported bindings.
1514 (define-module (foo)
1515 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
1517 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
1520 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
1522 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
1523 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
1524 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
1526 ** New function: effective-version
1528 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1529 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1530 to the distribution" above.
1532 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
1534 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
1535 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
1537 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
1539 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
1540 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
1542 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
1544 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
1545 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
1548 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
1550 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
1552 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
1554 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
1555 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
1556 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
1559 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
1560 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
1561 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
1562 'system-async-mark'.
1564 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
1565 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
1567 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
1568 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
1569 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
1572 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
1574 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
1575 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
1578 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
1579 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
1581 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
1582 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
1583 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
1584 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
1585 level for the current thread.
1587 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
1589 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
1591 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
1592 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
1595 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
1597 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
1599 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
1602 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
1604 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
1607 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
1608 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
1609 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
1611 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
1612 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
1613 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
1614 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
1625 ERROR: Numerical overflow
1627 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
1630 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
1632 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
1633 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
1634 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
1645 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
1647 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
1648 them is also done exactly, of course:
1653 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
1654 for exact arguments.
1656 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
1657 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
1659 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
1661 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
1662 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
1663 equal to a floating point number. For example:
1665 (inexact->exact 1.234)
1666 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
1668 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
1670 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
1673 ** New function 'rationalize'.
1675 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
1676 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
1678 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
1681 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
1682 result when both its arguments are exact.
1684 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
1686 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
1687 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
1688 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
1690 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
1692 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
1693 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
1694 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
1696 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
1699 ** pretty-print has more options.
1701 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
1702 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
1703 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
1705 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
1707 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
1708 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
1709 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
1711 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
1713 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
1714 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
1716 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
1718 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
1719 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
1722 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
1724 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
1725 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
1726 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
1727 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
1728 without the soft port blocking.
1730 ** Deprecated: undefine
1732 There is no replacement for undefine.
1734 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
1735 have been discouraged.
1737 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
1738 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
1739 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
1742 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
1744 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
1746 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
1747 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
1748 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
1749 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
1752 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
1753 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
1754 be removed in the next major Guile release.
1756 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
1758 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
1759 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
1760 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
1761 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
1762 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
1763 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
1765 * Changes to the C interface
1767 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
1768 take a 'delete' function argument.
1770 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
1771 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
1773 This is an incompatible change.
1775 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
1777 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
1778 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
1779 --disable-deprecated.
1781 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
1783 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
1784 Scheme values has been added.
1786 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
1787 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
1790 - int scm_is_* (...)
1792 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
1793 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
1795 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
1797 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
1798 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
1801 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
1803 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
1804 scm_from_int for ints.
1806 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
1807 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
1808 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
1810 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
1812 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
1813 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
1814 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
1817 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
1819 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
1821 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
1823 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
1824 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
1825 following alternatives.
1827 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
1828 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
1829 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
1830 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
1832 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
1833 do the validating for you.
1835 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
1836 have been discouraged.
1838 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
1839 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
1842 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
1844 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
1845 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
1848 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
1850 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
1853 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
1856 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
1858 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
1859 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
1861 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
1862 scm_truncate_number should have.
1864 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
1865 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
1867 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
1870 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
1871 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
1872 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
1874 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
1875 easier to use from C.
1877 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
1878 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
1880 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
1881 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
1882 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
1885 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
1886 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
1887 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
1888 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
1891 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
1892 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
1893 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
1894 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
1895 and is thus quite efficient.
1897 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
1899 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
1900 about the character encoding.
1902 Replace according to the following table:
1904 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
1905 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
1906 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
1907 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
1908 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
1909 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
1910 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
1911 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
1912 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
1914 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
1915 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
1917 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
1919 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
1920 now also available to C code.
1922 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
1924 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
1925 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
1926 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
1928 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
1931 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
1933 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
1934 unceremoniously removed.
1936 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
1937 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
1938 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
1940 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
1941 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
1942 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1943 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1944 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
1945 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
1948 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
1950 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
1951 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
1952 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
1953 manual for more details.
1955 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1956 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1958 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
1959 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
1960 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1962 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
1964 Migrate according to the following table:
1966 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
1967 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
1968 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
1969 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
1970 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
1971 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
1972 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
1974 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
1975 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
1976 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
1977 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
1978 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
1979 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
1980 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
1982 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
1984 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
1985 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
1987 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
1988 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
1989 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
1990 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
1992 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
1994 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
1995 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
1996 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
1998 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
1999 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
2001 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
2002 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
2003 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
2004 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
2006 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
2008 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
2009 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
2010 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
2011 prevent a potential memory leak:
2018 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
2020 mem = scm_malloc (100);
2021 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
2023 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
2024 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
2031 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
2032 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
2036 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
2038 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
2040 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
2041 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
2042 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
2044 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
2045 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
2047 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
2049 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
2051 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
2052 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
2053 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
2055 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
2056 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
2058 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
2059 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
2060 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
2061 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
2064 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
2066 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
2067 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
2068 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
2070 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
2072 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
2073 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
2075 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
2077 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
2078 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
2080 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
2082 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
2083 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
2084 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
2086 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
2088 You should not have used them.
2090 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
2092 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
2093 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
2095 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
2097 This macro is not intended for public use.
2099 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
2101 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
2103 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
2105 Use scm_is_real instead.
2107 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
2109 Use scm_is_complex instead.
2111 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
2113 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
2114 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
2116 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
2117 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
2119 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
2120 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
2122 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
2124 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
2127 ** New function: scm_effective_version
2129 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
2130 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
2131 to the distribution" above.
2133 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
2135 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
2136 arguments are now passed directly:
2138 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
2140 This is an incompatible change.
2142 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
2144 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
2145 function in the init section.
2147 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
2149 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
2151 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
2152 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
2153 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
2154 stays roughly constant.
2156 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
2157 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
2158 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
2159 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
2160 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
2163 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
2164 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
2165 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
2166 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
2168 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
2169 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
2170 objects for every type.
2173 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
2175 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
2177 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
2179 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
2180 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
2181 initializes a new cell (see below).
2183 ** New functions for memory management
2185 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
2186 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
2187 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
2188 cause aborts in long running programs.
2190 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
2191 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
2193 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
2194 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
2195 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
2196 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
2197 details and for upgrading instructions.
2199 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
2200 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
2201 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
2203 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
2205 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
2206 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
2207 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
2208 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
2209 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
2211 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
2212 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
2213 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
2215 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
2216 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
2218 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
2220 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
2221 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
2222 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
2223 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
2224 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
2226 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
2228 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
2231 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
2233 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
2235 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
2237 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
2238 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
2240 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
2242 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
2243 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
2245 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
2246 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
2248 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
2250 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
2252 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
2253 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
2254 blocking it is not well defined.
2256 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
2258 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
2259 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
2260 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
2261 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
2262 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
2263 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
2264 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
2265 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
2266 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
2267 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
2268 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2269 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
2270 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
2271 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
2272 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
2273 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
2274 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
2275 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2276 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
2277 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
2278 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
2279 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
2280 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
2281 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
2282 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
2283 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
2284 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
2285 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
2286 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
2287 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
2288 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
2290 * Changes to bundled modules
2294 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
2295 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
2296 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
2297 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
2298 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
2301 Changes since Guile 1.4:
2303 * Changes to the distribution
2305 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
2307 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
2309 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
2310 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
2311 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
2312 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
2313 indicate major changes in Guile.
2315 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
2316 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
2317 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
2318 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
2320 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
2321 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
2322 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
2323 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
2324 micro version number.
2326 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
2328 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
2330 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
2331 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
2333 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
2335 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
2336 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
2337 See INSTALL and README for more information.
2339 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
2341 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
2342 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
2343 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
2346 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
2348 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
2351 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
2353 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
2354 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
2356 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
2358 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
2359 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
2362 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
2364 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
2367 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
2370 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
2372 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
2374 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
2375 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
2376 open-output-string, get-output-string.
