1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
10 * New modules (see the manual for details)
12 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', multithreading support
13 ** The `(ice-9 i18n)' module provides internationalization support
15 * Changes to the distribution
17 ** Guile now uses Gnulib as a portability aid
19 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
20 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
22 ** A new 'memoize-symbol evaluator trap has been added. This trap can
23 be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code coverage.
25 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
26 This slightly improves program startup times.
28 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
29 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
31 * Changes to the C interface
33 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
35 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
37 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
40 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
41 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
44 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
48 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
49 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
52 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
54 * New features (see the manual for details)
56 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
58 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
60 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
61 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
62 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
64 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
66 * Changes to the distribution
68 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
70 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
71 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
73 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
75 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
76 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
81 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
82 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
83 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
84 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
85 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
86 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
87 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
88 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
89 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
90 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
91 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
92 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
93 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
94 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
96 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
97 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
98 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
99 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
100 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
103 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
105 * Infrastructure changes
107 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
109 The new repository can be accessed using
110 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
111 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
113 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
115 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
117 * New modules (see the manual for details)
121 * New features (see the manual for details)
123 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
124 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
125 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
127 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
128 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
129 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
130 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
132 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
134 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
135 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
136 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
140 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
141 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
143 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
144 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
146 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
147 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
149 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
150 lead to a stack overflow.
152 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
153 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
154 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
155 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
156 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
157 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
158 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
159 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
160 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
161 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
162 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
163 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
164 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
165 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
166 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
167 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
169 * Changes to the distribution
173 We've started collecting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), and will
174 distribute these (with answers!) in future Guile releases.
177 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
181 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
182 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
183 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
184 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
185 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
186 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
187 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
188 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
189 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
190 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
191 system and library calls.
192 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
193 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
194 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
195 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
196 uniform vectors on AIX.
197 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
198 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
199 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
200 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
201 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
203 * New modules (see the manual for details)
207 * Documentation fixes and improvements
209 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
211 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
212 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
214 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
216 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
218 * Changes to the distribution
220 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
222 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
223 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
224 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
226 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
228 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
231 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
233 * New modules (see the manual for details)
240 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
241 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
242 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
243 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
244 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
245 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
246 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
248 * Implementation improvements
250 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
251 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
254 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
256 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
258 ** set-program-arguments
261 * Incompatible changes
263 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
265 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
266 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
267 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
268 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
273 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
274 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
275 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
276 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
277 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
278 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
280 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
281 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
282 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
283 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
284 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
285 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
286 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
287 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
288 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
289 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
290 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
291 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
292 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
293 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
294 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
295 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
298 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
300 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
302 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
304 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
305 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
306 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
307 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
308 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
309 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
317 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
319 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
321 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
323 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
325 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
327 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
329 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
330 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
331 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
333 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
335 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
337 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
338 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
340 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
342 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
343 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
345 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
347 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
349 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
351 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
353 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
355 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
357 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
359 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
361 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
363 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
364 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
365 file was on a different device.
368 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
370 * Changes to the distribution
372 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
374 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
376 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
378 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
380 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
382 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
385 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
387 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
388 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
389 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
390 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
391 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
392 items like the versioned share directory name
393 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
395 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
396 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
397 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
398 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
399 with each micro release during a stable series.
401 ** Thread implementation has changed.
403 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
404 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
405 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
406 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
407 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
410 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
411 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
412 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
413 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
416 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
417 in which case "null" threads are used.
419 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
420 "Blocking", and others.
422 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
424 This is a milder form of deprecation.
426 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
427 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
428 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
429 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
430 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
432 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
433 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
435 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
437 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
438 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
440 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
443 This SRFI is always available.
445 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
447 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
448 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
449 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
450 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
453 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
455 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
456 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
457 parameters without currying.
459 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
461 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
462 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
464 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
465 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
468 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
469 with a renaming import, for example.
471 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
473 The official version is good enough now.
475 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
477 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
478 provided. Use 'make html'.
480 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
482 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
483 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
484 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
485 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
487 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
489 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
492 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
494 ** New command line option `-L'.
496 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
498 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
500 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
501 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
503 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
505 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
506 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
508 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
510 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
511 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
514 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
517 (define-module (demo)
521 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
524 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
526 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
528 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
529 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
530 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
532 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
534 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
535 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
537 ** New function hashx-remove!
539 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
541 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
542 barriers and dynamic states.
