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, 2010 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 1.9.8 (since the 1.9.7 prerelease):
13 ** Struct optimizations
15 Structs underly many types in Guile, including records and objects. This
16 release speeds up struct access and creation.
18 ** Add libffi dependency
20 Libffi is now required, to build the foreign function interface. See
21 http://sourceware.org/libffi/, for more information on libffi.
23 We are not aware of a platform that Guile runs on for which libffi is
26 ** Foreign function interface
28 dynamic-link / dynamic-func still get the syms; we just added a libffi
29 interface to call functions. integer, floating point, pointer, and
30 struct types supported. simple finalization interface; complicated users
31 to use guardians. (system foreign); high-level wrapper needed. vm
32 integration. bytevector integration.
34 ** Incompatible changes to the foreign value interface introduced in 1.9.7
36 C extensions need recompilation
38 ** dynamic-wind compilation
40 inline body thunk; wind/unwind via VM; add to tree-il
44 vlists and vhashes. used internally. composed of awesome.
48 * libguile/net_db.c (sym_getaddrinfo_error, sym_ai_passive,
49 sym_ai_canonname, sym_ai_numerichost, sym_ai_numericserv,
50 sym_ai_v4mapped, sym_ai_all, sym_ai_addrconfig, sym_eai_badflags,
51 sym_eai_noname, sym_eai_again, sym_eai_fail, sym_eai_family,
52 sym_eai_socktype, sym_eai_service, sym_eai_memory, sym_eai_system,
53 sym_eai_overflow, sym_eai_nodata, sym_eai_addrfamily,
54 sym_eai_inprogress, sym_eai_canceled, sym_eai_notcanceled,
55 sym_eai_alldone, sym_eai_intr, sym_eai_idn_encode): New variables.
56 (scm_from_addrinfo, scm_getaddrinfo, scm_gai_strerror): New functions.
58 * module/ice-9/networking.scm (addrinfo:flags, addrinfo:fam,
59 addrinfo:socktype, addrinfo:protocol, addrinfo:addr,
60 addrinfo:canonname): New procedures.
64 ** And of course, the usual collection of bugfixes
66 Interested users should see the ChangeLog for more information.
70 Changes in 1.9.x (since the 1.8.x series):
72 * New modules (see the manual for details)
74 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
75 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
76 ** `(rnrs bytevector)', the R6RS bytevector API
77 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
78 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
80 ** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
82 The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
83 toolkit from Guile-Lib have been imported into Guile proper. See
84 "Standard Library" in the manual for more details.
86 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
88 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
90 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
91 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
93 ** The stack limit is now initialized from the environment.
95 If getrlimit(2) is available and a stack limit is set, Guile will set
96 its stack limit to 80% of the rlimit. Otherwise the limit is 160000
97 words, a four-fold increase from the earlier default limit.
99 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
100 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
102 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
103 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
104 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
107 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
109 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. While
110 it is self-documenting to an extent, the new REPL has not yet been
111 documented in the manual. This will be fixed before 2.0.
113 ** New reader options: `square-brackets' and `r6rs-hex-escapes'
115 The reader supports a new option (changeable via `read-options'),
116 `square-brackets', which instructs it to interpret square brackets as
117 parenthesis. This option is on by default.
119 When the new `r6rs-hex-escapes' reader option is enabled, the reader
120 will recognize string escape sequences as defined in R6RS.
122 ** Function profiling and tracing at the REPL
124 The `,profile FORM' REPL meta-command can now be used to statistically
125 profile execution of a form, to see which functions are taking the most
126 time. See `,help profile' for more information.
128 Similarly, `,trace FORM' traces all function applications that occur
129 during the execution of `FORM'. See `,help trace' for more information.
133 By default, if an exception is raised at the REPL and not caught by user
134 code, Guile will drop the user into a debugger. The user may request a
135 backtrace, inspect frames, or continue raising the exception. Full
136 documentation is available from within the debugger.
138 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
140 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
143 ** Guile now adds its install prefix to the LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH
145 Users may now install Guile to nonstandard prefixes and just run
146 `/path/to/bin/guile', instead of also having to set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH to
147 include `/path/to/lib'.
149 ** Guile's Emacs integration is now more keyboard-friendly
151 Backtraces may now be disclosed with the keyboard in addition to the
154 ** Load path change: search in version-specific paths before site paths
156 When looking for a module, Guile now searches first in Guile's
157 version-specific path (the library path), *then* in the site dir. This
158 allows Guile's copy of SSAX to override any Guile-Lib copy the user has
159 installed. Also it should cut the number of `stat' system calls by half,
163 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
165 ** New implementation of `primitive-eval'
167 Guile's `primitive-eval' is now implemented in Scheme. Actually there is
168 still a C evaluator, used when building a fresh Guile to interpret the
169 compiler, so we can compile eval.scm. Thereafter all calls to
170 primitive-eval are implemented by VM-compiled code.
172 This allows all of Guile's procedures, be they interpreted or compiled,
173 to execute on the same stack, unifying multiple-value return semantics,
174 providing for proper tail recursion between interpreted and compiled
175 code, and simplifying debugging.
177 As part of this change, the evaluator no longer mutates the internal
178 representation of the code being evaluated in a thread-unsafe manner.
180 There are two negative aspects of this change, however. First, Guile
181 takes a lot longer to compile now. Also, there is less debugging
182 information available for debugging interpreted code. We hope to improve
183 both of these situations.
185 There are many changes to the internal C evalator interface, but all
186 public interfaces should be the same. See the ChangeLog for details. If
187 we have inadvertantly changed an interface that you were using, please
188 contact bug-guile@gnu.org.
190 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
192 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
193 not apply to the compiler.
195 ** No more `local-eval'
197 `local-eval' used to exist so that one could evaluate code in the
198 lexical context of a function. Since there is no way to get the lexical
199 environment any more, as that concept has no meaning for the compiler,
200 and a different meaning for the interpreter, we have removed the
203 If you think you need `local-eval', you should probably implement your
204 own metacircular evaluator. It will probably be as fast as Guile's
207 ** Files loaded with `primitive-load-path' will now be compiled
210 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
211 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
212 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
214 Note that this mechanism depends on preservation of the .scm and .go
215 modification times; if the .scm or .go files are moved after
216 installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
219 Autocompiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
220 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
221 will be created if needed.
223 To inhibit autocompilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
224 variable to 0, or pass --no-autocompile on the Guile command line.
226 Note that there is currently a bug here: automatic compilation will
227 sometimes be attempted when it shouldn't.
229 For example, the old (lang elisp) modules are meant to be interpreted,
230 not compiled. This bug will be fixed before 2.0. FIXME 2.0: Should say
231 something here about module-transformer called for compile.
233 ** Files loaded with `load' will now be compiled automatically.
235 As with files loaded via `primitive-load-path', `load' will also compile
236 its target if autocompilation is enabled, and a fresh compiled file is
239 There are two points of difference to note, however. First, `load' does
240 not search `GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH' for the file; it only looks in the
241 autocompilation directory, normally a subdirectory of ~/.cache/guile.
243 Secondly, autocompilation also applies to files loaded via the -l
244 command-line argument -- so the user may experience a slight slowdown
245 the first time they run a Guile script, as the script is autocompiled.
247 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
249 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
250 in the next prerelease.
252 ** New POSIX procedure: `getsid'
254 Scheme binding for the `getsid' C library call.
256 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
258 ** BUG: (procedure-property func 'arity) does not work on compiled
261 This will be fixed one way or another before 2.0.
263 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
264 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
265 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments',
267 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
268 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
269 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
270 procedures' docstrings for more information.
272 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
273 combining arity and formals. For example:
275 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
276 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
278 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
281 ** Removed: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
283 These procedures created primitive fexprs for the old evaluator, and are
284 no longer supported. If you feel that you need these functions, you
285 probably need to write your own metacircular evaluator (which will
286 probably be as fast as Guile's, anyway).
288 ** New language: ECMAScript
290 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
291 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
292 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
293 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
295 ** New language: Brainfuck
297 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
298 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
299 languages. See the manual for details, or
300 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
301 Brainfuck language itself.
303 ** New language: Elisp
305 Guile now has an experimental Emacs Lisp compiler and runtime. You can
306 now switch to Elisp at the repl: `,language elisp'. All kudos to Daniel
307 Kraft, and all bugs to bug-guile@gnu.org.
309 ** Defmacros may now have docstrings.
311 Indeed, any macro may have a docstring. `object-documentation' from
312 `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to retrieve the docstring, once you
313 have a macro value -- but see the above note about first-class macros.
314 Docstrings are associated with the syntax transformer procedures.
316 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
319 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
321 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
322 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
325 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
326 (define (helper x) ...)
328 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
330 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
333 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
334 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
336 ** Complete support for version information in Guile's `module' form
338 Guile modules now have a `#:version' field. They may be loaded by
339 version as well. See "R6RS Version References", "General Information
340 about Modules", "Using Guile Modules", and "Creating Guile Modules" in
341 the manual for more information.
343 ** Support for renaming bindings on module export
345 Wherever Guile accepts a symbol as an argument to specify a binding to
346 export, it now also accepts a pair of symbols, indicating that a binding
347 should be renamed on export. See "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual
348 for more information.
350 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
352 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. It is still
353 missing documentation, however.
355 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
358 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
359 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
361 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
363 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
365 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
367 It is certainly possible to circumvent this resriction with e.g.
368 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. We would appreciate
369 feedback about this change (a consequence of using psyntax as the
370 default expander), and may choose to revisit this situation before 2.0
371 in response to user feedback.
373 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
375 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
376 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
379 (define (helper x) ...)
380 (define-macro (foo bar)
383 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
386 (define (helper x) ...)
387 (define-macro (foo bar)
388 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
390 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
394 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
396 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
398 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
405 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
406 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
409 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
411 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
415 (define-macro (ref x) x)
418 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
419 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
420 macros before code that uses them.
422 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
425 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
427 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
428 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
429 (double-literal 2) => 4
431 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
432 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
433 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
435 (eval-when (load compile eval)
436 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
437 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
438 (double-literal 2) => 4
440 See the (currently missing) documentation for eval-when for more
443 ** New variable, %pre-modules-transformer
445 Need to document this one some more.
447 ** Temporarily removed functions: `macroexpand', `macroexpand-1'
449 `macroexpand' will be added back before 2.0. It is unclear how to
450 implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though PLT Scheme does prove
453 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
455 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
456 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
457 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
459 ** Incompatible change to #'
461 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
462 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
463 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
464 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
466 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
468 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
471 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
472 works (with compiled procedures)
474 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
475 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
476 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
477 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
479 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
480 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
481 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
482 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
483 number of stack frames.
485 ** backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
486 active in the current continuation
488 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
489 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
490 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
491 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
493 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
494 through to the expanded code
496 This should result in better backtraces.
498 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
500 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
502 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
504 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
505 default. If there is sufficient demand, this syntax can be supported
508 ** New procedure, `define!'
510 `define!' is a procedure that takes two arguments, a symbol and a value,
511 and binds the value to the symbol in the current module. It's useful to
512 programmatically make definitions in the current module, and is slightly
513 less verbose than `module-define!'.
515 ** All modules have names now
517 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
518 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
519 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
520 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
522 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
524 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
525 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
526 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
528 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
529 values to the expected number
531 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
532 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
533 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
535 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
536 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
537 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
538 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
540 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
541 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
542 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
544 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
547 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
549 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
551 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
552 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
553 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
554 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
555 the interpreter would proceed.
557 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
558 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
559 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
560 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
562 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
564 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
565 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
566 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
567 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
568 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
569 you to contact the Guile developers.
571 ** psyntax is now the default expander
573 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
574 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
577 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
578 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
579 code in question was memoized.
581 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
582 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
583 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
584 `x432' instead of `x'.
586 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
587 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
588 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
589 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
591 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
593 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
594 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
595 `sc-expand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
598 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
599 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
600 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
601 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
603 ** Tail patterns in syntax-case
605 Guile has pulled in some more recent changes from the psyntax portable
606 syntax expander, to implement support for "tail patterns". Such patterns
607 are supported by syntax-rules and syntax-case. This allows a syntax-case
608 match clause to have ellipses, then a pattern at the end. For example:
612 ((_ val match-clause ... (else e e* ...))
615 Note how there is MATCH-CLAUSE, which is ellipsized, then there is a
616 tail pattern for the else clause. Thanks to Andreas Rottmann for the
617 patch, and Kent Dybvig for the code.