2378 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
2380 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
2382 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
2385 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
2387 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
2389 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
2391 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
2392 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
2393 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
2395 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
2397 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
2399 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
2400 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
2409 See README there for more info.
2411 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
2412 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
2415 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
2417 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
2419 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
2421 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
2422 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
2423 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
2425 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
2427 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
2428 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
2429 to be named `and-let*', of course.
2431 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
2432 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
2434 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
2437 (oop goops describe)
2439 (oop goops active-slot)
2440 (oop goops composite-slot)
2442 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
2443 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
2444 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
2446 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
2448 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
2449 in the default environment:
2451 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
2452 %read-line write-line
2454 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
2455 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
2457 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
2459 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
2462 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
2463 can be used for similar functionality.
2465 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
2467 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
2468 it defines two procedures:
2470 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
2472 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
2473 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
2474 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
2477 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
2479 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
2480 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
2481 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
2482 write large strings.
2484 ** New module (ice-9 match)
2486 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
2487 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
2489 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
2491 for complete documentation.
2493 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
2495 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
2496 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
2497 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
2498 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
2500 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
2501 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
2505 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
2506 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
2507 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
2510 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
2513 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
2514 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
2516 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
2517 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
2520 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
2523 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
2525 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
2527 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2529 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
2531 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
2532 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
2533 Scheme programs easier.
2535 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
2536 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
2537 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
2538 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
2539 `cond-expand' when using this option.
2542 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
2543 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
2545 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
2548 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
2550 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
2551 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
2552 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
2555 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2557 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
2559 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
2560 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
2561 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
2562 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
2563 was also ASCII, for example.
2565 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
2567 tag - no replacement.
2568 fseek - replaced by seek.
2569 list* - replaced by cons*.
2571 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
2575 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
2576 (define m (make-safe-module))
2577 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
2578 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
2579 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
2581 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
2583 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
2584 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
2585 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
2587 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
2589 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
2590 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
2591 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
2592 from the issues related to the module system.
2594 *** New function: load-extension
2596 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
2598 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
2600 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
2601 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
2602 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
2604 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
2606 This function registers a initialization function for use by
2607 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
2608 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
2609 support dynamic linking).
2611 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
2613 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
2614 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
2615 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
2616 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
2619 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
2620 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
2621 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
2622 library and initialize it explicitly.
2624 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
2625 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
2627 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
2629 (define-module (foo bar))
2631 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
2633 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
2635 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
2636 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
2638 (scheme-report-environment 5)
2639 (null-environment 5)
2640 (interaction-environment)
2646 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
2648 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
2649 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
2650 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
2651 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
2653 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
2654 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
2655 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
2656 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
2657 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
2658 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
2659 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
2660 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
2661 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
2662 one eval to the next.
2664 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
2665 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
2666 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
2667 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
2668 subforms are at the top-level as well.
2670 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
2671 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
2672 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
2673 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
2674 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
2675 used in a lexical environment.
2677 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
2678 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
2679 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
2680 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
2681 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
2682 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
2684 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
2686 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
2687 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
2688 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
2689 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
2690 new facilities: selection and renaming.
2692 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
2693 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
2694 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
2696 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
2697 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
2699 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
2700 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
2701 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
2703 (remove-if . zonk-y)
2704 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
2706 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
2707 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
2708 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
2709 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
2712 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
2713 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
2714 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
2715 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
2717 (remove-if . zonk-y)
2718 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
2719 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
2721 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
2722 ;; and all four by upcasing.
2723 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
2724 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
2725 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
2727 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
2729 (remove-if . zonk-y)
2730 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
2731 :renamer upcase-symbol))
2733 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
2734 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
2735 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
2737 See manual for more info.
2739 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
2741 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
2742 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
2743 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
2745 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
2747 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
2748 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
2749 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
2751 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
2752 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
2753 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
2754 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
2756 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
2758 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
2759 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
2761 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
2762 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
2763 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
2764 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
2765 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
2768 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
2769 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
2770 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
2771 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
2772 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
2773 successful and #f if it wasn't.
2775 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
2776 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
2777 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
2778 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
2779 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
2781 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
2782 objects are usually permanent.
2784 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
2785 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
2787 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
2789 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
2790 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
2793 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
2797 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
2802 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
2804 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
2805 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
2806 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
2807 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
2809 ** New function `make-object-property'
2811 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
2812 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
2816 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
2817 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
2821 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
2822 source properties eventually.
2824 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
2826 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
2827 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
2828 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
2830 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
2831 will be removed in the next release.
2833 ** New define-module option: pure
2835 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
2840 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
2843 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
2845 Export names NAME1 ...
2847 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
2848 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
2852 (define-module (foo)
2854 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
2857 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
2862 ** New function: object->string OBJ
2864 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
2866 ** New function: port? X
2868 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
2869 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
2871 ** New function: file-port?
2873 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
2875 ** New function: port-for-each proc
2877 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
2878 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
2879 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
2880 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
2881 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
2883 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
2885 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
2886 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
2887 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
2888 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
2889 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
2892 ** New function: close-fdes fd
2894 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
2895 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
2896 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
2897 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
2900 ** New function: crypt password salt
2902 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
2905 ** New function: chroot path
2907 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
2909 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
2911 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
2914 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
2916 Get or set the priority of the running process.
2918 ** New function: getpass prompt
2920 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
2923 ** New function: flock file operation
2925 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
2927 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
2929 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
2932 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
2934 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
2935 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
2936 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
2937 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
2938 of the temporary file.
2940 ** New function: open-input-string string
2942 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
2943 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
2944 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
2946 ** New function: open-output-string
2948 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
2949 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
2951 ** New function: get-output-string
2953 Return the contents of an output string port.
2955 ** New function: identity
2957 Return the argument.
2959 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
2960 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
2962 ** New function: inet-pton family address
2964 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
2965 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
2966 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2969 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
2970 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
2972 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
2974 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
2975 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
2976 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2979 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
2980 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
2981 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
2985 Use `identity' instead.
2991 ** Deprecated: return-it
2995 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
2997 Use `string-length' instead.
2999 ** Deprecated: flags
3001 Use `logior' instead.
3003 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
3005 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
3006 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
3007 port-for-each is more flexible.
3009 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
3010 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
3011 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
3013 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
3015 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
3017 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
3019 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
3021 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
3023 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
3024 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
3026 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
3027 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
3029 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
3030 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
3032 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
3034 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
3035 Removed function: builtin-bindings
3037 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
3038 Use module system operations for all variables.
3040 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
3042 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
3045 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
3047 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
3048 The following bugs have been fixed:
3050 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
3051 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
3054 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
3055 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
3056 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
3058 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
3059 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
3061 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
3062 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
3065 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
3066 The expansion used to be like so:
3068 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
3070 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
3072 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
3074 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
3075 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
3077 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
3079 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
3080 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
3081 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
3085 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
3086 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
3088 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
3093 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
3094 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
3096 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
3097 and `d', other keywords allowed.
3098 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
3100 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
3103 * Changes to the C interface
3105 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
3107 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
3108 with "_t". What a concept.