544 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
545 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
546 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
549 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
550 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
551 Barriers" in the manual.
553 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
554 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
556 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
558 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
559 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
560 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
563 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
565 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
566 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
568 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
569 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
570 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
572 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
573 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
575 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
576 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
577 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
579 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
580 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
581 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
584 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
585 substrings and read-only strings.
587 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
588 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
591 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
593 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
602 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
603 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
604 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
606 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
607 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
608 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
611 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
612 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
615 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
617 See the manual for details.
619 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
621 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
624 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
626 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
627 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
628 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
629 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
631 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
632 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
633 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
636 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
638 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
639 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
650 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
654 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
659 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
663 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
667 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
670 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
671 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
672 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
673 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
675 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
676 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
679 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
682 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
686 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
688 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
689 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
690 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
693 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
696 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
698 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
701 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
702 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
710 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
711 has been detected is to
713 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
714 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
715 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
718 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
721 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
723 to your .guile init file.
725 ** New define-module option: :replace
727 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
730 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
731 for the core binding `format'.
733 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
735 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
736 a prefix to all imported bindings.
739 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
741 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
744 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
746 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
747 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
748 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
750 ** New function: effective-version
752 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
753 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
754 to the distribution" above.
756 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
758 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
759 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
761 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
763 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
764 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
766 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
768 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
769 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
772 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
774 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
776 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
778 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
779 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
780 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
783 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
784 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
785 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
788 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
789 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
791 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
792 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
793 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
796 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
798 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
799 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
802 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
803 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
805 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
806 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
807 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
808 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
809 level for the current thread.
811 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
813 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
815 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
816 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
819 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
821 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
823 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
826 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
828 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
831 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
832 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
833 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
835 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
836 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
837 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
838 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
849 ERROR: Numerical overflow
851 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
854 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
856 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
857 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
858 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
869 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
871 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
872 them is also done exactly, of course:
877 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
880 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
881 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
883 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
885 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
886 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
887 equal to a floating point number. For example:
889 (inexact->exact 1.234)
890 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
892 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
894 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
897 ** New function 'rationalize'.
899 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
900 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
902 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
905 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
906 result when both its arguments are exact.
908 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
910 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
911 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
912 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
914 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
916 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
917 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
918 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
920 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
923 ** pretty-print has more options.
925 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
926 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
927 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
929 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
931 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
932 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
933 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
935 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
937 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
938 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
940 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
942 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
943 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
946 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
948 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
949 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
950 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
951 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
952 without the soft port blocking.
954 ** Deprecated: undefine
956 There is no replacement for undefine.
958 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
959 have been discouraged.
961 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
962 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
963 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
966 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
968 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
970 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
971 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
972 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
973 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
976 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
977 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
978 be removed in the next major Guile release.
980 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
982 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
983 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
984 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
985 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
986 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
987 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
989 * Changes to the C interface
991 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
992 take a 'delete' function argument.
994 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
995 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
997 This is an incompatible change.
999 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
1001 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
1002 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
1003 --disable-deprecated.
1005 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
1007 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
1008 Scheme values has been added.
1010 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
1011 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
1014 - int scm_is_* (...)
1016 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
1017 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
1019 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
1021 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
1022 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
1025 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
1027 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
1028 scm_from_int for ints.
1030 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
1031 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
1032 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
1034 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
1036 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
1037 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
1038 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
1041 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
1043 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
1045 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
1047 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
1048 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
1049 following alternatives.
1051 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
1052 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
1053 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
1054 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
1056 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
1057 do the validating for you.
1059 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
1060 have been discouraged.
1062 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
1063 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
1066 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
1068 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
1069 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
1072 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
1074 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
1077 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
1080 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
1082 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
1083 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
1085 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
1086 scm_truncate_number should have.
1088 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
1089 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
1091 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
1094 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
1095 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
1096 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
1098 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
1099 easier to use from C.
1101 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
1102 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
1104 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
1105 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
1106 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
1109 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
1110 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
1111 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
1112 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
1115 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
1116 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
1117 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
1118 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
1119 and is thus quite efficient.
1121 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
1123 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
1124 about the character encoding.
1126 Replace according to the following table:
1128 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
1129 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
1130 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
1131 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
1132 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
1133 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
1134 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
1135 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
1136 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
1138 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
1139 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
1141 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
1143 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
1144 now also available to C code.
1146 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
1148 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
1149 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
1150 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
1152 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
1155 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
1157 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
1158 unceremoniously removed.
1160 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
1161 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
1162 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
1164 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
1165 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
1166 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1167 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1168 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
1169 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
1172 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
1174 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
1175 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
1176 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
1177 manual for more details.