619 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
620 by nonhygienic macros.
622 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
623 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
626 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
627 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
628 (define-macro (ref x)
635 (define-syntax bind-x
637 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
638 (define-macro (ref x)
642 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
643 as code is ported over from defmacros to syntax-case, it is possible to
644 run into situations like this. In the future, Guile will probably port
645 its `while' macro to syntax-case, which makes this issue one to know
648 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
650 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
651 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
653 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
654 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
657 This decision may be revisited before the 2.0 release. Feedback welcome
658 to guile-devel@gnu.org (subscription required) or bug-guile@gnu.org (no
659 subscription required).
661 ** `case-lambda' is now available in the default environment.
663 The binding in the default environment is equivalent to the one from the
664 `(srfi srfi-16)' module. Use the srfi-16 module explicitly if you wish
665 to maintain compatibility with Guile 1.8 and earlier.
667 ** Compiled procedures may now have more than one arity.
669 This can be the case, for example, in case-lambda procedures. The
670 arities of compiled procedures may be accessed via procedures from the
671 `(system vm program)' module; see "Compiled Procedures", "Optional
672 Arguments", and "Case-lambda" in the manual.
674 ** `lambda*' and `define*' are now available in the default environment
676 As with `case-lambda', `(ice-9 optargs)' continues to be supported, for
677 compatibility purposes. No semantic change has been made (we hope).
678 Optional and keyword arguments now dispatch via special VM operations,
679 without the need to cons rest arguments, making them very fast.
681 ** New function, `truncated-print', with `format' support
683 `(ice-9 pretty-print)' now exports `truncated-print', a printer that
684 will ensure that the output stays within a certain width, truncating the
685 output in what is hopefully an intelligent manner. See the manual for
688 There is a new `format' specifier, `~@y', for doing a truncated
689 print (as opposed to `~y', which does a pretty-print). See the `format'
690 documentation for more details.
692 ** SRFI-4 vectors reimplemented in terms of R6RS bytevectors
694 Guile now implements SRFI-4 vectors using bytevectors. Often when you
695 have a numeric vector, you end up wanting to write its bytes somewhere,
696 or have access to the underlying bytes, or read in bytes from somewhere
697 else. Bytevectors are very good at this sort of thing. But the SRFI-4
698 APIs are nicer to use when doing number-crunching, because they are
699 addressed by element and not by byte.
701 So as a compromise, Guile allows all bytevector functions to operate on
702 numeric vectors. They address the underlying bytes in the native
703 endianness, as one would expect.
705 Following the same reasoning, that it's just bytes underneath, Guile
706 also allows uniform vectors of a given type to be accessed as if they
707 were of any type. One can fill a u32vector, and access its elements with
708 u8vector-ref. One can use f64vector-ref on bytevectors. It's all the
711 In this way, uniform numeric vectors may be written to and read from
712 input/output ports using the procedures that operate on bytevectors.
714 Calls to SRFI-4 accessors (ref and set functions) from Scheme are now
715 inlined to the VM instructions for bytevector access.
717 See "SRFI-4" in the manual, for more information.
719 ** Nonstandard SRFI-4 procedures now available from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'
721 Guile's `(srfi srfi-4)' now only exports those srfi-4 procedures that
722 are part of the standard. Complex uniform vectors and the
723 `any->FOOvector' family are now available only from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'.
725 Guile's default environment imports `(srfi srfi-4)', and probably should
726 import `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)' as well.
728 See "SRFI-4 Extensions" in the manual, for more information.
730 ** New syntax: include-from-path.
732 `include-from-path' is like `include', except it looks for its file in
733 the load path. It can be used to compile other files into a file.
735 ** New syntax: quasisyntax.
737 `quasisyntax' is to `syntax' as `quasiquote' is to `quote'. See the R6RS
738 documentation for more information. Thanks to Andre van Tonder for the
741 ** Unicode characters
743 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
744 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
745 probably be introduced at some point.
749 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
750 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
751 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
753 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
754 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
755 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
756 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
760 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
762 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
764 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
765 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
766 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
767 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
768 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
771 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
772 code. This use is now discouraged.
774 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
776 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
777 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
778 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
781 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
782 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
783 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
785 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
787 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
789 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
790 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
791 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
792 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
794 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
796 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
797 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
800 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
802 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
803 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
804 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
807 ** EBCDIC support is removed
809 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
810 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
811 and was unmaintained.
813 ** Compile-time warnings
815 Guile can warn about potentially unbound free variables. Pass the
816 -Wunbound-variable on the `guile-tools compile' command line, or add
817 `#:warnings '(unbound-variable)' to your `compile' or `compile-file'
820 Guile can also warn when you pass the wrong number of arguments to a
821 procedure, with -Warity-mismatch, or `arity-mismatch' in the
822 `#:warnings' as above.
824 Other warnings include `-Wunused-variable' and `-Wunused-toplevel', to
825 warn about unused local or global (top-level) variables.
827 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
829 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
832 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
834 This slightly improves program startup times.
836 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
838 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
840 ** GOOPS dispatch in scheme
842 As an implementation detail, GOOPS dispatch is no longer implemented by
843 special evaluator bytecodes, but rather directly via a Scheme function
844 associated with an applicable struct. There is some VM support for the
845 underlying primitives, like `class-of'.
847 This change will in the future allow users to customize generic function
848 dispatch without incurring a performance penalty, and allow us to
849 implement method combinations.
853 GOOPS had a number of concepts that were relevant to the days of Tcl,
854 but not any more: operators and entities, mainly. These objects were
855 never documented, and it is unlikely that they were ever used. Operators
856 were a kind of generic specific to the Tcl support. Entities were
857 applicable structures, but were unusable; entities will come back in the
858 next alpha release, but with a less stupid name.
860 ** Applicable struct support
862 One may now make structs from Scheme that may be applied as procedures.
863 To do so, make a struct whose vtable is `<applicable-struct-vtable>'.
864 That struct will be the vtable of your applicable structs; instances of
865 that new struct are assumed to have the procedure in their first slot.
866 `<applicable-struct-vtable>' is like Common Lisp's
867 `funcallable-standard-class'. Likewise there is
868 `<applicable-struct-with-setter-vtable>', which looks for the setter in
869 the second slot. This needs to be better documented.
871 ** New struct slot allocation: "hidden"
873 A hidden slot is readable and writable, but will not be initialized by a
874 call to make-struct. For example in your layout you would say "ph"
875 instead of "pw". Hidden slots are useful for adding new slots to a
876 vtable without breaking existing invocations to make-struct.
878 ** eqv? not a generic
880 One used to be able to extend `eqv?' as a primitive-generic, but no
881 more. Because `eqv?' is in the expansion of `case' (via `memv'), which
882 should be able to compile to static dispatch tables, it doesn't make
883 sense to allow extensions that would subvert this optimization.
885 ** `inet-ntop' and `inet-pton' are always available.
887 Guile now use a portable implementation of `inet_pton'/`inet_ntop', so
888 there is no more need to use `inet-aton'/`inet-ntoa'. The latter
889 functions are deprecated.
891 ** Fast bit operations.
893 The bit-twiddling operations `ash', `logand', `logior', and `logxor' now
894 have dedicated bytecodes. Guile is not just for symbolic computation,
895 it's for number crunching too.
897 ** Faster SRFI-9 record access
899 SRFI-9 records are now implemented directly on top of Guile's structs,
900 and their accessors are defined in such a way that normal call-sites
901 inline to special VM opcodes, while still allowing for the general case
902 (e.g. passing a record accessor to `apply').
904 ** R6RS block comment support
906 Guile now supports R6RS nested block comments. The start of a comment is
907 marked with `#|', and the end with `|#'.
909 ** `guile-2' cond-expand feature
911 To test if your code is running under Guile 2.0 (or its alpha releases),
912 test for the `guile-2' cond-expand feature. Like this:
914 (cond-expand (guile-2 (eval-when (compile)
915 ;; This must be evaluated at compile time.
916 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
918 ;; Earlier versions of Guile do not have a
919 ;; separate compilation phase.
920 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
922 ** Fix bad interaction between `false-if-exception' and stack-call.
924 Exceptions thrown by `false-if-exception' were erronously causing the
925 stack to be saved, causing later errors to show the incorrectly-saved
926 backtrace. This has been fixed.
928 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
930 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
932 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
934 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
936 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
938 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
940 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
942 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
944 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
945 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
946 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
948 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
950 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
951 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
953 ** New readline history functions
955 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
956 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
957 History library functions.
959 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
960 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
962 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
965 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
967 * Changes to the C interface
969 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
971 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
972 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
973 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
975 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
976 code easier and less error-prone.
978 ** New type definitions for `scm_t_intptr' and friends.
980 `SCM_T_UINTPTR_MAX', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MIN', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MAX',
981 `SIZEOF_SCM_T_BITS', `scm_t_intptr' and `scm_t_uintptr' are now
982 available to C. Have fun!
984 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
986 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
988 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
991 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
992 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
994 ** Procedures-with-setters are now implemented using applicable structs
996 From a user's perspective this doesn't mean very much. But if, for some
997 odd reason, you used the SCM_PROCEDURE_WITH_SETTER_P, SCM_PROCEDURE, or
998 SCM_SETTER macros, know that they're deprecated now. Also, scm_tc7_pws
1001 ** Remove old evaluator closures
1003 There used to be ranges of typecodes allocated to interpreted data
1004 structures, but that it no longer the case, given that interpreted
1005 procedure are now just regular VM closures. As a result, there is a
1006 newly free tc3, and a number of removed macros. See the ChangeLog for
1009 ** Primitive procedures are now VM trampoline procedures
1011 It used to be that there were something like 12 different typecodes
1012 allocated to primitive procedures, each with its own calling convention.
1013 Now there is only one, the gsubr. This may affect user code if you were
1014 defining a procedure using scm_c_make_subr rather scm_c_make_gsubr. The
1015 solution is to switch to use scm_c_make_gsubr. This solution works well
1016 both with the old 1.8 and and with the current 1.9 branch.
1018 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying "gsubrs",
1019 primitive procedures with specified numbers of required, optional, and
1020 rest arguments. Now, however, Guile represents gsubrs as normal VM
1021 procedures, with appropriate bytecode to parse out the correct number of
1022 arguments, including optional and rest arguments, and then with a
1023 special bytecode to apply the gsubr.
1025 This allows primitive procedures to appear on the VM stack, allowing
1026 them to be accurately counted in profiles. Also they now have more
1027 debugging information attached to them -- their number of arguments, for
1028 example. In addition, the VM can completely inline the application
1029 mechanics, allowing for faster primitive calls.
1031 However there are some changes on the C level. There is no more
1032 `scm_tc7_gsubr' or `scm_tcs_subrs' typecode for primitive procedures, as
1033 they are just VM procedures. Likewise the macros `SCM_GSUBR_TYPE',
1034 `SCM_GSUBR_MAKTYPE', `SCM_GSUBR_REQ', `SCM_GSUBR_OPT', and
1035 `SCM_GSUBR_REST' are gone, as are `SCM_SUBR_META_INFO', `SCM_SUBR_PROPS'
1036 `SCM_SET_SUBR_GENERIC_LOC', and `SCM_SUBR_ARITY_TO_TYPE'.
1038 Perhaps more significantly, `scm_c_make_subr',
1039 `scm_c_make_subr_with_generic', `scm_c_define_subr', and
1040 `scm_c_define_subr_with_generic'. They all operated on subr typecodes,
1041 and there are no more subr typecodes. Use the scm_c_make_gsubr family
1044 Normal users of gsubrs should not be affected, though, as the
1045 scm_c_make_gsubr family still is the correct way to create primitive
1048 ** Remove deprecated array C interfaces
1050 Removed the deprecated array functions `scm_i_arrayp',
1051 `scm_i_array_ndim', `scm_i_array_mem', `scm_i_array_v',
1052 `scm_i_array_base', `scm_i_array_dims', and the deprecated macros
1053 `SCM_ARRAYP', `SCM_ARRAY_NDIM', `SCM_ARRAY_CONTP', `SCM_ARRAY_MEM',
1054 `SCM_ARRAY_V', `SCM_ARRAY_BASE', and `SCM_ARRAY_DIMS'.