3110 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
3112 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
3114 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
3118 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
3119 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
3121 *** C Functions removed
3123 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
3124 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
3125 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
3126 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
3127 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
3128 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
3129 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
3131 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
3133 Use scm_mem2string instead.
3135 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
3137 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
3139 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
3140 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
3142 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
3144 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
3147 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
3149 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
3151 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
3153 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
3154 Evaluation" in the manual.
3156 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
3158 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
3159 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
3161 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
3163 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
3164 Constructors" in the manual.
3166 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
3168 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
3169 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
3171 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
3173 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
3175 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
3176 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
3177 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
3179 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
3181 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
3183 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
3184 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
3185 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
3188 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
3190 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
3192 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
3193 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
3195 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
3197 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
3198 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
3199 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
3200 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
3202 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
3203 scm_primitive_property_ref
3204 scm_primitive_property_set_x
3205 scm_primitive_property_del_x
3207 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
3208 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
3210 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
3212 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
3213 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
3214 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
3215 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
3217 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
3219 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
3220 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
3221 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
3222 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
3223 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
3224 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
3225 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
3227 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
3228 scm_remember_upto_here
3230 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
3232 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
3234 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
3235 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
3237 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
3239 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
3241 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
3243 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
3245 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
3247 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
3248 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
3249 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
3250 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
3251 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
3252 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
3254 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
3256 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
3258 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
3259 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
3260 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
3262 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
3264 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
3265 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
3266 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
3268 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
3270 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
3271 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
3274 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
3277 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
3278 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
3281 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
3283 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
3285 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
3287 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
3289 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
3291 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
3293 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
3294 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
3295 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
3296 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
3297 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
3298 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
3299 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
3300 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
3301 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
3302 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
3303 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
3304 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
3305 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
3306 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
3307 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
3309 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
3310 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
3311 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
3312 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
3313 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
3314 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
3315 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
3316 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
3317 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
3318 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
3319 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
3320 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
3321 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
3322 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
3323 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
3324 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
3325 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
3326 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
3327 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
3328 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
3329 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
3330 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
3331 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
3332 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
3333 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
3334 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
3335 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
3336 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
3337 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
3339 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
3341 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
3343 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
3344 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
3346 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
3348 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
3350 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
3352 Use scm_string_hash instead.
3354 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
3356 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
3358 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
3360 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
3362 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
3365 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
3366 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
3368 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
3370 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
3372 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
3374 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
3376 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
3378 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
3380 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
3382 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
3385 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
3387 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
3389 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
3391 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
3392 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
3394 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
3395 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
3397 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
3399 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
3400 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
3401 scm_module_define, scm_define.
3403 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
3405 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
3407 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
3408 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
3410 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
3411 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
3412 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
3413 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
3415 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
3416 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
3417 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
3419 Use the new ones from above instead.
3421 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
3423 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
3424 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
3425 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
3427 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
3428 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
3430 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
3431 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
3434 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
3435 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
3437 Use the new functions instead.
3439 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
3442 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
3444 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
3446 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
3449 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
3451 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
3454 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
3456 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
3459 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
3460 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
3461 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
3463 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
3465 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
3466 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
3468 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
3469 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
3470 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
3471 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
3474 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
3476 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
3477 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
3478 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
3479 inexact for an exact.
3481 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
3482 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
3483 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
3486 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
3487 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
3488 accept an inexact argument.
3490 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
3491 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
3493 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
3496 ** New number validation macros:
3497 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
3501 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
3503 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
3504 scm_unprotect_object.
3506 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
3508 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
3510 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
3513 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
3515 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
3519 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
3521 * Changes to the distribution
3523 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
3525 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
3526 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
3527 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
3528 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
3529 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
3530 obtain these programs.
3531 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
3532 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
3534 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
3535 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
3536 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
3537 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
3538 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
3540 However, this approach means that minor differences between
3541 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
3542 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
3543 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
3547 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
3550 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
3551 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
3552 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
3553 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
3555 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
3557 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
3559 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
3560 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
3562 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
3563 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
3565 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
3566 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
3568 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
3569 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
3570 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
3571 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
3573 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
3575 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
3579 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
3580 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
3582 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
3584 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
3585 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
3587 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
3588 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
3589 number of objects of that kind.
3591 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
3593 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
3594 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
3595 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
3596 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
3597 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
3599 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
3601 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
3603 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
3605 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
3608 ** New module (ice-9 time)
3610 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
3612 ** New module (ice-9 history)
3614 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
3616 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3618 ** New command line option --debug
3620 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
3622 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
3624 ** New help facility
3626 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
3627 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
3628 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
3629 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
3630 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
3631 (help) gives this text
3633 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
3634 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
3636 Examples: (help help)
3638 (help "output-string")
3640 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
3642 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
3644 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
3645 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
3648 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
3649 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
3650 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
3653 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
3654 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
3655 use absolute filenames when possible.
3657 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
3658 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
3659 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
3662 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
3664 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
3665 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
3666 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
3667 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
3669 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
3671 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
3673 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
3674 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
3675 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
3677 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
3678 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
3679 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
3681 (read-enable 'positions)
3682 (debug-enable 'debug)
3684 ** Backtraces in scripts
3686 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
3690 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
3692 at the top of the script.
3694 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
3695 The second enables backtraces.)
3697 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
3699 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
3700 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
3701 substantially faster than before.
3703 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
3704 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
3706 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
3707 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
3709 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
3711 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
3712 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
3713 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
3715 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
3716 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
3717 when this hook is run in the future.
3719 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
3720 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
3722 ** Improvements to garbage collector
3724 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
3725 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
3728 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
3729 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
3730 more and more memory for certain programs.)
3732 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
3733 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
3735 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
3736 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
3738 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
3739 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
3740 in order not to need further allocation.)
3742 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
3745 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
3746 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
3747 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
3748 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
3750 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
3752 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
3755 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
3757 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
3760 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
3761 GC in percent of total heap size
3764 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
3765 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
3767 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
3769 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
3770 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
3772 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
3774 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
3775 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
3777 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
3779 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
3780 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
3784 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
3785 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
3787 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
3789 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3791 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
3793 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
3795 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
3797 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
3798 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
3800 (simple-format port message . args)
3801 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
3802 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
3803 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
3804 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
3805 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
3806 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
3807 Does not add a trailing newline."
3809 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
3811 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
3812 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
3814 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
3815 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
3817 ** Deprecated: list*
3819 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
3821 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
3823 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
3824 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
3826 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
3827 is returned as result.
3829 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
3831 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
3833 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
3835 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
3836 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
3839 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
3841 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
3843 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
3844 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
3846 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3848 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
3850 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
3852 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3854 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
3856 Thanks to Greg Badros!
3858 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3860 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3861 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
3862 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
3864 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
3867 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
3869 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
3870 the readability of argument checking.
3872 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
3874 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
3876 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
3878 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
3879 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
3880 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
3881 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
3882 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
3883 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
3884 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
3886 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
3888 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
3890 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
3891 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
3893 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
3895 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
3896 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
3899 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
3901 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
3902 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
3903 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
3905 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
3906 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
3907 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
3909 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
3910 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
3911 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
3912 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
3913 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
3914 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
3915 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
3917 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
3918 scm_end_input (object);
3919 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
3920 ptob->flush (object);
3922 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
3923 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
3926 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
3928 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
3930 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
3931 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
3932 removed in a future version.
3934 ** The format of error message strings has changed
3936 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
3937 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
3938 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
3939 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
3941 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
3942 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
3944 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
3947 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
3949 in your configure.in.
3951 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
3956 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
3962 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
3964 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
3968 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
3969 (define make-message string-append)
3971 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
3973 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
3977 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
3982 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
3986 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
3988 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
3989 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
3991 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
3993 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
3994 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
3995 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
3996 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
3997 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
3998 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
4000 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
4001 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
4002 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
4004 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
4005 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
4006 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
4009 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
4010 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
4011 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
4012 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
4013 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
4015 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
4016 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
4017 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
4018 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
4019 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
4020 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
4021 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
4023 Destructors are not yet implemented.
4025 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
4026 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
4027 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
4029 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
4030 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
4031 KEY in the calling thread.
4033 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
4034 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
4035 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
4036 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
4037 associated with the key.
4039 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
4041 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
4042 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
4044 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
4046 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
4047 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
4048 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
4050 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
4052 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
4053 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
4055 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
4057 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
4059 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
4060 returned is undefined.
4062 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
4063 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
4064 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
4066 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
4067 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
4068 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
4070 ** New C level GC hooks
4072 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
4074 scm_before_gc_c_hook
4077 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
4078 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
4079 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
4081 scm_before_mark_c_hook
4082 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
4083 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
4085 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
4086 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
4089 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
4091 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
4092 allocation parameters
4094 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
4095 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
4096 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
4100 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
4101 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
4102 scm_default_max_segment_size
4104 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
4106 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
4107 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
4109 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
4111 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
4112 object and count on the object being protected until
4113 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
4115 The functions also have better time complexity.
4117 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
4118 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
4119 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
4120 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
4121 are no longer needed.