1179 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1180 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1182 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
1183 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
1184 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1186 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
1188 Migrate according to the following table:
1190 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
1191 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
1192 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
1193 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
1194 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
1195 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
1196 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
1198 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
1199 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
1200 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
1201 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
1202 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
1203 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
1204 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
1206 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
1208 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
1209 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
1211 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
1212 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
1213 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
1214 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
1216 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
1218 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
1219 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
1220 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
1222 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
1223 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
1225 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
1226 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
1227 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
1228 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
1230 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
1232 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
1233 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
1234 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
1235 prevent a potential memory leak:
1242 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
1244 mem = scm_malloc (100);
1245 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
1247 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
1248 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
1255 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
1256 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
1260 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
1262 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
1264 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
1265 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
1266 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
1268 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1269 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
1271 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
1273 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
1275 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
1276 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
1277 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
1279 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
1280 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
1282 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
1283 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
1284 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
1285 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
1288 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
1290 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
1291 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1292 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
1294 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
1296 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
1297 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
1299 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
1301 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
1302 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
1304 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
1306 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
1307 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
1308 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
1310 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
1312 You should not have used them.
1314 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
1316 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
1317 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
1319 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
1321 This macro is not intended for public use.
1323 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
1325 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
1327 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
1329 Use scm_is_real instead.
1331 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
1333 Use scm_is_complex instead.
1335 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
1337 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
1338 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
1340 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
1341 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
1343 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
1344 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
1346 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
1348 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
1351 ** New function: scm_effective_version
1353 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1354 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1355 to the distribution" above.
1357 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
1359 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
1360 arguments are now passed directly:
1362 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
1364 This is an incompatible change.
1366 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
1368 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
1369 function in the init section.
1371 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
1373 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
1375 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
1376 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
1377 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
1378 stays roughly constant.
1380 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
1381 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
1382 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
1383 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
1384 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
1387 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
1388 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
1389 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
1390 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
1392 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
1393 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
1394 objects for every type.
1397 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
1399 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
1401 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
1403 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
1404 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
1405 initializes a new cell (see below).
1407 ** New functions for memory management
1409 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
1410 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
1411 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
1412 cause aborts in long running programs.
1414 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
1415 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
1417 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
1418 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
1419 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
1420 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
1421 details and for upgrading instructions.
1423 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
1424 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
1425 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
1427 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
1429 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
1430 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
1431 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
1432 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
1433 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
1435 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
1436 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
1437 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
1439 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
1440 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
1442 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
1444 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
1445 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
1446 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
1447 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
1448 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
1450 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
1452 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
1455 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
1457 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
1459 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
1461 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
1462 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
1464 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1466 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1467 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1469 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
1470 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
1472 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
1474 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
1476 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
1477 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
1478 blocking it is not well defined.
1480 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
1482 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
1483 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
1484 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
1485 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
1486 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
1487 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
1488 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
1489 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
1490 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
1491 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
1492 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1493 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
1494 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
1495 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
1496 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
1497 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
1498 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
1499 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1500 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1501 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1502 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1503 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1504 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1505 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1506 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1507 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1508 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1509 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1510 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1511 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
1512 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
1514 * Changes to bundled modules
1518 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
1519 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
1520 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
1521 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
1522 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
1525 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1527 * Changes to the distribution
1529 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1531 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1533 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1534 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1535 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1536 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1537 indicate major changes in Guile.
1539 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1540 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1541 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1542 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1544 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1545 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1546 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1547 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1548 micro version number.
1550 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1552 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1554 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1555 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1557 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1559 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1560 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1561 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1563 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1565 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1566 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1567 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1570 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1572 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1575 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1577 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1578 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1580 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1582 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1583 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1586 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1588 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1591 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1594 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1596 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1598 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1599 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1600 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1602 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1604 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1606 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1609 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1611 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1613 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1615 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1616 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1617 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1619 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1621 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1623 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1624 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1633 See README there for more info.
1635 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1636 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1639 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1641 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1643 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1645 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1646 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1647 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1649 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1651 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1652 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1653 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1655 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1656 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1658 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1661 (oop goops describe)
1663 (oop goops active-slot)
1664 (oop goops composite-slot)
1666 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1667 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1668 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1670 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1672 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1673 in the default environment:
1675 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1676 %read-line write-line
1678 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1679 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1681 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1683 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1686 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1687 can be used for similar functionality.