1056 ** Remove unused snarf macros
1058 `SCM_DEFINE1', `SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC_1', `SCM_PROC1, and `SCM_GPROC1'
1059 are no more. Use SCM_DEFINE or SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC instead.
1061 ** Add foreign value wrapper
1063 Guile now has a datatype for aliasing "foreign" values, such as native
1064 long values. This should be useful for making a proper foreign function
1065 interface. Interested hackers should see libguile/foreign.h.
1067 ** New functions: `scm_call_n', `scm_c_run_hookn'
1069 `scm_call_n' applies to apply a function to an array of arguments.
1070 `scm_c_run_hookn' runs a hook with an array of arguments.
1072 ** Some SMOB types changed to have static typecodes
1074 Fluids, dynamic states, and hash tables used to be SMOB objects, but now
1075 they have statically allocated tc7 typecodes.
1077 ** Preparations for changing SMOB representation
1079 If things go right, we'll be changing the SMOB representation soon. To
1080 that end, we did a lot of cleanups to calls to e.g. SCM_CELL_WORD_2(x) when
1081 the code meant SCM_SMOB_DATA_2(x); user code will need similar changes
1082 in the future. Code accessing SMOBs using SCM_CELL macros was never
1083 correct, but until now things still worked. Users should be aware of
1086 ** Changed invocation mechanics of applicable SMOBs
1088 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying SMOB
1089 objects. Now, with the VM, when Guile sees a SMOB, it looks up a VM
1090 trampoline procedure for it, and use the normal mechanics to apply the
1091 trampoline. This simplifies procedure application in the normal,
1094 The upshot is that the mechanics used to apply a SMOB are different from
1095 1.8. Descriptors no longer have `apply_0', `apply_1', `apply_2', and
1096 `apply_3' functions, and the macros SCM_SMOB_APPLY_0 and friends are now
1097 deprecated. Just use the scm_call_0 family of procedures.
1099 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
1101 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
1103 ** Undeprecate `scm_the_root_module ()'
1105 It's useful to be able to get the root module from C without doing a
1108 ** Inline vector allocation
1110 Instead of having vectors point out into the heap for their data, their
1111 data is now allocated inline to the vector object itself. The same is
1112 true for bytevectors, by default, though there is an indirection
1113 available which should allow for making a bytevector from an existing
1116 ** New struct constructors that don't involve making lists
1118 `scm_c_make_struct' and `scm_c_make_structv' are new varargs and array
1119 constructors, respectively, for structs. You might find them useful.
1123 In Guile 1.8, there were debugging frames on the C stack. Now there is
1124 no more need to explicitly mark the stack in this way, because Guile has
1125 a VM stack that it knows how to walk, which simplifies the C API
1126 considerably. See the ChangeLog for details; the relevant interface is
1127 in libguile/stacks.h. The Scheme API has not been changed significantly.
1129 ** Removal of Guile's primitive object system.
1131 There were a number of pieces in `objects.[ch]' that tried to be a
1132 minimal object system, but were never documented, and were quickly
1133 obseleted by GOOPS' merge into Guile proper. So `scm_make_class_object',
1134 `scm_make_subclass_object', `scm_metaclass_standard', and like symbols
1135 from objects.h are no more. In the very unlikely case in which these
1136 were useful to you, we urge you to contact guile-devel.
1140 Actually the future is still in the state that it was, is, and ever
1141 shall be, Amen, except that `futures.c' and `futures.h' are no longer a
1142 part of it. These files were experimental, never compiled, and would be
1143 better implemented in Scheme anyway. In the future, that is.
1145 ** Deprecate trampolines
1147 There used to be C functions `scm_trampoline_0', `scm_trampoline_1', and
1148 so on. The point was to do some precomputation on the type of the
1149 procedure, then return a specialized "call" procedure. However this
1150 optimization wasn't actually an optimization, so it is now deprecated.
1151 Just use `scm_call_0', etc instead.
1153 ** Better support for Lisp `nil'.
1155 The bit representation of `nil' has been tweaked so that it is now very
1156 efficient to check e.g. if a value is equal to Scheme's end-of-list or
1157 Lisp's nil. Additionally there are a heap of new, specific predicates
1158 like scm_is_null_or_nil. Probably in the future we will #define
1159 scm_is_null to scm_is_null_or_nil.
1161 ** Support for static allocation of strings, symbols, and subrs.
1163 Calls to snarfing CPP macros like SCM_DEFINE macro will now allocate
1164 much of their associated data as static variables, reducing Guile's
1167 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
1168 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
1170 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
1172 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
1173 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
1175 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
1177 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
1178 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
1179 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
1180 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
1182 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
1184 * Changes to the distribution
1186 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
1188 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
1189 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
1192 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
1194 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
1195 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
1197 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
1199 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
1200 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
1201 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
1204 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
1206 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
1207 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
1209 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
1211 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
1212 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
1214 ** Dynamically loadable extensions may be placed in a Guile-specific path
1216 Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
1217 (e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
1218 be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
1219 directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensionsdir
1220 guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
1222 ** New dependency: libgc
1224 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
1226 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
1228 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
1229 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
1233 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
1237 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
1238 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
1239 ** Fix `wrong type arg' exceptions with IPv6 addresses
1242 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
1244 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1246 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
1250 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
1251 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
1252 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
1253 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
1254 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
1255 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
1256 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
1257 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
1258 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
1259 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
1260 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
1262 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
1264 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
1265 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
1266 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
1269 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
1272 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
1274 * New features (see the manual for details)
1276 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
1278 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
1280 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
1281 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
1282 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
1284 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
1286 * Changes to the distribution
1288 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
1290 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
1291 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
1293 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
1295 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
1296 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
1301 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
1302 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
1303 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
1304 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
1305 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
1306 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
1307 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
1308 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
1309 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
1310 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
1311 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
1312 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
1313 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
1314 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
1316 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
1317 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
1318 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
1319 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
1320 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
1323 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
1325 * Infrastructure changes
1327 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
1329 The new repository can be accessed using
1330 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
1331 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
1333 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
1335 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
1337 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1341 * New features (see the manual for details)
1343 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
1344 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
1345 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
1347 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
1348 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
1349 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
1350 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
1352 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
1354 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
1355 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
1356 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
1360 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
1361 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
1363 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
1364 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
1366 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
1367 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
1369 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
1370 lead to a stack overflow.
1372 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
1373 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
1374 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
1375 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
1376 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
1377 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
1378 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
1379 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
1380 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
1381 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
1382 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
1383 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
1384 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
1385 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
1386 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
1387 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
1390 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
1394 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
1395 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
1396 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
1397 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
1398 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
1399 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
1400 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
1401 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
1402 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
1403 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
1404 system and library calls.
1405 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
1406 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
1407 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
1408 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
1409 uniform vectors on AIX.
1410 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
1411 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
1412 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
1413 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
1414 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
1416 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1420 * Documentation fixes and improvements
1422 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
1424 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
1425 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
1427 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
1429 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
1431 * Changes to the distribution
1433 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
1435 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
1436 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
1437 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
1439 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
1441 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
1444 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
1446 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1453 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
1454 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
1455 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
1456 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
1457 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
1458 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
1459 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
1461 * Implementation improvements
1463 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
1464 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
1467 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
1469 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
1471 ** set-program-arguments
1474 * Incompatible changes
1476 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
1478 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
1479 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
1480 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
1481 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
1486 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
1487 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
1488 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
1489 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
1490 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
1491 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
1493 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
1494 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
1495 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
1496 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
1497 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
1498 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
1499 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
1500 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
1501 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
1502 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
1503 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
1504 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
1505 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
1506 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
1507 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
1508 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
1511 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
1513 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
1515 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
1517 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
1518 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
1519 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
1520 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
1521 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
1522 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
1530 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
1532 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
1534 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
1536 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
1538 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
1540 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
1542 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
1543 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
1544 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
1546 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
1548 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
1550 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
1551 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
1553 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
1555 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
1556 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
1558 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
1560 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
1562 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
1564 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
1566 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
1568 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
1570 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
1572 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
1574 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
1576 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
1577 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
1578 file was on a different device.
1581 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
1583 * Changes to the distribution
1585 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
1587 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
1589 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
1591 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
1593 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
1595 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
1598 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
1600 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
1601 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
1602 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
1603 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
1604 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
1605 items like the versioned share directory name
1606 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
1608 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
1609 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
1610 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
1611 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
1612 with each micro release during a stable series.
1614 ** Thread implementation has changed.
1616 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
1617 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
1618 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
1619 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
1620 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
1623 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
1624 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
1625 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
1626 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
1629 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
1630 in which case "null" threads are used.
1632 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
1633 "Blocking", and others.
1635 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
1637 This is a milder form of deprecation.
1639 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
1640 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
1641 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
1642 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
1643 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
1645 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
1646 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
1648 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
1650 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
1651 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
1653 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
1656 This SRFI is always available.
1658 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
1660 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
1661 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
1662 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
1663 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
1666 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
1668 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
1669 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
1670 parameters without currying.
1672 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
1674 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
1675 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
1677 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
1678 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
1681 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
1682 with a renaming import, for example.
1684 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
1686 The official version is good enough now.
1688 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
1690 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
1691 provided. Use 'make html'.
1693 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
1695 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
1696 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
1697 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
1698 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
1700 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
1702 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
1705 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1707 ** New command line option `-L'.
1709 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
1711 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
1713 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
1714 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
1716 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
1718 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
1719 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
1721 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
1723 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
1724 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
1727 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
1730 (define-module (demo)
1734 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
1737 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1739 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
1741 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
1742 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
1743 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
1745 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
1747 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
1748 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
1750 ** New function hashx-remove!
1752 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
1754 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
1755 barriers and dynamic states.
1757 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
1758 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
1759 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
1762 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
1763 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
1764 Barriers" in the manual.
1766 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
1767 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
1769 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
1771 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
1772 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
1773 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
1774 variable %load-path.
1776 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
1778 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
1779 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
1781 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
1782 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
1783 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
1785 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
1786 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
1788 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
1789 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
1790 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
1792 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
1793 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
1794 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
1797 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
1798 substrings and read-only strings.
1800 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
1801 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
1804 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
1806 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
1815 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
1816 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
1817 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
1819 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
1820 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
1821 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
1822 on an ANSI terminal:
1824 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
1825 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
1828 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
1830 See the manual for details.
1832 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
1834 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
1837 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
1839 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
1840 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
1841 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
1842 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
1844 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
1845 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
1846 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
1849 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
1851 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
1852 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
1863 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
1867 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
1872 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
1876 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
1880 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
1883 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
1884 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
1885 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
1886 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
1888 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
1889 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
1892 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
1895 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
1899 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
1901 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
1902 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
1903 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
1906 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
1909 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
1911 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
1914 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
1915 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
1918 (define-module (foo)
1923 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
1924 has been detected is to
1926 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
1927 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
1928 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
1931 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
1934 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
1936 to your .guile init file.
1938 ** New define-module option: :replace
1940 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
1943 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
1944 for the core binding `format'.
1946 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
1948 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
1949 a prefix to all imported bindings.
1951 (define-module (foo)
1952 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
1954 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
1957 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
1959 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
1960 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
1961 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
1963 ** New function: effective-version
1965 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1966 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1967 to the distribution" above.
1969 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
1971 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
1972 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
1974 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
1976 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
1977 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
1979 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
1981 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
1982 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
1985 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
1987 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
1989 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
1991 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
1992 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
1993 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
1996 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
1997 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
1998 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
1999 'system-async-mark'.
2001 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
2002 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
2004 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
2005 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
2006 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
2009 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
2011 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
2012 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
2015 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
2016 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
2018 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
2019 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
2020 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
2021 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
2022 level for the current thread.
2024 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
2026 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
2028 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
2029 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
2032 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
2034 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
2036 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
2039 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
2041 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
2044 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
2045 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
2046 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
2048 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
2049 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
2050 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
2051 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
2062 ERROR: Numerical overflow
2064 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
2067 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
2069 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
2070 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
2071 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
2082 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
2084 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
2085 them is also done exactly, of course:
2090 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
2091 for exact arguments.
2093 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
2094 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
2096 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
2098 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
2099 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
2100 equal to a floating point number. For example:
2102 (inexact->exact 1.234)
2103 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
2105 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
2107 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
2110 ** New function 'rationalize'.
2112 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
2113 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
2115 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
2118 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
2119 result when both its arguments are exact.