4123 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
4125 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
4126 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
4127 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
4128 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
4130 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
4132 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
4134 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
4136 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
4137 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
4138 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
4139 until this issue has been settled.
4141 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
4143 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
4145 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
4148 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
4150 * Changes to system call interfaces:
4152 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
4153 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
4154 descriptors were checked.
4156 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
4157 atomically written to a pipe.
4159 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
4160 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
4161 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
4162 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
4163 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
4164 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
4165 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
4168 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
4169 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
4170 is changed without calling tzset.
4172 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
4174 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
4175 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
4176 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
4178 (define write-network-long
4179 (lambda (value port)
4180 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
4181 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
4182 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
4184 (define read-network-long
4186 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
4187 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
4188 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
4190 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
4191 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
4193 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
4194 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
4195 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
4196 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
4198 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
4199 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
4200 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
4201 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
4205 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
4207 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4211 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
4212 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
4213 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
4219 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
4220 for a description of available commands.
4222 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
4223 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
4224 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
4226 (debug-enable 'backwards)
4228 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
4229 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
4231 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
4233 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
4235 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
4236 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
4237 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
4238 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
4239 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
4240 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
4243 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
4245 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
4246 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
4247 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
4248 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
4250 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
4251 the file and should not be affected by this change.
4253 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
4255 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4257 ** Readline support has changed again.
4259 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
4260 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
4261 to activate readline is now
4263 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
4266 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
4268 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
4269 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
4270 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
4273 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
4274 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
4275 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
4278 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
4279 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
4280 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
4281 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
4282 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
4283 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
4285 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
4286 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
4288 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
4290 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
4291 object it receives is the same string passed to
4292 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
4293 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
4294 string, not the suffix.
4296 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
4297 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
4298 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
4300 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
4302 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
4303 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
4304 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
4305 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
4308 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
4310 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
4312 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
4313 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
4314 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
4315 appear from left to right.
4317 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
4320 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
4322 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
4323 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
4325 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
4329 *** New function: hook? OBJ
4331 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
4333 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
4335 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
4336 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
4337 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
4339 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
4341 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
4343 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
4345 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
4348 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
4350 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
4351 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
4352 mentioning it here anyway.
4354 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
4356 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
4357 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
4358 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
4359 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
4362 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
4364 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
4366 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
4368 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
4369 otherwise return #f.
4371 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
4373 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
4374 returned by `opendir'.
4376 ** New function: using-readline?
4378 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
4380 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
4382 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
4383 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
4385 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4387 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
4389 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
4390 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
4391 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
4393 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
4395 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
4396 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
4398 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
4400 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
4401 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
4402 documentation slots are not yet used.
4404 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
4406 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
4407 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
4408 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
4413 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
4414 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
4415 (string-append x y))
4417 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
4418 can also be used for concatenating strings.
4420 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
4421 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
4422 be made in a clean way.]
4424 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
4426 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
4428 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
4430 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
4431 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
4433 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
4435 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
4437 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
4439 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
4441 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
4442 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
4443 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
4444 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
4447 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
4449 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
4451 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
4453 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
4455 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
4456 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
4458 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
4460 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
4462 Evaluates the body of a special form.
4464 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
4466 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
4467 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
4468 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
4469 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
4470 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
4471 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
4473 This should not make any difference for most users.
4475 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
4477 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
4478 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
4480 *** New functions for applying generic functions
4482 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
4483 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
4484 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
4485 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
4486 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
4488 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
4490 It is now replaced by:
4492 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
4494 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4495 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4497 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4499 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
4500 This might change when we get the new module system.
4502 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
4506 Changes since Guile 1.3:
4508 * Changes to mailing lists
4510 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
4512 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
4515 * Changes to the distribution
4517 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
4519 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
4520 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
4521 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
4522 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
4523 you explicitly specify it.
4525 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
4526 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
4527 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
4528 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
4529 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
4532 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
4533 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
4534 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
4535 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
4537 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
4538 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
4539 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
4542 You can activate the readline support by issuing
4544 (use-modules (readline-activator))
4547 from your ".guile" file, for example.
4549 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4551 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
4552 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
4553 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
4554 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
4556 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
4557 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
4560 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4562 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
4563 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
4564 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
4565 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
4566 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
4567 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
4568 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
4569 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
4581 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
4582 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
4583 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
4584 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
4585 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
4590 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
4591 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
4599 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
4604 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
4605 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
4608 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
4609 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
4610 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
4611 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
4613 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
4615 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
4617 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
4618 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
4620 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
4622 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
4624 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
4625 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
4627 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
4630 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
4632 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
4634 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
4636 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
4638 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
4640 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
4642 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
4643 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
4644 when the hook was created.
4646 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
4647 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
4648 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
4649 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
4650 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
4651 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
4652 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
4653 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
4654 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
4656 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
4657 the dlopen family of functions.
4659 ** New function `provided?'
4661 - Function: provided? FEATURE
4662 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
4663 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
4664 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
4666 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
4668 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
4669 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
4670 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
4671 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
4674 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
4675 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
4676 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
4677 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
4679 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
4680 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
4681 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
4684 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
4685 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
4686 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
4687 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
4688 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
4689 but with the flag set.
4691 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
4693 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
4694 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
4696 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
4697 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
4698 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
4699 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
4700 available Scheme format implementations.
4702 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
4703 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
4704 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
4705 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
4706 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
4707 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
4708 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
4709 output is to the current error port if available by the
4710 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
4713 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
4714 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
4715 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
4716 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
4717 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
4718 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
4719 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
4720 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
4722 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
4723 be executed at a time.
4726 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
4728 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
4729 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
4730 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
4732 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
4733 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
4734 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
4735 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
4736 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
4737 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
4738 general form of a directive is:
4740 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
4742 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
4744 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
4746 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
4747 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
4748 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
4751 Any (print as `display' does).
4755 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
4759 S-expression (print as `write' does).
4763 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
4769 print number sign always.
4772 print comma separated.
4774 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
4780 print number sign always.
4783 print comma separated.
4785 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
4791 print number sign always.
4794 print comma separated.
4796 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
4802 print number sign always.
4805 print comma separated.
4807 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
4812 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
4816 print a number as a Roman numeral.
4819 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
4822 print a number as an ordinal English number.
4825 print a number as a cardinal English number.
4830 prints `y' and `ies'.
4833 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4836 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4841 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
4845 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
4848 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
4849 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
4851 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4854 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
4855 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
4857 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4860 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
4862 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
4864 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4867 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
4869 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
4871 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4874 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
4877 The sign appears before the padding.
4885 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
4887 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
4892 print N page separators.
4902 newline is ignored, white space left.
4905 newline is left, white space ignored.
4910 relative tabulation.
4916 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
4918 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
4921 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
4923 converts by `string-capitalize'.
4926 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
4929 converts by `string-upcase'.
4932 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
4934 jumps N arguments forward.
4937 jumps 1 argument backward.
4940 jumps N arguments backward.
4943 jumps to the 0th argument.
4946 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
4948 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
4949 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
4951 take argument from N.
4954 true test conditional.
4957 if-else-then conditional.
4963 default clause follows.
4966 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
4968 at most N iterations.
4971 args from next arg (a list of lists).
4974 args from the rest of arguments.
4977 args from the rest args (lists).
4988 aborts if N <= M <= K
4990 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
4993 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4996 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
5002 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
5004 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
5006 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
5007 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
5008 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
5009 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
5010 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
5011 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
5015 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
5019 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
5025 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
5028 Print a `#\space' character
5030 print N `#\space' characters.
5033 Print a `#\tab' character
5035 print N `#\tab' characters.
5038 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
5039 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
5040 must be a positive decimal number.
5043 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
5044 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
5045 be processed by `read'.
5048 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
5049 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
5050 be processed by `read'.
5053 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
5056 prints format version.
5059 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
5060 and format it accordingly.