1689 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1691 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1692 it defines two procedures:
1694 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1696 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1697 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1698 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1701 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1703 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1704 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1705 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1706 write large strings.
1708 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1710 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1711 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1713 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1715 for complete documentation.
1717 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1719 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1720 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1721 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1722 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1724 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1725 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1729 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1730 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1731 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1734 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1737 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1738 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1740 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1741 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1744 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1747 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1749 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1751 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1753 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1755 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1756 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1757 Scheme programs easier.
1759 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1760 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1761 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1762 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1763 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1766 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1767 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1769 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1772 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1774 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1775 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1776 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1779 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1781 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1783 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1784 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1785 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1786 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1787 was also ASCII, for example.
1789 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1791 tag - no replacement.
1792 fseek - replaced by seek.
1793 list* - replaced by cons*.
1795 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1799 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1800 (define m (make-safe-module))
1801 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1802 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1803 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1805 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1807 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1808 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1809 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1811 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1813 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1814 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1815 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1816 from the issues related to the module system.
1818 *** New function: load-extension
1820 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1822 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1824 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1825 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1826 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1828 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1830 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1831 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1832 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1833 support dynamic linking).
1835 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1837 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1838 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1839 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1840 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1843 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1844 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1845 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1846 library and initialize it explicitly.
1848 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1849 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1851 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1853 (define-module (foo bar))
1855 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1857 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1859 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1860 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1862 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1863 (null-environment 5)
1864 (interaction-environment)
1870 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1872 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1873 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1874 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1875 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1877 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1878 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1879 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1880 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1881 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1882 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1883 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1884 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1885 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1886 one eval to the next.
1888 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1889 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1890 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1891 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1892 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1894 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1895 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1896 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1897 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1898 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1899 used in a lexical environment.
1901 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1902 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1903 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1904 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1905 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1906 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1908 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1910 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1911 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1912 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1913 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1914 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1916 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1917 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1918 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1920 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1921 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1923 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1924 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1925 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1927 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1928 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1930 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1931 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1932 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1933 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1936 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1937 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1938 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1939 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1941 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1942 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1943 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1945 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1946 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1947 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1948 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1949 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1951 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1953 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1954 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1955 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1957 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1958 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1959 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1961 See manual for more info.
1963 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1965 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1966 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1967 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1969 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1971 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1972 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1973 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1975 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1976 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1977 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1978 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1980 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1982 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1983 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1985 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1986 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1987 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1988 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1989 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1992 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1993 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1994 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1995 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1996 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1997 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1999 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
2000 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
2001 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
2002 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
2003 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
2005 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
2006 objects are usually permanent.
2008 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
2009 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
2011 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
2013 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
2014 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
2017 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
2021 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
2026 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
2028 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
2029 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
2030 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
2031 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
2033 ** New function `make-object-property'
2035 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
2036 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
2040 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
2041 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
2045 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
2046 source properties eventually.
2048 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
2050 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
2051 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
2052 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
2054 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
2055 will be removed in the next release.
2057 ** New define-module option: pure
2059 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
2064 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
2067 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
2069 Export names NAME1 ...
2071 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
2072 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
2076 (define-module (foo)
2078 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
2081 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
2086 ** New function: object->string OBJ
2088 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
2090 ** New function: port? X
2092 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
2093 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
2095 ** New function: file-port?
2097 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
2099 ** New function: port-for-each proc
2101 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
2102 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
2103 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
2104 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
2105 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
2107 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
2109 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
2110 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
2111 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
2112 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
2113 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
2116 ** New function: close-fdes fd
2118 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
2119 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
2120 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
2121 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
2124 ** New function: crypt password salt
2126 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
2129 ** New function: chroot path
2131 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
2133 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
2135 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
2138 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
2140 Get or set the priority of the running process.
2142 ** New function: getpass prompt
2144 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
2147 ** New function: flock file operation
2149 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
2151 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
2153 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
2156 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
2158 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
2159 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
2160 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
2161 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
2162 of the temporary file.
2164 ** New function: open-input-string string
2166 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
2167 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
2168 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
2170 ** New function: open-output-string
2172 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
2173 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
2175 ** New function: get-output-string
2177 Return the contents of an output string port.
2179 ** New function: identity
2181 Return the argument.
2183 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
2184 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
2186 ** New function: inet-pton family address
2188 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
2189 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
2190 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2193 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
2194 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
2196 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
2198 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
2199 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
2200 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2203 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
2204 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
2205 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
2209 Use `identity' instead.
2215 ** Deprecated: return-it
2219 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
2221 Use `string-length' instead.
2223 ** Deprecated: flags
2225 Use `logior' instead.
2227 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
2229 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
2230 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
2231 port-for-each is more flexible.