2121 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
2123 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
2124 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
2125 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
2127 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
2129 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
2130 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
2131 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
2133 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
2136 ** pretty-print has more options.
2138 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
2139 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
2140 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
2142 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
2144 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
2145 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
2146 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
2148 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
2150 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
2151 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
2153 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
2155 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
2156 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
2159 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
2161 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
2162 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
2163 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
2164 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
2165 without the soft port blocking.
2167 ** Deprecated: undefine
2169 There is no replacement for undefine.
2171 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
2172 have been discouraged.
2174 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
2175 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
2176 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
2179 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
2181 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
2183 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
2184 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
2185 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
2186 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
2189 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
2190 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
2191 be removed in the next major Guile release.
2193 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
2195 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
2196 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
2197 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
2198 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
2199 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
2200 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
2202 * Changes to the C interface
2204 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
2205 take a 'delete' function argument.
2207 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
2208 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
2210 This is an incompatible change.
2212 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
2214 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
2215 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
2216 --disable-deprecated.
2218 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
2220 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
2221 Scheme values has been added.
2223 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
2224 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
2227 - int scm_is_* (...)
2229 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
2230 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
2232 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
2234 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
2235 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
2238 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
2240 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
2241 scm_from_int for ints.
2243 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
2244 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
2245 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
2247 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
2249 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
2250 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
2251 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
2254 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
2256 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
2258 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
2260 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
2261 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
2262 following alternatives.
2264 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
2265 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
2266 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
2267 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
2269 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
2270 do the validating for you.
2272 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
2273 have been discouraged.
2275 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
2276 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
2279 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
2281 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
2282 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
2285 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
2287 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
2290 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
2293 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
2295 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
2296 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
2298 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
2299 scm_truncate_number should have.
2301 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
2302 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
2304 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
2307 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
2308 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
2309 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
2311 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
2312 easier to use from C.
2314 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
2315 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
2317 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
2318 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
2319 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
2322 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
2323 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
2324 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
2325 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
2328 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
2329 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
2330 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
2331 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
2332 and is thus quite efficient.
2334 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
2336 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
2337 about the character encoding.
2339 Replace according to the following table:
2341 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
2342 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
2343 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
2344 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
2345 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
2346 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
2347 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
2348 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
2349 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
2351 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
2352 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
2354 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
2356 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
2357 now also available to C code.
2359 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
2361 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
2362 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
2363 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
2365 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
2368 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
2370 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
2371 unceremoniously removed.
2373 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
2374 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
2375 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
2377 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
2378 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
2379 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2380 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
2381 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
2382 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
2385 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
2387 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
2388 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
2389 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
2390 manual for more details.
2392 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
2393 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
2395 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
2396 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
2397 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
2399 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
2401 Migrate according to the following table:
2403 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
2404 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
2405 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
2406 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
2407 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
2408 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
2409 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
2411 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
2412 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
2413 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
2414 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
2415 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
2416 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
2417 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
2419 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
2421 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
2422 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
2424 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
2425 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
2426 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
2427 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
2429 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
2431 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
2432 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
2433 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
2435 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
2436 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
2438 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
2439 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
2440 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
2441 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
2443 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
2445 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
2446 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
2447 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
2448 prevent a potential memory leak:
2455 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
2457 mem = scm_malloc (100);
2458 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
2460 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
2461 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
2468 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
2469 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
2473 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
2475 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
2477 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
2478 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
2479 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
2481 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
2482 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
2484 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
2486 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
2488 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
2489 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
2490 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
2492 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
2493 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
2495 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
2496 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
2497 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
2498 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
2501 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
2503 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
2504 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
2505 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
2507 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
2509 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
2510 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
2512 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
2514 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
2515 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
2517 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
2519 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
2520 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
2521 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
2523 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
2525 You should not have used them.
2527 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
2529 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
2530 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
2532 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
2534 This macro is not intended for public use.
2536 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
2538 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
2540 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
2542 Use scm_is_real instead.
2544 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
2546 Use scm_is_complex instead.
2548 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
2550 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
2551 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
2553 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
2554 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
2556 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
2557 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
2559 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
2561 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
2564 ** New function: scm_effective_version
2566 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
2567 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
2568 to the distribution" above.
2570 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
2572 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
2573 arguments are now passed directly:
2575 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
2577 This is an incompatible change.
2579 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
2581 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
2582 function in the init section.
2584 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
2586 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
2588 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
2589 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
2590 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
2591 stays roughly constant.
2593 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
2594 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
2595 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
2596 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
2597 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
2600 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
2601 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
2602 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
2603 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
2605 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
2606 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
2607 objects for every type.
2610 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
2612 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
2614 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
2616 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
2617 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
2618 initializes a new cell (see below).
2620 ** New functions for memory management
2622 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
2623 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
2624 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
2625 cause aborts in long running programs.
2627 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
2628 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
2630 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
2631 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
2632 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
2633 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
2634 details and for upgrading instructions.
2636 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
2637 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
2638 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
2640 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
2642 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
2643 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
2644 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
2645 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
2646 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
2648 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
2649 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
2650 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
2652 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
2653 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
2655 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
2657 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
2658 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
2659 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
2660 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
2661 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
2663 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
2665 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
2668 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
2670 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
2672 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
2674 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
2675 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
2677 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
2679 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
2680 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
2682 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
2683 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
2685 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
2687 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
2689 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
2690 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
2691 blocking it is not well defined.
2693 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
2695 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
2696 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
2697 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
2698 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
2699 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
2700 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
2701 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
2702 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
2703 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
2704 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
2705 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2706 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
2707 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
2708 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
2709 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
2710 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
2711 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
2712 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2713 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
2714 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
2715 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
2716 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
2717 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
2718 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
2719 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
2720 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
2721 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
2722 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
2723 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
2724 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
2725 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
2727 * Changes to bundled modules
2731 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
2732 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
2733 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
2734 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
2735 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
2738 Changes since Guile 1.4:
2740 * Changes to the distribution
2742 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
2744 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
2746 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
2747 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
2748 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
2749 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
2750 indicate major changes in Guile.
2752 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
2753 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
2754 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
2755 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
2757 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
2758 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
2759 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
2760 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
2761 micro version number.
2763 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
2765 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
2767 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
2768 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
2770 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
2772 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
2773 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
2774 See INSTALL and README for more information.
2776 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
2778 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
2779 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
2780 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
2783 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
2785 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
2788 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
2790 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
2791 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
2793 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
2795 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
2796 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
2799 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
2801 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
2804 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
2807 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
2809 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
2811 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
2812 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
2813 open-output-string, get-output-string.
2815 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
2817 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
2819 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
2822 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
2824 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
2826 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
2828 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
2829 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
2830 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
2832 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
2834 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
2836 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
2837 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
2846 See README there for more info.
2848 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
2849 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
2852 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
2854 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
2856 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
2858 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
2859 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
2860 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
2862 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
2864 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
2865 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
2866 to be named `and-let*', of course.
2868 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
2869 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
2871 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
2874 (oop goops describe)
2876 (oop goops active-slot)
2877 (oop goops composite-slot)
2879 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
2880 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
2881 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
2883 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
2885 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
2886 in the default environment:
2888 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
2889 %read-line write-line
2891 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
2892 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
2894 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
2896 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
2899 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
2900 can be used for similar functionality.
2902 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
2904 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
2905 it defines two procedures:
2907 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
2909 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
2910 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
2911 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
2914 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
2916 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
2917 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
2918 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
2919 write large strings.
2921 ** New module (ice-9 match)
2923 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
2924 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
2926 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
2928 for complete documentation.
2930 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
2932 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
2933 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
2934 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
2935 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
2937 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
2938 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
2942 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
2943 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
2944 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
2947 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
2950 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
2951 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
2953 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
2954 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
2957 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
2960 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
2962 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
2964 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2966 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
2968 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
2969 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
2970 Scheme programs easier.
2972 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
2973 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
2974 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
2975 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
2976 `cond-expand' when using this option.
2979 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
2980 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
2982 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
2985 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
2987 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
2988 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
2989 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
2992 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2994 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
2996 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
2997 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
2998 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
2999 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
3000 was also ASCII, for example.
3002 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
3004 tag - no replacement.
3005 fseek - replaced by seek.
3006 list* - replaced by cons*.
3008 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
3012 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
3013 (define m (make-safe-module))
3014 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
3015 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
3016 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
3018 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
3020 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
3021 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
3022 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
3024 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
3026 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
3027 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
3028 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
3029 from the issues related to the module system.
3031 *** New function: load-extension
3033 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
3035 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
3037 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
3038 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
3039 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
3041 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
3043 This function registers a initialization function for use by
3044 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
3045 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
3046 support dynamic linking).
3048 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
3050 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
3051 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
3052 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
3053 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
3056 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
3057 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
3058 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
3059 library and initialize it explicitly.
3061 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
3062 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
3064 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
3066 (define-module (foo bar))
3068 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
3070 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
3072 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
3073 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
3075 (scheme-report-environment 5)
3076 (null-environment 5)
3077 (interaction-environment)
3083 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
3085 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
3086 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
3087 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
3088 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
3090 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
3091 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
3092 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
3093 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
3094 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
3095 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
3096 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
3097 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
3098 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
3099 one eval to the next.
3101 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
3102 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
3103 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
3104 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
3105 subforms are at the top-level as well.
3107 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
3108 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
3109 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
3110 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
3111 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
3112 used in a lexical environment.
3114 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
3115 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
3116 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
3117 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
3118 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
3119 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
3121 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
3123 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
3124 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
3125 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
3126 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
3127 new facilities: selection and renaming.
3129 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
3130 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
3131 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
3133 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
3134 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
3136 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
3137 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
3138 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3140 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3141 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
3143 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
3144 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
3145 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
3146 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
3149 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
3150 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
3151 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
3152 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3154 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3155 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
3156 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
3158 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
3159 ;; and all four by upcasing.
3160 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
3161 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
3162 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
3164 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3166 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3167 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
3168 :renamer upcase-symbol))
3170 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
3171 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
3172 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
3174 See manual for more info.
3176 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
3178 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
3179 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
3180 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
3182 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
3184 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
3185 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
3186 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
3188 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
3189 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
3190 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
3191 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
3193 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
3195 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
3196 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
3198 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
3199 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
3200 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
3201 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
3202 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
3205 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
3206 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
3207 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
3208 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
3209 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
3210 successful and #f if it wasn't.
3212 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
3213 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
3214 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
3215 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
3216 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
3218 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
3219 objects are usually permanent.
3221 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
3222 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
3224 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
3226 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
3227 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
3230 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
3234 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
3239 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
3241 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
3242 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
3243 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
3244 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
3246 ** New function `make-object-property'
3248 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
3249 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
3253 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
3254 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
3258 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
3259 source properties eventually.
3261 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
3263 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
3264 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
3265 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
3267 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
3268 will be removed in the next release.
3270 ** New define-module option: pure
3272 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
3277 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
3280 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
3282 Export names NAME1 ...
3284 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
3285 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
3289 (define-module (foo)
3291 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
3294 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
3299 ** New function: object->string OBJ
3301 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
3303 ** New function: port? X
3305 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
3306 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
3308 ** New function: file-port?
3310 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
3312 ** New function: port-for-each proc
3314 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
3315 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
3316 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
3317 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
3318 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
3320 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
3322 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
3323 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
3324 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
3325 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
3326 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
3329 ** New function: close-fdes fd
3331 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
3332 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
3333 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
3334 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
3337 ** New function: crypt password salt
3339 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
3342 ** New function: chroot path
3344 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
3346 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
3348 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
3351 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
3353 Get or set the priority of the running process.
3355 ** New function: getpass prompt
3357 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
3360 ** New function: flock file operation
3362 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
3364 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
3366 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
3369 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
3371 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
3372 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
3373 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
3374 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
3375 of the temporary file.
3377 ** New function: open-input-string string
3379 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
3380 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
3381 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
3383 ** New function: open-output-string
3385 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
3386 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
3388 ** New function: get-output-string
3390 Return the contents of an output string port.
3392 ** New function: identity
3394 Return the argument.
3396 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
3397 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
3399 ** New function: inet-pton family address
3401 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
3402 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
3403 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
3406 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
3407 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
3409 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
3411 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
3412 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
3413 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
3416 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
3417 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
3418 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
3422 Use `identity' instead.
3428 ** Deprecated: return-it
3432 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
3434 Use `string-length' instead.
3436 ** Deprecated: flags
3438 Use `logior' instead.
3440 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
3442 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
3443 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
3444 port-for-each is more flexible.