5062 *** Configuration Variables
5064 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
5065 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
5066 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
5067 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
5070 format:symbol-case-conv
5071 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
5072 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
5073 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
5074 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
5075 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
5077 format:iobj-case-conv
5078 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
5079 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
5082 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
5085 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
5091 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
5092 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
5093 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
5094 `format' padding style.
5097 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
5098 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
5099 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
5100 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
5104 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
5105 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
5106 directive parameters or modifiers)).
5109 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
5110 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
5111 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
5112 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
5113 parameters or modifiers)).
5116 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
5118 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
5120 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
5121 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
5123 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
5124 string-downcase! functions.
5126 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
5127 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
5129 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
5132 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
5135 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
5136 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
5138 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
5140 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
5141 the symbol had be read by `read'.
5143 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
5144 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
5145 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
5146 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
5147 would if STRING were input.
5149 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
5151 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
5152 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
5153 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
5154 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
5157 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
5159 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
5160 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
5163 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
5165 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
5166 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
5168 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
5169 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
5171 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
5172 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
5173 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
5174 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
5176 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
5177 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
5179 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
5180 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
5181 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
5183 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
5184 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
5186 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
5187 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
5188 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
5189 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
5190 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
5192 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
5193 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
5194 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
5195 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
5196 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
5197 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
5199 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
5200 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
5201 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
5204 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
5205 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
5206 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
5207 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
5208 the following grammar:
5209 ((apples (single-char #\a))
5210 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
5211 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
5212 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
5213 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
5214 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
5215 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
5216 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
5217 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
5218 last option in its combination)
5220 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
5221 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
5222 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
5223 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
5225 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
5226 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
5227 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
5229 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
5230 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
5231 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
5233 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
5234 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
5235 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
5236 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
5237 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
5238 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
5239 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
5240 ordinary argument strings.
5242 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
5243 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
5244 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
5245 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
5247 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
5248 as a list, associated with the empty list.
5250 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
5251 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
5252 - a required option is omitted
5253 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
5254 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
5255 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
5256 - an option predicate fails
5261 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
5264 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
5265 (verbose (required? #f)
5268 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
5269 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
5270 (predicate ,string?))))
5272 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
5273 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
5275 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
5276 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
5277 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
5278 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
5281 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
5283 It will be removed in a few releases.
5285 ** New syntax: lambda*
5286 ** New syntax: define*
5287 ** New syntax: define*-public
5288 ** New syntax: defmacro*
5289 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
5290 Guile now supports optional arguments.
5292 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
5293 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
5294 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
5295 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
5296 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
5298 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
5299 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
5300 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
5302 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
5304 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
5305 and examples for `lambda*':
5308 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
5310 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
5311 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
5312 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
5313 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
5314 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
5315 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
5316 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
5317 can be checked with the bound? macro.
5319 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
5321 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
5322 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
5323 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
5324 are given as keywords are bound to values.
5326 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
5327 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
5328 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
5329 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
5330 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
5331 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
5332 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
5333 and until the procedure is called.
5335 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
5337 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
5338 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
5339 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
5340 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
5341 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
5342 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
5343 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
5344 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
5345 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
5346 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
5348 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
5349 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
5350 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
5351 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
5354 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
5356 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
5357 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
5358 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
5359 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
5361 ** New syntax: and-let*
5362 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
5364 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
5365 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
5366 (<variable> <expression>)
5369 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
5370 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
5371 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
5374 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
5375 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
5376 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
5377 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
5378 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
5379 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
5380 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
5382 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
5383 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
5384 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
5385 shadow earlier bindings.
5387 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
5389 ** New sorting functions
5391 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
5392 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
5393 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
5394 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
5396 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
5397 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
5400 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
5401 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
5402 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
5404 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
5405 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
5406 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
5407 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
5409 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
5410 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
5411 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
5412 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
5413 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
5416 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
5417 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
5418 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
5419 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
5420 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
5421 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
5423 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
5424 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
5425 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
5427 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
5428 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
5429 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
5432 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
5433 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
5434 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
5436 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
5437 Added for compatibility with scsh.
5439 ** New built-in random number support
5441 *** New function: random N [STATE]
5442 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
5443 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
5444 returned have a uniform distribution.
5446 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
5447 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
5448 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
5449 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
5450 effect of the `random' operation.
5452 *** New variable: *random-state*
5453 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
5454 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
5455 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
5456 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
5457 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
5460 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
5461 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
5462 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
5463 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
5464 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
5466 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
5467 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
5468 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
5469 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
5470 initialized using SEED.
5472 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
5473 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
5474 range between 0 and 1.
5476 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
5477 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
5478 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
5479 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
5480 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
5481 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
5482 or a uniform vector of doubles.
5484 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
5485 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
5486 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
5487 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
5488 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
5489 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
5491 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
5492 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
5493 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
5494 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
5496 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
5497 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
5498 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
5499 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
5501 *** New function: random:exp STATE
5502 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
5503 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
5505 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
5507 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
5510 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
5511 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
5514 ** New function: make-guardian
5515 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
5516 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
5517 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
5518 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
5519 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
5521 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
5522 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
5523 one object if at all.
5525 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
5526 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
5527 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
5529 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
5530 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
5531 read again in last-in first-out order.
5533 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
5534 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
5536 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
5538 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
5539 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
5540 file position is used.
5542 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
5543 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
5544 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
5546 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
5547 redefined using seek.
5549 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
5550 size is not supplied.
5552 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
5553 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
5555 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
5556 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
5558 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
5560 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
5561 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
5562 and returns the contents as a single string.
5564 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
5565 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
5566 lists in serial order.
5568 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
5569 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
5570 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
5572 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
5573 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
5574 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
5575 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
5577 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
5578 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
5579 and #f if an error occured.
5581 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
5583 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
5584 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
5585 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
5586 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
5588 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
5590 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
5593 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
5595 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
5598 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5602 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
5603 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
5605 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
5606 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
5610 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5612 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
5614 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
5615 binds a variable named NAME to it.
5617 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
5619 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
5620 might change when we get the new module system.
5622 ** The smob interface
5624 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
5625 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
5627 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
5629 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
5633 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
5634 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
5635 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
5636 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
5637 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
5638 will be freed by the default free function.
5640 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
5641 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
5642 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
5643 `scm_make_smob_type'.
5645 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
5646 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
5647 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
5648 `scm_make_smob_type'.
5650 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
5652 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
5653 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
5657 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
5658 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
5659 `scm_make_smob_type'.
5661 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
5662 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
5663 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
5664 `scm_make_smob_type'.
5666 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
5667 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
5668 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
5670 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
5671 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
5672 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
5673 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
5675 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
5676 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
5677 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
5679 *** scm_newptob has been removed
5683 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
5685 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
5686 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
5687 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
5689 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
5690 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
5691 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
5693 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
5694 a string port's buffer.
5696 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
5697 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
5698 function pointers which together define the current random number
5699 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
5700 number library functions.
5702 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
5705 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
5706 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
5709 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
5710 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
5712 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
5713 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
5715 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
5716 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
5719 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
5720 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
5721 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
5722 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
5724 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
5725 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
5726 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
5727 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
5728 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
5729 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
5730 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
5732 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
5733 by libguile and the application.
5735 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
5736 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
5737 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
5738 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
5740 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
5741 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
5743 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
5744 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
5745 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
5747 ** Random number library functions
5748 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
5749 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
5750 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
5752 The default random state is stored in:
5754 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
5755 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
5756 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
5761 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
5763 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
5764 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
5765 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
5766 isn't a random state.
5768 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
5769 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
5771 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
5772 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
5773 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
5774 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
5776 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5777 Return 32 random bits.
5779 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5780 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
5782 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5783 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
5785 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5786 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
5788 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
5789 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
5791 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
5792 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
5793 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
5797 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
5799 * Changes to the distribution
5801 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
5802 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
5803 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
5806 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
5807 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
5808 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
5810 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
5811 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
5812 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
5813 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
5816 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
5817 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
5818 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
5820 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5822 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
5824 *** Function: batch-mode?
5826 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
5829 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
5831 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
5832 case has not been implemented.
5834 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
5835 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
5836 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
5839 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
5840 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
5842 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
5844 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5846 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
5848 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
5849 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
5852 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
5853 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
5854 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
5855 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
5858 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
5860 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
5861 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
5862 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
5863 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
5864 find those libraries.
5866 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
5867 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
5870 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
5872 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
5873 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
5874 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
5875 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
5877 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
5878 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
5879 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
5883 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
5885 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
5886 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
5887 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
5890 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
5891 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
5892 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
5893 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
5895 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
5896 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
5899 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
5900 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
5901 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
5902 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
5903 compiler where to find the libraries.
5905 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
5906 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
5907 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
5909 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
5910 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
5911 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
5912 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
5913 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
5917 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5919 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
5920 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
5921 internationalization support.
5923 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
5924 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
5925 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
5926 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
5927 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
5929 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
5930 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
5931 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
5932 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
5933 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
5935 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
5936 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
5937 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
5938 any GNU mirror site.
5940 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
5942 ** New function: add-history STRING
5943 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
5944 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
5945 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
5947 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
5949 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
5950 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
5951 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
5954 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
5955 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
5956 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
5958 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
5960 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
5963 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
5964 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
5967 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
5968 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
5969 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
5970 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
5971 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
5972 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
5974 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
5975 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
5976 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
5977 of the form mentioned above.
5979 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
5980 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
5981 returned in the special `rest' list.
5983 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
5984 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
5986 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
5988 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
5990 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
5992 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
5993 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
5994 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
5995 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
5996 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
5997 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
5998 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
5999 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
6002 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
6004 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
6006 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
6007 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
6010 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
6011 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
6012 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
6016 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
6017 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
6018 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
6019 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
6020 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
6021 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
6022 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
6023 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
6026 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
6028 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
6029 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
6030 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
6032 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
6034 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
6035 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
6037 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
6038 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
6039 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
6041 Why do we have this function?
6042 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
6043 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
6044 primitive, and display it differently, and
6045 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
6046 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
6049 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
6050 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
6053 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
6054 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
6055 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
6056 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
6058 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
6059 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
6062 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
6063 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
6065 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
6067 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
6068 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
6069 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
6070 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
6071 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
6072 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
6073 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
6076 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
6078 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
6079 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
6081 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
6082 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
6083 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
6084 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
6085 properly continue the print chain.
6087 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
6088 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
6089 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
6090 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
6091 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
6092 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
6093 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
6094 print-state, it is simply ignored.
6096 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
6097 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
6098 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
6099 safest to not check for these pairs.
6101 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
6102 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
6103 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
6104 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
6106 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
6108 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
6109 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
6111 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
6113 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
6115 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
6116 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
6117 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
6119 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
6120 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
6121 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
6123 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
6124 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
6125 the following functions and macros:
6127 Function: make-fluid
6129 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
6130 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
6131 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
6132 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
6133 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
6135 Function: fluid? OBJ
6137 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
6139 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
6140 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
6142 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
6143 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
6145 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
6147 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
6148 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
6149 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
6150 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
6151 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
6152 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
6153 modified by `with-fluids*'.
6155 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
6157 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
6158 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
6159 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
6160 should evaluate to a fluid.
6162 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
6164 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
6165 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
6166 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
6167 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
6168 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
6170 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
6173 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
6175 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
6177 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
6179 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
6182 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
6183 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
6184 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
6185 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
6186 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
6189 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
6190 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
6191 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
6193 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
6194 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
6195 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
6197 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
6198 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
6199 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
6200 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
6202 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
6203 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
6204 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
6205 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
6207 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
6208 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
6209 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
6210 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
6212 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
6213 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
6214 their revealed counts set to zero.
6216 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6217 Returns an integer file descriptor.
6219 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6220 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
6222 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6223 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
6225 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6226 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
6227 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
6229 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
6230 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
6231 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
6233 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
6234 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
6235 default environment inherited by child processes.
6237 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
6238 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
6239 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
6241 The return value is unspecified.
6243 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
6244 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
6245 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
6246 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
6247 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
6249 The return value is unspecified.
6251 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
6252 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
6260 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
6261 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
6264 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
6267 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
6268 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
6269 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
6271 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
6272 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
6273 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
6274 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
6277 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
6278 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
6280 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
6281 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
6282 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
6283 the `environ' procedure.
6285 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
6286 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
6289 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
6290 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
6292 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
6293 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
6294 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
6295 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
6297 *** procedure: times
6298 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
6299 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
6300 return a selected component:
6303 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
6307 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
6310 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
6314 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
6315 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
6319 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
6320 terminated child processes.
6322 ** Removed: list-length
6323 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
6324 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
6326 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
6328 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
6330 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
6332 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
6333 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
6334 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
6335 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
6337 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
6338 extra complexity it introduces.
6340 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
6341 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
6343 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
6344 variable to any non-empty value.
6346 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
6347 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
6349 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6351 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
6352 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
6354 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
6356 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
6357 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
6359 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
6361 ** vector handling routines
6363 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
6364 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
6365 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
6366 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
6367 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
6369 ** pair and list routines
6371 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
6374 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
6376 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
6379 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6381 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
6383 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
6384 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
6385 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
6386 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
6387 site-specific initialization code.
6389 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
6390 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
6391 initialization processes.
6393 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
6394 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
6395 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
6396 initialized properly.
6398 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
6399 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
6400 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
6402 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
6403 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
6404 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
6405 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
6406 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
6408 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
6410 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
6411 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
6412 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
6413 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
6414 objects the smob refers to get marked.
6416 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
6417 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
6418 which look like this:
6421 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
6423 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
6424 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
6427 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
6428 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
6431 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
6433 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
6434 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
6435 you will need to change your functions slightly.
6437 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
6438 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
6439 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
6440 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
6441 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
6443 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
6444 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
6446 int (*free) (SCM port);
6447 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
6448 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
6449 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
6453 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
6454 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
6455 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
6457 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
6460 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
6461 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
6462 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
6464 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
6465 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
6466 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
6469 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
6473 struct timeval *timeout);
6475 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
6476 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
6477 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
6478 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
6479 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
6480 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
6482 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
6483 scm_catch_body_t body,
6485 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
6488 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
6489 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
6490 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
6491 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
6492 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
6493 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
6495 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
6497 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
6500 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
6501 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
6502 spawning threads from application C code.
6504 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
6505 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
6506 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
6507 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
6508 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
6509 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
6511 ** Removed functions:
6513 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
6514 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
6516 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
6518 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
6519 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
6521 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
6523 ** mbstrings are now removed
6525 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
6526 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
6528 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
6530 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
6531 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
6532 their new names and arguments:
6534 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
6535 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
6536 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
6537 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
6540 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
6542 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
6544 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
6547 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
6549 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
6550 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
6551 pass a #f arg to catch.
6553 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
6555 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
6556 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
6559 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
6560 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
6561 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
6562 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
6563 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
6564 reclaim its storage.
6566 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
6567 worrying that some other function you call will call
6568 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
6569 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
6570 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
6571 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
6574 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
6576 * Changes to the distribution
6578 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
6579 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
6582 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
6583 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
6585 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
6586 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
6588 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
6590 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
6591 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
6592 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
6594 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6596 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
6597 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
6598 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
6599 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
6600 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
6601 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
6603 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
6604 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
6605 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
6608 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
6609 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
6610 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
6611 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
6613 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
6614 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
6615 libraries to your link command:
6617 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
6618 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
6619 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6620 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6622 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
6623 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
6624 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
6626 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6628 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
6629 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
6632 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
6634 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
6635 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
6636 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
6637 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
6638 searched is system dependent.
6640 (dynamic-object? VAL)
6642 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
6644 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
6646 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
6647 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
6649 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
6651 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
6652 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
6653 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
6654 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
6655 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
6658 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
6660 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
6661 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
6662 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
6663 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
6664 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
6666 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
6668 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
6669 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
6671 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
6673 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
6674 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
6675 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
6678 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
6680 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
6681 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
6682 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
6683 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
6685 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
6686 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
6688 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
6690 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
6691 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
6693 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
6695 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
6696 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
6704 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
6706 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
6707 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
6708 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
6709 a more informative way.