3446 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
3447 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
3448 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
3450 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
3452 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
3454 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
3456 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
3458 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
3460 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
3461 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
3463 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
3464 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
3466 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
3467 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
3469 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
3471 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
3472 Removed function: builtin-bindings
3474 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
3475 Use module system operations for all variables.
3477 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
3479 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
3482 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
3484 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
3485 The following bugs have been fixed:
3487 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
3488 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
3491 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
3492 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
3493 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
3495 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
3496 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
3498 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
3499 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
3502 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
3503 The expansion used to be like so:
3505 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
3507 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
3509 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
3511 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
3512 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
3514 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
3516 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
3517 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
3518 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
3522 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
3523 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
3525 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
3530 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
3531 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
3533 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
3534 and `d', other keywords allowed.
3535 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
3537 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
3540 * Changes to the C interface
3542 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
3544 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
3545 with "_t". What a concept.
3547 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
3549 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
3551 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
3555 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
3556 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
3558 *** C Functions removed
3560 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
3561 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
3562 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
3563 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
3564 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
3565 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
3566 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
3568 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
3570 Use scm_mem2string instead.
3572 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
3574 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
3576 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
3577 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
3579 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
3581 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
3584 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
3586 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
3588 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
3590 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
3591 Evaluation" in the manual.
3593 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
3595 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
3596 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
3598 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
3600 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
3601 Constructors" in the manual.
3603 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
3605 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
3606 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
3608 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
3610 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
3612 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
3613 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
3614 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
3616 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
3618 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
3620 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
3621 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
3622 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
3625 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
3627 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
3629 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
3630 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
3632 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
3634 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
3635 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
3636 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
3637 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
3639 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
3640 scm_primitive_property_ref
3641 scm_primitive_property_set_x
3642 scm_primitive_property_del_x
3644 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
3645 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
3647 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
3649 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
3650 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
3651 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
3652 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
3654 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
3656 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
3657 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
3658 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
3659 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
3660 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
3661 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
3662 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
3664 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
3665 scm_remember_upto_here
3667 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
3669 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
3671 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
3672 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
3674 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
3676 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
3678 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
3680 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
3682 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
3684 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
3685 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
3686 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
3687 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
3688 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
3689 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
3691 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
3693 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
3695 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
3696 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
3697 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
3699 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
3701 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
3702 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
3703 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
3705 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
3707 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
3708 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
3711 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
3714 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
3715 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
3718 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
3720 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
3722 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
3724 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
3726 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
3728 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
3730 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
3731 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
3732 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
3733 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
3734 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
3735 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
3736 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
3737 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
3738 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
3739 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
3740 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
3741 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
3742 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
3743 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
3744 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
3746 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
3747 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
3748 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
3749 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
3750 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
3751 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
3752 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
3753 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
3754 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
3755 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
3756 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
3757 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
3758 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
3759 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
3760 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
3761 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
3762 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
3763 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
3764 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
3765 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
3766 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
3767 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
3768 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
3769 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
3770 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
3771 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
3772 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
3773 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
3774 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
3776 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
3778 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
3780 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
3781 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
3783 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
3785 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
3787 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
3789 Use scm_string_hash instead.
3791 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
3793 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
3795 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
3797 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
3799 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
3802 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
3803 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
3805 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
3807 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
3809 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
3811 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
3813 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
3815 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
3817 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
3819 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
3822 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
3824 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
3826 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
3828 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
3829 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
3831 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
3832 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
3834 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
3836 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
3837 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
3838 scm_module_define, scm_define.
3840 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
3842 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
3844 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
3845 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
3847 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
3848 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
3849 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
3850 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
3852 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
3853 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
3854 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
3856 Use the new ones from above instead.
3858 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
3860 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
3861 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
3862 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
3864 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
3865 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
3867 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
3868 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
3871 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
3872 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
3874 Use the new functions instead.
3876 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
3879 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
3881 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
3883 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
3886 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
3888 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
3891 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
3893 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
3896 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
3897 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
3898 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
3900 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
3902 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
3903 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
3905 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
3906 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
3907 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
3908 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
3911 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
3913 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
3914 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
3915 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
3916 inexact for an exact.
3918 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
3919 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
3920 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
3923 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
3924 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
3925 accept an inexact argument.
3927 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
3928 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
3930 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
3933 ** New number validation macros:
3934 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
3938 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
3940 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
3941 scm_unprotect_object.
3943 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
3945 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
3947 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
3950 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
3952 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
3956 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
3958 * Changes to the distribution
3960 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
3962 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
3963 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
3964 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
3965 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
3966 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
3967 obtain these programs.
3968 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
3969 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
3971 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
3972 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
3973 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
3974 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
3975 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
3977 However, this approach means that minor differences between
3978 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
3979 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
3980 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
3984 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
3987 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
3988 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
3989 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
3990 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
3992 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
3994 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
3996 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
3997 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
3999 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
4000 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
4002 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
4003 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
4005 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
4006 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
4007 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
4008 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
4010 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
4012 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
4016 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
4017 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
4019 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
4021 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
4022 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
4024 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
4025 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
4026 number of objects of that kind.
4028 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
4030 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
4031 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
4032 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
4033 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
4034 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
4036 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
4038 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
4040 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
4042 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
4045 ** New module (ice-9 time)
4047 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
4049 ** New module (ice-9 history)
4051 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
4053 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4055 ** New command line option --debug
4057 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
4059 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
4061 ** New help facility
4063 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
4064 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
4065 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
4066 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
4067 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
4068 (help) gives this text
4070 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
4071 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
4073 Examples: (help help)
4075 (help "output-string")
4077 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
4079 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
4081 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
4082 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
4085 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
4086 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
4087 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
4090 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
4091 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
4092 use absolute filenames when possible.
4094 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
4095 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
4096 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
4099 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
4101 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
4102 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
4103 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
4104 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
4106 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
4108 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
4110 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
4111 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
4112 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
4114 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
4115 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
4116 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
4118 (read-enable 'positions)
4119 (debug-enable 'debug)
4121 ** Backtraces in scripts
4123 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
4127 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
4129 at the top of the script.
4131 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
4132 The second enables backtraces.)
4134 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
4136 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
4137 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
4138 substantially faster than before.
4140 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
4141 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
4143 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
4144 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
4146 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
4148 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
4149 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
4150 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
4152 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
4153 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
4154 when this hook is run in the future.
4156 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
4157 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
4159 ** Improvements to garbage collector
4161 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
4162 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
4165 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
4166 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
4167 more and more memory for certain programs.)
4169 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
4170 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
4172 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
4173 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
4175 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
4176 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
4177 in order not to need further allocation.)
4179 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
4182 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
4183 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
4184 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
4185 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
4187 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
4189 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
4192 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
4194 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
4197 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
4198 GC in percent of total heap size
4201 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
4202 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
4204 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
4206 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
4207 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
4209 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
4211 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
4212 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
4214 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
4216 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
4217 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
4221 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
4222 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
4224 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
4226 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4228 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
4230 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
4232 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
4234 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
4235 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
4237 (simple-format port message . args)
4238 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
4239 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
4240 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
4241 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
4242 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
4243 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
4244 Does not add a trailing newline."
4246 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
4248 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
4249 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
4251 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
4252 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
4254 ** Deprecated: list*
4256 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
4258 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
4260 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
4261 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
4263 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
4264 is returned as result.
4266 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
4268 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
4270 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
4272 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
4273 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
4276 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
4278 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
4280 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
4281 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
4283 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4285 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
4287 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
4289 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4291 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
4293 Thanks to Greg Badros!
4295 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
4297 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
4298 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
4299 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
4301 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
4304 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
4306 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
4307 the readability of argument checking.
4309 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
4311 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
4313 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
4315 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
4316 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
4317 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
4318 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
4319 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
4320 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
4321 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
4323 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
4325 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
4327 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
4328 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
4330 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
4332 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
4333 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
4336 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
4338 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
4339 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
4340 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
4342 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
4343 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
4344 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
4346 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
4347 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
4348 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
4349 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
4350 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
4351 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
4352 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
4354 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
4355 scm_end_input (object);
4356 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
4357 ptob->flush (object);
4359 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
4360 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
4363 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
4365 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
4367 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
4368 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
4369 removed in a future version.
4371 ** The format of error message strings has changed
4373 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
4374 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
4375 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
4376 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
4378 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
4379 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
4381 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
4384 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
4386 in your configure.in.
4388 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
4393 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
4399 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
4401 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
4405 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
4406 (define make-message string-append)
4408 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
4410 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
4414 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
4419 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
4423 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
4425 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
4426 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
4428 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
4430 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
4431 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
4432 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
4433 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
4434 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
4435 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
4437 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
4438 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
4439 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
4441 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
4442 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
4443 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
4446 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
4447 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
4448 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
4449 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
4450 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
4452 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
4453 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
4454 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
4455 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
4456 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
4457 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
4458 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
4460 Destructors are not yet implemented.
4462 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
4463 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
4464 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
4466 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
4467 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
4468 KEY in the calling thread.
4470 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
4471 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
4472 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
4473 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
4474 associated with the key.
4476 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
4478 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
4479 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
4481 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
4483 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
4484 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
4485 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
4487 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
4489 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
4490 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
4492 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
4494 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
4496 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
4497 returned is undefined.
4499 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
4500 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
4501 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
4503 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
4504 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
4505 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
4507 ** New C level GC hooks
4509 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
4511 scm_before_gc_c_hook
4514 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
4515 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
4516 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
4518 scm_before_mark_c_hook
4519 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
4520 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
4522 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
4523 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
4526 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
4528 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
4529 allocation parameters
4531 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
4532 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
4533 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
4537 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
4538 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
4539 scm_default_max_segment_size
4541 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
4543 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
4544 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
4546 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
4548 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
4549 object and count on the object being protected until
4550 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
4552 The functions also have better time complexity.
4554 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
4555 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
4556 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
4557 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
4558 are no longer needed.
4560 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
4562 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
4563 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
4564 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
4565 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
4567 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
4569 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
4571 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
4573 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
4574 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
4575 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
4576 until this issue has been settled.
4578 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
4580 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
4582 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
4585 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
4587 * Changes to system call interfaces:
4589 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
4590 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
4591 descriptors were checked.
4593 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
4594 atomically written to a pipe.
4596 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
4597 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
4598 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
4599 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
4600 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
4601 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
4602 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
4605 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
4606 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
4607 is changed without calling tzset.
4609 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
4611 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
4612 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
4613 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
4615 (define write-network-long
4616 (lambda (value port)
4617 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
4618 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
4619 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
4621 (define read-network-long
4623 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
4624 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
4625 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
4627 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
4628 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
4630 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
4631 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
4632 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
4633 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
4635 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
4636 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
4637 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
4638 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
4642 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
4644 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4648 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
4649 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
4650 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
4656 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
4657 for a description of available commands.
4659 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
4660 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
4661 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
4663 (debug-enable 'backwards)
4665 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
4666 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
4668 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
4670 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
4672 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
4673 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
4674 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
4675 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
4676 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
4677 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
4680 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
4682 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
4683 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
4684 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
4685 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
4687 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
4688 the file and should not be affected by this change.
4690 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
4692 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4694 ** Readline support has changed again.
4696 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
4697 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
4698 to activate readline is now
4700 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
4703 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
4705 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
4706 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
4707 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
4710 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
4711 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
4712 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
4715 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
4716 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
4717 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
4718 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
4719 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
4720 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
4722 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
4723 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
4725 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
4727 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
4728 object it receives is the same string passed to
4729 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
4730 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
4731 string, not the suffix.
4733 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
4734 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
4735 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
4737 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
4739 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
4740 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
4741 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
4742 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
4745 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
4747 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
4749 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
4750 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
4751 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
4752 appear from left to right.
4754 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
4757 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
4759 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
4760 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
4762 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
4766 *** New function: hook? OBJ
4768 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
4770 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
4772 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
4773 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
4774 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
4776 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
4778 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
4780 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
4782 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
4785 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
4787 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
4788 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
4789 mentioning it here anyway.
4791 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
4793 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
4794 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
4795 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
4796 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
4799 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
4801 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
4803 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
4805 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
4806 otherwise return #f.
4808 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
4810 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
4811 returned by `opendir'.