6711 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
6712 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
6713 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
6714 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
6715 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
6716 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
6718 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
6719 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
6722 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
6723 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
6724 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
6727 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
6728 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
6729 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
6730 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
6731 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
6732 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
6734 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
6735 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
6736 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
6737 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
6740 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
6741 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
6742 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
6743 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
6744 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
6745 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
6747 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
6748 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
6749 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
6750 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
6751 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
6753 *** regexp functions
6755 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
6756 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
6757 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
6759 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
6760 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
6761 with SCSH regular expressions.
6763 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
6764 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
6765 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
6766 position of STR at which to begin matching.
6768 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
6769 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
6770 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
6771 `string-match' returns `#f'.
6773 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
6774 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
6775 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
6776 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
6777 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
6778 match strings against the compiled regexp.
6780 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
6781 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
6782 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
6783 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
6784 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
6786 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
6788 **** Constant: regexp/extended
6789 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
6790 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
6791 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
6793 **** Constant: regexp/icase
6794 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
6795 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
6797 **** Constant: regexp/newline
6798 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
6800 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
6803 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
6804 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
6805 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
6807 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
6808 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
6809 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
6811 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
6812 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
6813 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
6814 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
6815 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
6818 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
6820 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
6821 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
6822 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
6823 used when different portions of a string are passed to
6824 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
6825 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
6827 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
6828 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
6829 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
6831 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
6832 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
6835 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
6836 and replace them with the contents of another string.
6838 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
6839 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
6840 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
6841 may be one of the following arguments:
6843 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
6845 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
6847 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
6848 the regexp match is written.
6850 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
6851 following the regexp match is written.
6853 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
6854 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
6857 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
6858 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
6859 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
6860 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
6861 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
6862 which should be matched against this regular expression.
6864 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
6867 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
6868 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
6869 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
6870 written out to PORT.
6872 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
6873 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
6874 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
6875 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
6876 will return after processing a single match.
6878 *** Match Structures
6880 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
6881 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
6882 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
6883 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
6884 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
6885 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
6888 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
6889 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
6890 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
6891 information about the original target string that was matched against a
6892 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
6894 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
6895 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
6896 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
6898 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
6899 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
6900 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
6901 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
6902 number N did not match, return `#f'.
6904 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
6905 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
6907 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
6908 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
6910 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
6911 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
6913 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
6914 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
6916 **** Function: match:count MATCH
6917 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
6918 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
6919 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
6921 **** Function: match:string MATCH
6922 Return the original TARGET string.
6924 *** Backslash Escapes
6926 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
6927 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
6928 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
6929 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
6930 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
6931 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
6933 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
6934 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
6935 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
6936 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
6937 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
6938 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
6939 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
6940 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
6942 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
6943 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
6944 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
6945 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
6946 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
6947 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
6948 each match a single backslash in the target string.
6950 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
6951 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
6952 return the resulting string.
6954 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
6955 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
6956 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
6957 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
6958 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
6959 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
6960 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
6961 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
6962 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
6963 translated to the single character `*'.
6965 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
6966 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
6967 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
6968 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
6969 consecutive backslashes:
6971 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
6973 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
6974 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
6975 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
6977 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
6978 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
6979 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
6980 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
6981 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
6982 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
6984 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
6986 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
6987 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
6988 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
6989 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
6990 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
6991 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
6992 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
6993 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
6994 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
6995 cumbersome escape syntax.
6997 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6999 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7001 * Changes to system call interfaces:
7003 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
7006 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
7008 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
7010 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
7013 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
7014 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
7015 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
7016 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
7017 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
7019 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
7020 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
7021 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
7022 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
7023 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
7024 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
7025 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
7028 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
7029 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
7030 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
7033 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
7034 `force-output' on every port open for output.
7036 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
7037 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
7038 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
7039 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
7040 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
7041 installed, you can say:
7043 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
7046 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7048 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
7049 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
7050 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
7051 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
7052 new dynamic roots and threads.
7055 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
7057 * Changes to the distribution.
7059 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
7061 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
7062 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
7063 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
7064 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
7065 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
7066 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
7067 programming language. These are packaged together because the
7068 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
7070 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
7073 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
7074 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
7079 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7081 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
7082 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
7084 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
7085 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
7086 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
7087 the (command-line) function.
7088 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
7089 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
7090 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
7092 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
7093 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
7094 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
7095 command line arguments
7096 -ds do -s script at this point
7097 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
7098 -h, --help display this help and exit
7099 -v, --version display version information and exit
7100 \ read arguments from following script lines
7102 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
7103 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
7105 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7108 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
7112 (main (command-line))
7114 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
7116 ekko a speckled gecko
7118 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
7119 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
7120 following list of command-line arguments:
7122 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
7124 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
7125 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
7126 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
7127 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
7128 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
7130 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
7132 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
7134 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
7135 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
7138 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
7139 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
7140 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
7141 SCSH) for circumventing them.
7143 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
7144 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
7145 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
7146 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
7148 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
7152 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
7156 If the user invokes this script as follows:
7158 ekko a speckled gecko
7160 Unix expands this into
7162 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
7164 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
7165 read from the second line of the script, producing:
7167 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
7169 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
7170 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
7172 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
7173 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
7174 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
7175 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
7176 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
7177 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
7178 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
7179 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
7180 it only terminates the argument list.)
7181 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
7182 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
7183 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
7184 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
7185 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
7186 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
7187 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
7188 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
7190 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7192 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
7193 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
7194 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
7195 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
7196 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
7198 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
7199 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
7200 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
7202 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
7204 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
7205 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
7206 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
7207 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
7210 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
7211 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
7212 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
7214 * Changes to Scheme functions
7216 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
7217 and disabled by default.
7219 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
7220 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
7221 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
7222 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
7224 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
7226 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
7228 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
7229 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
7231 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
7232 (read-set! keywords #f)
7234 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
7235 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
7236 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
7239 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
7240 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
7241 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
7244 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
7245 support for Scheme functions.
7247 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
7248 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
7249 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
7250 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
7253 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
7254 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
7255 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
7258 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
7259 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
7260 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
7263 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
7264 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
7265 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
7266 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
7267 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
7268 display the result as a prompt.
7269 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
7271 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
7272 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
7273 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
7276 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
7277 procedure of zero arguments.
7279 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
7280 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
7281 argument is bound in the current module.
7283 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
7284 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
7285 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
7286 public bindings into the current module.
7288 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
7289 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
7291 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
7292 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
7294 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
7295 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
7297 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
7298 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
7300 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
7301 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
7303 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
7304 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
7305 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
7306 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
7307 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
7309 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
7310 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
7311 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
7312 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
7314 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
7317 ** Changes to I/O functions
7319 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
7320 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
7321 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
7323 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
7324 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
7325 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
7327 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
7328 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
7330 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
7331 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
7332 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
7333 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
7335 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
7337 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
7338 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
7340 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
7341 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
7342 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
7343 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
7344 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
7347 'trim omit delimiter from result
7348 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
7349 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
7350 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
7352 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
7354 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
7355 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
7357 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
7358 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
7359 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
7360 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
7361 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
7363 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
7364 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
7365 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
7367 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
7368 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
7369 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
7370 above, and defaults to 'peek.
7372 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
7373 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
7375 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
7376 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
7378 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
7380 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
7381 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
7382 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
7383 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
7384 a delimiting character.
7385 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
7387 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
7388 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
7389 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
7390 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
7391 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
7392 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
7394 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
7395 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
7397 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
7398 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
7399 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
7401 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
7402 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
7403 the array to read and write.
7405 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
7406 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
7409 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
7411 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
7414 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
7415 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
7416 Values for COMMAND are:
7418 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
7419 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
7420 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
7421 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
7422 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
7423 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
7424 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
7425 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
7427 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
7429 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
7430 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
7431 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
7432 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
7433 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
7434 corresponding return set will be the same.
7436 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
7439 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
7440 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
7441 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
7442 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
7443 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
7444 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
7445 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
7446 special file being created.
7448 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
7449 clashing with various SCSH forks.
7451 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
7452 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
7453 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
7454 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
7455 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
7456 and originating address.
7458 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
7459 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
7460 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
7462 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
7465 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
7466 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
7469 (status:exit-val STATUS)
7470 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
7471 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
7472 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
7473 this function returns #f.
7475 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
7476 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
7477 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
7480 (status:term-sig STATUS)
7481 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
7482 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
7485 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
7486 a valid STATUS value.
7488 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
7490 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
7491 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
7493 Component Accessor Setter
7494 ========================= ============ ============
7495 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
7496 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
7497 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
7498 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
7499 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
7500 year tm:year set-tm:year
7501 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
7502 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
7503 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
7504 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
7505 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
7507 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
7508 describing the host system:
7511 ============================================== ================
7512 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
7513 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
7514 release level of the operating system utsname:release
7515 version level of the operating system utsname:version
7516 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
7518 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
7519 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
7520 system's user database:
7523 ====================== =================
7524 user name passwd:name
7525 user password passwd:passwd
7528 real name passwd:gecos
7529 home directory passwd:dir
7530 shell program passwd:shell
7532 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
7533 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
7534 system's group database:
7537 ======================= ============
7538 group name group:name
7539 group password group:passwd
7541 group members group:mem
7543 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
7544 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
7548 ========================= ===============
7549 official name of host hostent:name
7550 alias list hostent:aliases
7551 host address type hostent:addrtype
7552 length of address hostent:length
7553 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
7555 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
7556 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
7560 ========================= ===============
7561 official name of net netent:name
7562 alias list netent:aliases
7563 net number type netent:addrtype
7564 net number netent:net
7566 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
7567 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
7571 ========================= ===============
7572 official protocol name protoent:name
7573 alias list protoent:aliases
7574 protocol number protoent:proto
7576 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
7577 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
7581 ========================= ===============
7582 official service name servent:name
7583 alias list servent:aliases
7584 port number servent:port
7585 protocol to use servent:proto
7587 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
7588 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
7591 ======================================== ===============
7592 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
7593 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
7594 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
7595 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
7597 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
7598 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
7599 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
7601 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
7602 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
7604 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
7605 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
7607 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
7608 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
7610 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
7612 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
7614 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
7615 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
7616 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
7618 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
7619 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
7620 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
7621 return the remaining characters as a string.
7623 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
7624 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
7625 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
7627 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
7629 * Changes to the gh_ interface
7631 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
7634 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
7637 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
7638 and returns the array
7640 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
7641 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
7642 the user to interpret the data both ways.
7644 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7646 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
7647 symbol's value from C code:
7649 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
7650 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
7651 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
7652 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
7654 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
7655 without assigning them a value.
7657 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
7658 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
7659 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
7661 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
7662 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
7663 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
7665 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
7666 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
7668 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
7669 doesn't actually care about that.
7671 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
7672 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
7673 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
7675 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
7676 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
7677 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
7678 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
7679 which we have just created and initialized.
7681 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
7682 should one occur. We call it like this:
7683 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
7685 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
7686 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
7687 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
7688 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
7689 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
7690 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
7693 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
7694 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
7695 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
7696 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
7697 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
7698 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
7699 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
7702 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
7703 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
7704 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
7705 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
7706 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
7709 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
7710 scm_internal_catch, except:
7712 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
7713 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
7714 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
7715 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
7718 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
7719 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
7720 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
7722 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
7723 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
7724 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
7725 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
7728 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
7729 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
7730 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
7732 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
7733 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
7734 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
7735 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
7736 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
7738 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
7739 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
7740 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
7742 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
7743 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
7744 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
7746 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
7747 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
7749 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
7750 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
7751 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
7754 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
7755 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
7756 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
7757 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
7758 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
7759 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
7760 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
7763 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
7764 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
7766 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
7767 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
7768 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
7769 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
7770 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
7773 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
7774 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
7776 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
7777 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
7780 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
7781 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
7783 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7786 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
7787 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
7788 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
7789 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
7790 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
7791 given the following arguments:
7793 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
7795 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
7797 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
7799 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7802 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
7803 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
7804 command-line arguments.
7806 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
7807 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
7808 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
7809 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
7810 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
7811 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
7814 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7817 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
7818 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
7820 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
7821 rearranged slightly. They are now:
7823 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7824 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7825 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
7826 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
7828 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7829 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7831 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7832 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
7833 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7834 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
7836 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7837 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7839 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
7840 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
7842 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
7844 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
7845 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
7846 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
7849 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
7850 returns a port instead of an FD object.
7852 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
7853 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
7858 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
7861 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
7863 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
7864 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
7865 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
7866 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
7868 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
7870 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
7872 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
7873 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
7874 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
7875 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
7876 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
7877 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
7878 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
7879 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
7880 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
7881 for more information.
7883 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
7884 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
7886 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
7887 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
7888 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
7889 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
7890 following two lines at the top of the file:
7892 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7895 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
7896 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
7897 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
7899 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
7901 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7903 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
7906 (display (car args))
7907 (if (pair? (cdr args))
7909 (loop (cdr args)))))
7912 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
7913 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
7914 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
7915 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
7916 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
7917 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
7921 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
7924 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
7927 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
7929 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
7930 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
7931 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
7932 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
7933 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
7936 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
7937 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
7938 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
7939 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
7940 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
7943 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
7946 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
7947 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
7948 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
7951 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
7952 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
7953 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
7955 to see a backtrace, and
7956 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
7957 to see them by default.
7961 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
7963 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
7965 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
7966 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
7969 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
7970 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
7971 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
7972 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
7975 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
7976 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
7977 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
7978 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
7979 functions which inspired them.
7981 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
7982 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
7986 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
7988 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
7990 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
7991 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
7994 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
7995 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
7996 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
7998 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
7999 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
8000 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
8001 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
8002 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
8004 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
8006 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
8007 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
8008 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
8011 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
8014 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
8016 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
8017 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
8018 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
8019 above should serve their purposes.
8021 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
8022 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
8023 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
8024 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
8026 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
8029 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
8030 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
8031 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
8032 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
8034 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
8035 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
8036 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
8037 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
8039 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
8040 for the `read' function.
8043 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
8044 to that of `integer?'.
8046 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
8047 use the R4RS names for these functions.
8049 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
8050 it simply returns the object's property list.
8052 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
8053 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
8054 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
8055 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
8057 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
8059 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
8062 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
8064 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
8065 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
8067 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
8069 void (*main_func) (),
8072 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
8073 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
8074 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
8075 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
8076 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
8078 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
8079 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
8080 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
8081 know which arguments have been processed.
8083 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
8084 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
8085 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
8086 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
8087 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
8089 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
8090 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
8091 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
8092 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
8093 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
8094 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
8095 people from making that mistake.
8097 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
8098 convenient ways to override these when desired.
8100 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
8102 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
8106 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
8109 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
8110 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
8111 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
8112 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
8115 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
8116 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
8117 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
8118 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
8121 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
8122 have been added to the Guile library.
8124 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
8125 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
8126 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
8129 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
8130 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
8131 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
8133 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
8134 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
8135 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
8136 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
8137 argument from the list.
8140 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
8143 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
8144 null-terminated string, and returns it.
8146 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
8147 to a Scheme port object.
8149 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
8150 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
8155 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
8157 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
8158 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
8159 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
8160 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
8161 code as a special datatype.
8163 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
8164 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
8165 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
8166 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
8167 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
8170 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
8171 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
8172 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
8173 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
8174 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
8176 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
8179 Copyright information:
8181 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
8183 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
8184 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
8185 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
8186 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
8188 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
8189 of this document, or of portions of it,
8190 under the above conditions, provided also that they
8191 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
8196 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"