4813 ** New function: using-readline?
4815 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
4817 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
4819 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
4820 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
4822 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4824 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
4826 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
4827 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
4828 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
4830 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
4832 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
4833 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
4835 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
4837 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
4838 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
4839 documentation slots are not yet used.
4841 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
4843 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
4844 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
4845 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
4850 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
4851 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
4852 (string-append x y))
4854 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
4855 can also be used for concatenating strings.
4857 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
4858 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
4859 be made in a clean way.]
4861 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
4863 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
4865 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
4867 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
4868 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
4870 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
4872 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
4874 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
4876 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
4878 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
4879 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
4880 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
4881 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
4884 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
4886 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
4888 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
4890 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
4892 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
4893 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
4895 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
4897 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
4899 Evaluates the body of a special form.
4901 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
4903 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
4904 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
4905 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
4906 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
4907 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
4908 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
4910 This should not make any difference for most users.
4912 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
4914 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
4915 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
4917 *** New functions for applying generic functions
4919 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
4920 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
4921 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
4922 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
4923 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
4925 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
4927 It is now replaced by:
4929 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
4931 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4932 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4934 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4936 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
4937 This might change when we get the new module system.
4939 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
4943 Changes since Guile 1.3:
4945 * Changes to mailing lists
4947 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
4949 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
4952 * Changes to the distribution
4954 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
4956 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
4957 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
4958 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
4959 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
4960 you explicitly specify it.
4962 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
4963 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
4964 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
4965 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
4966 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
4969 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
4970 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
4971 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
4972 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
4974 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
4975 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
4976 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
4979 You can activate the readline support by issuing
4981 (use-modules (readline-activator))
4984 from your ".guile" file, for example.
4986 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4988 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
4989 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
4990 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
4991 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
4993 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
4994 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
4997 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4999 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
5000 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
5001 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
5002 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
5003 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
5004 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
5005 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
5006 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
5018 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
5019 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
5020 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
5021 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
5022 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
5027 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
5028 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
5036 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
5041 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
5042 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
5045 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
5046 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
5047 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
5048 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
5050 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
5052 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
5054 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
5055 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
5057 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
5059 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
5061 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
5062 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
5064 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
5067 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
5069 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
5071 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
5073 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
5075 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
5077 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
5079 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
5080 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
5081 when the hook was created.
5083 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
5084 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
5085 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
5086 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
5087 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
5088 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
5089 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
5090 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
5091 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
5093 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
5094 the dlopen family of functions.
5096 ** New function `provided?'
5098 - Function: provided? FEATURE
5099 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
5100 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
5101 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
5103 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
5105 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
5106 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
5107 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
5108 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
5111 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
5112 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
5113 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
5114 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
5116 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
5117 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
5118 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
5121 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
5122 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
5123 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
5124 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
5125 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
5126 but with the flag set.
5128 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
5130 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
5131 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
5133 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
5134 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
5135 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
5136 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
5137 available Scheme format implementations.
5139 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
5140 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
5141 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
5142 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
5143 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
5144 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
5145 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
5146 output is to the current error port if available by the
5147 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
5150 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
5151 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
5152 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
5153 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
5154 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
5155 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
5156 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
5157 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
5159 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
5160 be executed at a time.
5163 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
5165 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
5166 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
5167 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
5169 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
5170 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
5171 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
5172 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
5173 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
5174 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
5175 general form of a directive is:
5177 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
5179 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
5181 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
5183 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
5184 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
5185 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
5188 Any (print as `display' does).
5192 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
5196 S-expression (print as `write' does).
5200 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
5206 print number sign always.
5209 print comma separated.
5211 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
5217 print number sign always.
5220 print comma separated.
5222 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
5228 print number sign always.
5231 print comma separated.
5233 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
5239 print number sign always.
5242 print comma separated.
5244 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
5249 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
5253 print a number as a Roman numeral.
5256 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
5259 print a number as an ordinal English number.
5262 print a number as a cardinal English number.
5267 prints `y' and `ies'.
5270 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
5273 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
5278 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
5282 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
5285 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
5286 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
5288 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5291 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
5292 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
5294 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5297 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
5299 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
5301 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5304 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
5306 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
5308 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5311 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
5314 The sign appears before the padding.
5322 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
5324 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
5329 print N page separators.
5339 newline is ignored, white space left.
5342 newline is left, white space ignored.
5347 relative tabulation.
5353 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
5355 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
5358 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
5360 converts by `string-capitalize'.
5363 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
5366 converts by `string-upcase'.
5369 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
5371 jumps N arguments forward.
5374 jumps 1 argument backward.
5377 jumps N arguments backward.
5380 jumps to the 0th argument.
5383 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
5385 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
5386 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
5388 take argument from N.
5391 true test conditional.
5394 if-else-then conditional.
5400 default clause follows.
5403 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
5405 at most N iterations.
5408 args from next arg (a list of lists).
5411 args from the rest of arguments.
5414 args from the rest args (lists).
5425 aborts if N <= M <= K
5427 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
5430 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
5433 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
5439 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
5441 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
5443 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
5444 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
5445 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
5446 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
5447 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
5448 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
5452 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
5456 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
5462 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
5465 Print a `#\space' character
5467 print N `#\space' characters.
5470 Print a `#\tab' character
5472 print N `#\tab' characters.
5475 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
5476 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
5477 must be a positive decimal number.
5480 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
5481 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
5482 be processed by `read'.
5485 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
5486 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
5487 be processed by `read'.
5490 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
5493 prints format version.
5496 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
5497 and format it accordingly.
5499 *** Configuration Variables
5501 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
5502 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
5503 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
5504 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
5507 format:symbol-case-conv
5508 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
5509 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
5510 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
5511 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
5512 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
5514 format:iobj-case-conv
5515 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
5516 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
5519 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
5522 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
5528 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
5529 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
5530 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
5531 `format' padding style.
5534 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
5535 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
5536 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
5537 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
5541 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
5542 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
5543 directive parameters or modifiers)).
5546 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
5547 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
5548 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
5549 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
5550 parameters or modifiers)).
5553 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
5555 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
5557 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
5558 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
5560 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
5561 string-downcase! functions.
5563 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
5564 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
5566 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
5569 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
5572 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
5573 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
5575 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
5577 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
5578 the symbol had be read by `read'.
5580 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
5581 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
5582 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
5583 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
5584 would if STRING were input.
5586 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
5588 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
5589 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
5590 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
5591 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
5594 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
5596 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
5597 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
5600 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
5602 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
5603 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
5605 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
5606 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
5608 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
5609 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
5610 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
5611 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
5613 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
5614 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
5616 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
5617 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
5618 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
5620 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
5621 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
5623 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
5624 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
5625 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
5626 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
5627 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
5629 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
5630 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
5631 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
5632 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
5633 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
5634 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
5636 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
5637 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
5638 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
5641 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
5642 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
5643 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
5644 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
5645 the following grammar:
5646 ((apples (single-char #\a))
5647 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
5648 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
5649 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
5650 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
5651 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
5652 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
5653 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
5654 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
5655 last option in its combination)
5657 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
5658 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
5659 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
5660 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
5662 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
5663 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
5664 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
5666 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
5667 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
5668 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
5670 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
5671 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
5672 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
5673 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
5674 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
5675 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
5676 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
5677 ordinary argument strings.
5679 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
5680 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
5681 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
5682 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
5684 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
5685 as a list, associated with the empty list.
5687 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
5688 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
5689 - a required option is omitted
5690 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
5691 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
5692 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
5693 - an option predicate fails
5698 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
5701 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
5702 (verbose (required? #f)
5705 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
5706 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
5707 (predicate ,string?))))
5709 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
5710 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
5712 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
5713 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
5714 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
5715 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
5718 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
5720 It will be removed in a few releases.
5722 ** New syntax: lambda*
5723 ** New syntax: define*
5724 ** New syntax: define*-public
5725 ** New syntax: defmacro*
5726 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
5727 Guile now supports optional arguments.
5729 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
5730 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
5731 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
5732 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
5733 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
5735 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
5736 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
5737 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
5739 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
5741 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
5742 and examples for `lambda*':
5745 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
5747 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
5748 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
5749 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
5750 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
5751 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
5752 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
5753 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
5754 can be checked with the bound? macro.
5756 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
5758 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
5759 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
5760 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
5761 are given as keywords are bound to values.
5763 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
5764 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
5765 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
5766 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
5767 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
5768 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
5769 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
5770 and until the procedure is called.
5772 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
5774 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
5775 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
5776 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
5777 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
5778 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
5779 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
5780 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
5781 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
5782 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
5783 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
5785 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
5786 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
5787 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
5788 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
5791 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
5793 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
5794 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
5795 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
5796 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
5798 ** New syntax: and-let*
5799 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
5801 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
5802 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
5803 (<variable> <expression>)
5806 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
5807 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
5808 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
5811 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
5812 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
5813 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
5814 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
5815 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
5816 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
5817 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
5819 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
5820 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
5821 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
5822 shadow earlier bindings.
5824 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
5826 ** New sorting functions
5828 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
5829 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
5830 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
5831 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
5833 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
5834 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
5837 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
5838 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
5839 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
5841 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
5842 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
5843 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
5844 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
5846 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
5847 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
5848 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
5849 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
5850 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
5853 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
5854 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
5855 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
5856 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
5857 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
5858 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
5860 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
5861 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
5862 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
5864 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
5865 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
5866 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
5869 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
5870 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
5871 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
5873 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
5874 Added for compatibility with scsh.
5876 ** New built-in random number support
5878 *** New function: random N [STATE]
5879 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
5880 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
5881 returned have a uniform distribution.
5883 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
5884 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
5885 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
5886 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
5887 effect of the `random' operation.
5889 *** New variable: *random-state*
5890 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
5891 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
5892 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
5893 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
5894 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
5897 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
5898 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
5899 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
5900 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
5901 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
5903 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
5904 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
5905 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
5906 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
5907 initialized using SEED.
5909 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
5910 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
5911 range between 0 and 1.
5913 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
5914 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
5915 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
5916 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
5917 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
5918 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
5919 or a uniform vector of doubles.
5921 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
5922 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
5923 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
5924 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
5925 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
5926 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
5928 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
5929 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
5930 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
5931 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
5933 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
5934 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
5935 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
5936 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
5938 *** New function: random:exp STATE
5939 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
5940 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
5942 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
5944 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
5947 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
5948 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
5951 ** New function: make-guardian
5952 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
5953 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
5954 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
5955 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
5956 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
5958 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
5959 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
5960 one object if at all.
5962 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
5963 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
5964 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
5966 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
5967 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
5968 read again in last-in first-out order.
5970 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
5971 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
5973 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
5975 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
5976 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
5977 file position is used.
5979 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
5980 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
5981 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
5983 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
5984 redefined using seek.
5986 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
5987 size is not supplied.
5989 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
5990 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
5992 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
5993 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
5995 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
5997 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
5998 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
5999 and returns the contents as a single string.
6001 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
6002 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
6003 lists in serial order.
6005 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
6006 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
6007 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
6009 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
6010 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
6011 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
6012 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
6014 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
6015 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
6016 and #f if an error occured.
6018 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
6020 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
6021 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
6022 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
6023 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
6025 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
6027 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
6030 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
6032 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
6035 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6039 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
6040 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
6042 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
6043 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
6047 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6049 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
6051 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
6052 binds a variable named NAME to it.
6054 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
6056 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
6057 might change when we get the new module system.
6059 ** The smob interface
6061 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
6062 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
6064 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
6066 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
6070 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
6071 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
6072 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
6073 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
6074 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
6075 will be freed by the default free function.
6077 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
6078 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
6079 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6080 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6082 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
6083 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
6084 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6085 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6087 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
6089 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
6090 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
6094 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
6095 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6096 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6098 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
6099 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
6100 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6101 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6103 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
6104 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
6105 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
6107 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
6108 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
6109 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
6110 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
6112 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
6113 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
6114 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
6116 *** scm_newptob has been removed
6120 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
6122 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
6123 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
6124 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
6126 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
6127 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
6128 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
6130 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
6131 a string port's buffer.
6133 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
6134 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
6135 function pointers which together define the current random number
6136 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
6137 number library functions.
6139 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
6142 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
6143 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
6146 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
6147 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
6149 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
6150 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
6152 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
6153 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
6156 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
6157 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
6158 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
6159 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
6161 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
6162 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
6163 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
6164 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
6165 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
6166 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
6167 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
6169 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
6170 by libguile and the application.
6172 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
6173 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
6174 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
6175 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
6177 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
6178 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
6180 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
6181 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
6182 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
6184 ** Random number library functions
6185 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
6186 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
6187 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
6189 The default random state is stored in:
6191 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
6192 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
6193 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
6198 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
6200 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
6201 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
6202 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
6203 isn't a random state.
6205 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
6206 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
6208 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
6209 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
6210 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
6211 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
6213 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6214 Return 32 random bits.
6216 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6217 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
6219 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6220 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
6222 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6223 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
6225 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
6226 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
6228 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
6229 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
6230 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
6234 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
6236 * Changes to the distribution
6238 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
6239 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
6240 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
6243 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
6244 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
6245 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
6247 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
6248 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
6249 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
6250 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
6253 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
6254 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
6255 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
6257 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6259 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
6261 *** Function: batch-mode?
6263 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
6266 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
6268 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
6269 case has not been implemented.
6271 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
6272 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
6273 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
6276 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
6277 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
6279 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
6281 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6283 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
6285 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
6286 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
6289 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
6290 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
6291 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
6292 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
6295 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
6297 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
6298 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
6299 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
6300 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
6301 find those libraries.
6303 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
6304 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
6307 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
6309 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
6310 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
6311 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
6312 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
6314 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
6315 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
6316 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
6320 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
6322 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
6323 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
6324 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
6327 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
6328 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
6329 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
6330 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
6332 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
6333 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
6336 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
6337 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
6338 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
6339 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
6340 compiler where to find the libraries.
6342 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
6343 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
6344 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
6346 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
6347 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
6348 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
6349 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
6350 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
6354 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6356 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
6357 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
6358 internationalization support.
6360 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
6361 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
6362 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
6363 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
6364 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
6366 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
6367 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
6368 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
6369 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
6370 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
6372 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
6373 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
6374 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
6375 any GNU mirror site.
6377 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
6379 ** New function: add-history STRING
6380 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
6381 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
6382 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
6384 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
6386 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
6387 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
6388 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
6391 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
6392 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
6393 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
6395 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
6397 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
6400 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
6401 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
6404 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
6405 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
6406 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
6407 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
6408 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
6409 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
6411 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
6412 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
6413 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
6414 of the form mentioned above.
6416 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
6417 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
6418 returned in the special `rest' list.
6420 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
6421 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
6423 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
6425 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
6427 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
6429 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
6430 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
6431 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
6432 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
6433 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
6434 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
6435 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
6436 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
6439 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
6441 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
6443 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
6444 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
6447 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
6448 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
6449 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
6453 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
6454 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
6455 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
6456 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
6457 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
6458 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
6459 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
6460 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
6463 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
6465 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
6466 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
6467 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
6469 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
6471 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
6472 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
6474 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
6475 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
6476 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
6478 Why do we have this function?
6479 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
6480 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
6481 primitive, and display it differently, and
6482 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
6483 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
6486 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
6487 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
6490 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
6491 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
6492 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
6493 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
6495 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
6496 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
6499 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
6500 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
6502 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
6504 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
6505 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
6506 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
6507 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
6508 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
6509 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
6510 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
6513 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
6515 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
6516 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
6518 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
6519 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
6520 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
6521 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
6522 properly continue the print chain.
6524 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
6525 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
6526 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
6527 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
6528 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
6529 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
6530 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
6531 print-state, it is simply ignored.
6533 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
6534 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
6535 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
6536 safest to not check for these pairs.
6538 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
6539 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
6540 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
6541 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
6543 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
6545 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
6546 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
6548 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
6550 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
6552 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
6553 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
6554 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
6556 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
6557 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
6558 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
6560 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
6561 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
6562 the following functions and macros:
6564 Function: make-fluid
6566 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
6567 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
6568 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
6569 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
6570 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
6572 Function: fluid? OBJ
6574 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
6576 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
6577 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
6579 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
6580 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
6582 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
6584 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
6585 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
6586 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
6587 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
6588 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
6589 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
6590 modified by `with-fluids*'.
6592 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
6594 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
6595 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
6596 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
6597 should evaluate to a fluid.
6599 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
6601 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
6602 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
6603 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
6604 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
6605 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
6607 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
6610 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
6612 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
6614 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
6616 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
6619 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
6620 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
6621 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
6622 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
6623 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
6626 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
6627 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
6628 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
6630 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
6631 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
6632 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
6634 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
6635 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
6636 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
6637 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
6639 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
6640 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
6641 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
6642 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
6644 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
6645 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
6646 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
6647 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
6649 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
6650 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
6651 their revealed counts set to zero.
6653 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6654 Returns an integer file descriptor.
6656 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6657 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
6659 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6660 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
6662 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6663 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
6664 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
6666 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
6667 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
6668 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
6670 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
6671 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
6672 default environment inherited by child processes.
6674 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
6675 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
6676 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
6678 The return value is unspecified.
6680 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
6681 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
6682 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
6683 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
6684 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
6686 The return value is unspecified.
6688 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
6689 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
6697 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
6698 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
6701 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
6704 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
6705 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
6706 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
6708 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
6709 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
6710 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
6711 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
6714 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
6715 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
6717 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
6718 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
6719 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
6720 the `environ' procedure.
6722 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
6723 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
6726 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
6727 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
6729 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
6730 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
6731 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
6732 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
6734 *** procedure: times
6735 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
6736 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
6737 return a selected component:
6740 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
6744 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
6747 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
6751 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
6752 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
6756 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
6757 terminated child processes.
6759 ** Removed: list-length
6760 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
6761 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
6763 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
6765 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
6767 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
6769 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
6770 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
6771 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
6772 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
6774 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
6775 extra complexity it introduces.
6777 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
6778 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
6780 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
6781 variable to any non-empty value.
6783 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
6784 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
6786 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6788 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
6789 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
6791 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
6793 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
6794 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
6796 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
6798 ** vector handling routines
6800 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
6801 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
6802 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
6803 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
6804 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
6806 ** pair and list routines
6808 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
6811 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
6813 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
6816 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6818 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
6820 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
6821 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
6822 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
6823 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
6824 site-specific initialization code.
6826 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
6827 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
6828 initialization processes.
6830 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
6831 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
6832 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
6833 initialized properly.
6835 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
6836 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
6837 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
6839 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
6840 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
6841 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
6842 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
6843 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
6845 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
6847 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
6848 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
6849 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
6850 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
6851 objects the smob refers to get marked.
6853 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
6854 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
6855 which look like this:
6858 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
6860 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
6861 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
6864 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
6865 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
6868 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
6870 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
6871 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
6872 you will need to change your functions slightly.
6874 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
6875 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
6876 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
6877 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
6878 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
6880 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
6881 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
6883 int (*free) (SCM port);
6884 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
6885 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
6886 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
6890 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
6891 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
6892 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
6894 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
6897 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
6898 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
6899 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
6901 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
6902 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
6903 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
6906 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
6910 struct timeval *timeout);
6912 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
6913 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
6914 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
6915 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
6916 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
6917 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
6919 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
6920 scm_catch_body_t body,
6922 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
6925 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
6926 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
6927 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
6928 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
6929 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
6930 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
6932 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
6934 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
6937 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
6938 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
6939 spawning threads from application C code.
6941 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
6942 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
6943 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
6944 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
6945 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
6946 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
6948 ** Removed functions:
6950 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
6951 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
6953 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
6955 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
6956 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
6958 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
6960 ** mbstrings are now removed
6962 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
6963 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
6965 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
6967 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
6968 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
6969 their new names and arguments:
6971 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
6972 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
6973 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
6974 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
6977 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
6979 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
6981 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
6984 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
6986 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
6987 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
6988 pass a #f arg to catch.
6990 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
6992 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
6993 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
6996 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
6997 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
6998 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
6999 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
7000 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
7001 reclaim its storage.
7003 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
7004 worrying that some other function you call will call
7005 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
7006 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
7007 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
7008 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
7011 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
7013 * Changes to the distribution
7015 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
7016 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
7019 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
7020 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
7022 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
7023 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
7025 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
7027 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
7028 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
7029 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
7031 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7033 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
7034 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
7035 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
7036 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
7037 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
7038 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
7040 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
7041 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
7042 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
7045 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
7046 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
7047 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
7048 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
7050 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
7051 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
7052 libraries to your link command:
7054 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
7055 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
7056 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
7057 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
7059 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
7060 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
7061 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
7063 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7065 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
7066 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
7069 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
7071 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
7072 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
7073 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
7074 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
7075 searched is system dependent.
7077 (dynamic-object? VAL)
7079 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
7081 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
7083 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
7084 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
7086 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
7088 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
7089 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
7090 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
7091 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
7092 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
7095 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
7097 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
7098 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
7099 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
7100 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
7101 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
7103 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
7105 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
7106 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
7108 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
7110 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
7111 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
7112 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
7115 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
7117 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
7118 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
7119 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
7120 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
7122 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
7123 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
7125 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
7127 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
7128 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
7130 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
7132 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
7133 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
7141 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
7143 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
7144 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
7145 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
7146 a more informative way.
7148 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
7149 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
7150 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
7151 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
7152 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
7153 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
7155 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
7156 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
7159 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
7160 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
7161 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
7164 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
7165 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
7166 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
7167 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
7168 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
7169 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
7171 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
7172 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
7173 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
7174 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
7177 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
7178 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
7179 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
7180 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
7181 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
7182 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
7184 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
7185 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
7186 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
7187 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
7188 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
7190 *** regexp functions
7192 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
7193 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
7194 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
7196 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
7197 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
7198 with SCSH regular expressions.
7200 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
7201 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
7202 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
7203 position of STR at which to begin matching.
7205 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
7206 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
7207 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
7208 `string-match' returns `#f'.
7210 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
7211 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
7212 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
7213 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
7214 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
7215 match strings against the compiled regexp.
7217 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
7218 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
7219 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
7220 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
7221 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
7223 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
7225 **** Constant: regexp/extended
7226 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
7227 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
7228 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
7230 **** Constant: regexp/icase
7231 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
7232 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
7234 **** Constant: regexp/newline
7235 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
7237 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
7240 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
7241 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
7242 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
7244 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
7245 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
7246 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
7248 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
7249 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
7250 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
7251 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
7252 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
7255 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
7257 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
7258 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
7259 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
7260 used when different portions of a string are passed to
7261 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
7262 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
7264 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
7265 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
7266 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
7268 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
7269 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
7272 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
7273 and replace them with the contents of another string.
7275 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
7276 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
7277 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
7278 may be one of the following arguments:
7280 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
7282 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
7284 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
7285 the regexp match is written.
7287 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
7288 following the regexp match is written.
7290 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
7291 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
7294 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
7295 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
7296 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
7297 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
7298 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
7299 which should be matched against this regular expression.
7301 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
7304 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
7305 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
7306 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
7307 written out to PORT.
7309 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
7310 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
7311 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
7312 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
7313 will return after processing a single match.
7315 *** Match Structures
7317 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
7318 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
7319 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
7320 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
7321 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
7322 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
7325 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
7326 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
7327 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
7328 information about the original target string that was matched against a
7329 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
7331 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
7332 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
7333 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
7335 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
7336 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
7337 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
7338 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
7339 number N did not match, return `#f'.
7341 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
7342 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
7344 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
7345 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
7347 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
7348 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
7350 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
7351 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
7353 **** Function: match:count MATCH
7354 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
7355 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
7356 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
7358 **** Function: match:string MATCH
7359 Return the original TARGET string.
7361 *** Backslash Escapes
7363 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
7364 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
7365 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
7366 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
7367 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
7368 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
7370 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
7371 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
7372 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
7373 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
7374 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
7375 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
7376 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
7377 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
7379 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
7380 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
7381 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
7382 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
7383 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
7384 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
7385 each match a single backslash in the target string.
7387 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
7388 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
7389 return the resulting string.
7391 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
7392 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
7393 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
7394 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
7395 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
7396 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
7397 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
7398 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
7399 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
7400 translated to the single character `*'.
7402 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
7403 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
7404 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
7405 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
7406 consecutive backslashes:
7408 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
7410 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
7411 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
7412 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
7414 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
7415 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
7416 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
7417 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
7418 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
7419 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
7421 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
7423 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
7424 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
7425 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
7426 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
7427 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
7428 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
7429 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
7430 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
7431 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
7432 cumbersome escape syntax.
7434 * Changes to the gh_ interface
7436 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7438 * Changes to system call interfaces:
7440 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
7443 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
7445 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
7447 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
7450 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
7451 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
7452 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
7453 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
7454 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
7456 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
7457 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
7458 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
7459 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
7460 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
7461 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
7462 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
7465 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
7466 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
7467 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
7470 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
7471 `force-output' on every port open for output.
7473 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
7474 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
7475 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
7476 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
7477 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
7478 installed, you can say:
7480 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
7483 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7485 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
7486 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
7487 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
7488 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
7489 new dynamic roots and threads.
7492 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
7494 * Changes to the distribution.
7496 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
7498 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
7499 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
7500 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
7501 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
7502 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
7503 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
7504 programming language. These are packaged together because the
7505 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
7507 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
7510 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
7511 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
7516 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7518 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
7519 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
7521 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
7522 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
7523 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
7524 the (command-line) function.
7525 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
7526 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
7527 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
7529 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
7530 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
7531 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
7532 command line arguments
7533 -ds do -s script at this point
7534 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
7535 -h, --help display this help and exit
7536 -v, --version display version information and exit
7537 \ read arguments from following script lines
7539 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
7540 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
7542 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7545 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
7549 (main (command-line))
7551 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
7553 ekko a speckled gecko
7555 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
7556 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
7557 following list of command-line arguments:
7559 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
7561 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
7562 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
7563 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
7564 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
7565 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
7567 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
7569 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
7571 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
7572 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
7575 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
7576 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
7577 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
7578 SCSH) for circumventing them.
7580 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
7581 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
7582 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
7583 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
7585 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
7589 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
7593 If the user invokes this script as follows:
7595 ekko a speckled gecko
7597 Unix expands this into
7599 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
7601 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
7602 read from the second line of the script, producing:
7604 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
7606 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
7607 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
7609 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
7610 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
7611 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
7612 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
7613 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
7614 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
7615 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
7616 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
7617 it only terminates the argument list.)
7618 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
7619 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
7620 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
7621 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
7622 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
7623 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
7624 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
7625 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
7627 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7629 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
7630 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
7631 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
7632 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
7633 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
7635 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
7636 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
7637 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
7639 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
7641 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
7642 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
7643 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
7644 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
7647 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
7648 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
7649 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
7651 * Changes to Scheme functions
7653 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
7654 and disabled by default.
7656 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
7657 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
7658 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
7659 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
7661 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
7663 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
7665 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
7666 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
7668 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
7669 (read-set! keywords #f)
7671 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
7672 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
7673 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
7676 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
7677 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
7678 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
7681 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
7682 support for Scheme functions.
7684 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
7685 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
7686 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
7687 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
7690 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
7691 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
7692 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
7695 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
7696 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
7697 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
7700 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
7701 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
7702 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
7703 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
7704 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
7705 display the result as a prompt.
7706 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
7708 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
7709 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
7710 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
7713 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
7714 procedure of zero arguments.
7716 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
7717 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
7718 argument is bound in the current module.
7720 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
7721 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
7722 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
7723 public bindings into the current module.
7725 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
7726 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
7728 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
7729 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
7731 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
7732 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
7734 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
7735 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
7737 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
7738 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
7740 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
7741 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
7742 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
7743 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
7744 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
7746 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
7747 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
7748 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
7749 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
7751 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
7754 ** Changes to I/O functions
7756 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
7757 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
7758 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
7760 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
7761 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
7762 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
7764 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
7765 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
7767 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
7768 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
7769 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
7770 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
7772 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
7774 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
7775 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
7777 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
7778 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
7779 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
7780 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
7781 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
7784 'trim omit delimiter from result
7785 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
7786 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
7787 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
7789 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
7791 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
7792 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
7794 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
7795 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
7796 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
7797 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
7798 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
7800 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
7801 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
7802 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
7804 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
7805 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
7806 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
7807 above, and defaults to 'peek.
7809 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
7810 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
7812 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
7813 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
7815 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
7817 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
7818 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
7819 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
7820 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
7821 a delimiting character.
7822 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
7824 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
7825 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
7826 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
7827 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
7828 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
7829 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
7831 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
7832 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
7834 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
7835 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
7836 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
7838 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
7839 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
7840 the array to read and write.
7842 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
7843 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
7846 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
7848 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
7851 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
7852 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
7853 Values for COMMAND are:
7855 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
7856 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
7857 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
7858 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
7859 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
7860 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
7861 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
7862 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
7864 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
7866 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
7867 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
7868 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
7869 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
7870 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
7871 corresponding return set will be the same.
7873 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
7876 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
7877 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
7878 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
7879 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
7880 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
7881 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
7882 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
7883 special file being created.
7885 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
7886 clashing with various SCSH forks.
7888 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
7889 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
7890 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
7891 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
7892 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
7893 and originating address.
7895 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
7896 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
7897 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
7899 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
7902 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
7903 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
7906 (status:exit-val STATUS)
7907 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
7908 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
7909 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
7910 this function returns #f.
7912 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
7913 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
7914 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
7917 (status:term-sig STATUS)
7918 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
7919 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
7922 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
7923 a valid STATUS value.
7925 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
7927 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
7928 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
7930 Component Accessor Setter
7931 ========================= ============ ============
7932 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
7933 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
7934 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
7935 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
7936 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
7937 year tm:year set-tm:year
7938 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
7939 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
7940 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
7941 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
7942 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
7944 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
7945 describing the host system:
7948 ============================================== ================
7949 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
7950 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
7951 release level of the operating system utsname:release
7952 version level of the operating system utsname:version
7953 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
7955 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
7956 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
7957 system's user database:
7960 ====================== =================
7961 user name passwd:name
7962 user password passwd:passwd
7965 real name passwd:gecos
7966 home directory passwd:dir
7967 shell program passwd:shell
7969 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
7970 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
7971 system's group database:
7974 ======================= ============
7975 group name group:name
7976 group password group:passwd
7978 group members group:mem
7980 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
7981 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
7985 ========================= ===============
7986 official name of host hostent:name
7987 alias list hostent:aliases
7988 host address type hostent:addrtype
7989 length of address hostent:length
7990 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
7992 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
7993 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
7997 ========================= ===============
7998 official name of net netent:name
7999 alias list netent:aliases
8000 net number type netent:addrtype
8001 net number netent:net
8003 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
8004 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
8008 ========================= ===============
8009 official protocol name protoent:name
8010 alias list protoent:aliases
8011 protocol number protoent:proto
8013 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
8014 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
8018 ========================= ===============
8019 official service name servent:name
8020 alias list servent:aliases
8021 port number servent:port
8022 protocol to use servent:proto
8024 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
8025 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
8028 ======================================== ===============
8029 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
8030 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
8031 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
8032 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
8034 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
8035 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
8036 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
8038 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
8039 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
8041 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
8042 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
8044 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
8045 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
8047 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
8049 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
8051 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
8052 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
8053 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
8055 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
8056 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
8057 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
8058 return the remaining characters as a string.
8060 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
8061 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
8062 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
8064 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
8066 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8068 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
8071 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
8074 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
8075 and returns the array
8077 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
8078 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
8079 the user to interpret the data both ways.
8081 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8083 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
8084 symbol's value from C code:
8086 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
8087 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
8088 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
8089 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
8091 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
8092 without assigning them a value.
8094 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
8095 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
8096 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
8098 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
8099 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
8100 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
8102 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
8103 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
8105 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
8106 doesn't actually care about that.
8108 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
8109 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
8110 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
8112 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
8113 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
8114 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
8115 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
8116 which we have just created and initialized.
8118 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
8119 should one occur. We call it like this:
8120 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
8122 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
8123 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
8124 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
8125 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
8126 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
8127 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
8130 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
8131 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
8132 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
8133 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
8134 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
8135 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
8136 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
8139 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
8140 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
8141 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
8142 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
8143 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
8146 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
8147 scm_internal_catch, except:
8149 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
8150 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
8151 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
8152 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
8155 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
8156 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
8157 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
8159 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
8160 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
8161 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
8162 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
8165 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
8166 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
8167 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
8169 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
8170 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
8171 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
8172 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
8173 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
8175 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
8176 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
8177 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
8179 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
8180 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
8181 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
8183 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
8184 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
8186 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
8187 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
8188 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
8191 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
8192 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
8193 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
8194 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
8195 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
8196 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
8197 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
8200 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
8201 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
8203 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
8204 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
8205 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
8206 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
8207 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
8210 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
8211 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
8213 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
8214 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
8217 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
8218 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
8220 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8223 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
8224 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
8225 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
8226 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
8227 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
8228 given the following arguments:
8230 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
8232 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
8234 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
8236 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8239 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
8240 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
8241 command-line arguments.
8243 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
8244 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
8245 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
8246 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
8247 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
8248 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
8251 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8254 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
8255 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
8257 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
8258 rearranged slightly. They are now:
8260 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8261 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
8262 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
8263 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
8265 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8266 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
8268 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8269 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
8270 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
8271 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
8273 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8274 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
8276 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
8277 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
8279 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
8281 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
8282 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
8283 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
8286 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
8287 returns a port instead of an FD object.
8289 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
8290 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
8295 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
8298 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
8300 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
8301 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
8302 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
8303 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
8305 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
8307 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
8309 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
8310 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
8311 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
8312 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
8313 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
8314 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
8315 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
8316 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
8317 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
8318 for more information.
8320 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
8321 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
8323 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
8324 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
8325 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
8326 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
8327 following two lines at the top of the file:
8329 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
8332 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
8333 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
8334 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
8336 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
8338 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
8340 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
8343 (display (car args))
8344 (if (pair? (cdr args))
8346 (loop (cdr args)))))
8349 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
8350 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
8351 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
8352 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
8353 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
8354 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
8358 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
8361 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
8364 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
8366 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
8367 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
8368 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
8369 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
8370 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
8373 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
8374 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
8375 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
8376 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
8377 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
8380 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
8383 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
8384 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
8385 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
8388 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
8389 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
8390 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
8392 to see a backtrace, and
8393 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
8394 to see them by default.
8398 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
8400 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
8402 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
8403 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
8406 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
8407 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
8408 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
8409 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
8412 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
8413 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
8414 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
8415 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
8416 functions which inspired them.
8418 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
8419 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
8423 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
8425 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
8427 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
8428 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
8431 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
8432 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
8433 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
8435 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
8436 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
8437 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
8438 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
8439 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
8441 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
8443 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
8444 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
8445 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
8448 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
8451 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
8453 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
8454 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
8455 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
8456 above should serve their purposes.
8458 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
8459 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
8460 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
8461 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
8463 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
8466 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
8467 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
8468 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
8469 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
8471 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
8472 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
8473 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
8474 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
8476 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
8477 for the `read' function.
8480 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
8481 to that of `integer?'.
8483 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
8484 use the R4RS names for these functions.
8486 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
8487 it simply returns the object's property list.
8489 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
8490 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
8491 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
8492 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
8494 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
8496 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
8499 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
8501 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
8502 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
8504 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
8506 void (*main_func) (),
8509 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
8510 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
8511 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
8512 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
8513 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
8515 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
8516 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
8517 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
8518 know which arguments have been processed.
8520 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
8521 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
8522 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
8523 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
8524 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
8526 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
8527 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
8528 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
8529 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
8530 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
8531 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
8532 people from making that mistake.
8534 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
8535 convenient ways to override these when desired.
8537 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
8539 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
8543 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
8546 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
8547 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
8548 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
8549 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
8552 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
8553 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
8554 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
8555 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
8558 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
8559 have been added to the Guile library.
8561 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
8562 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
8563 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
8566 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
8567 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
8568 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
8570 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
8571 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
8572 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
8573 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
8574 argument from the list.
8577 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
8580 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
8581 null-terminated string, and returns it.
8583 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
8584 to a Scheme port object.
8586 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
8587 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
8592 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
8594 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
8595 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
8596 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
8597 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
8598 code as a special datatype.
8600 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
8601 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
8602 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
8603 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
8604 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
8607 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
8608 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
8609 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
8610 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
8611 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
8613 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
8616 Copyright information:
8618 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
8620 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
8621 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
8622 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
8623 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
8625 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
8626 of this document, or of portions of it,
8627 under the above conditions, provided also that they
8628 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
8633 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"