2233 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
2234 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
2235 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
2237 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
2239 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
2241 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
2243 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
2245 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
2247 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
2248 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
2250 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
2251 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
2253 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
2254 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
2256 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
2258 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
2259 Removed function: builtin-bindings
2261 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
2262 Use module system operations for all variables.
2264 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
2266 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
2269 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
2271 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
2272 The following bugs have been fixed:
2274 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
2275 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
2278 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
2279 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
2280 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
2282 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
2283 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
2285 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
2286 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
2289 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
2290 The expansion used to be like so:
2292 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
2294 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
2296 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
2298 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
2299 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
2301 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
2303 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
2304 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
2305 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
2309 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
2310 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
2312 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
2317 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
2318 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
2320 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
2321 and `d', other keywords allowed.
2322 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
2324 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
2327 * Changes to the C interface
2329 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
2331 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
2332 with "_t". What a concept.
2334 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
2336 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
2338 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
2342 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
2343 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
2345 *** C Functions removed
2347 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
2348 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
2349 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
2350 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
2351 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
2352 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
2353 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
2355 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
2357 Use scm_mem2string instead.
2359 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
2361 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
2363 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
2364 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
2366 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
2368 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
2371 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
2373 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
2375 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
2377 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
2378 Evaluation" in the manual.
2380 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
2382 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
2383 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2385 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
2387 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
2388 Constructors" in the manual.
2390 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
2392 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
2393 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
2395 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
2397 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
2399 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
2400 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
2401 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
2403 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2405 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
2407 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
2408 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
2409 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
2412 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2414 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
2416 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
2417 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
2419 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
2421 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
2422 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
2423 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
2424 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
2426 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
2427 scm_primitive_property_ref
2428 scm_primitive_property_set_x
2429 scm_primitive_property_del_x
2431 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
2432 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2434 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2436 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2437 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2438 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2439 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2441 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2443 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2444 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2445 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2446 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2447 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2448 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2449 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2451 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2452 scm_remember_upto_here
2454 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2456 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2458 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2459 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2461 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2463 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2465 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2467 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2469 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2471 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2472 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2473 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2474 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2475 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2476 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2478 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2480 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2482 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2483 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2484 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2486 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2488 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2489 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2490 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2492 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2494 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2495 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2498 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2501 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2502 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2505 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2507 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2509 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2511 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2513 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2515 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2517 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2518 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2519 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2520 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2521 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2522 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2523 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2524 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2525 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2526 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2527 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2528 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2529 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2530 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2531 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2533 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2534 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2535 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2536 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2537 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2538 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2539 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2540 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2541 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2542 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2543 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2544 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2545 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2546 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2547 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2548 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2549 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2550 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2551 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2552 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2553 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2554 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2555 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2556 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2557 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2558 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2559 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2560 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2561 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2563 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2565 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2567 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2568 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2570 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2572 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2574 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2576 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2578 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2580 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2582 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2584 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2586 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2589 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2590 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2592 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2594 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2596 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2598 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2600 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2602 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2604 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2606 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2609 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2611 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2613 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2615 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2616 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2618 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2619 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2621 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2623 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2624 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2625 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2627 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2629 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2631 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2632 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2634 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2635 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2636 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2637 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2639 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2640 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2641 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2643 Use the new ones from above instead.
2645 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2647 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2648 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2649 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2651 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2652 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2654 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2655 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2658 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2659 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2661 Use the new functions instead.
2663 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2666 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2668 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2670 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2673 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2675 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2678 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2680 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2683 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2684 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2685 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2687 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2689 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2690 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2692 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2693 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2694 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2695 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2698 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2700 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2701 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2702 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2703 inexact for an exact.
2705 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2706 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2707 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2710 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2711 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2712 accept an inexact argument.
2714 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2715 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2717 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2720 ** New number validation macros:
2721 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2725 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2727 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2728 scm_unprotect_object.
2730 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2732 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2734 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2737 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2739 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2743 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2745 * Changes to the distribution
2747 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2749 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2750 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2751 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2752 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2753 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2754 obtain these programs.
2755 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2756 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2758 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2759 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2760 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2761 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2762 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2764 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2765 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2766 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2767 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2771 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2774 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2775 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2776 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2777 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2779 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2781 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2783 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2784 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2786 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2787 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2789 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2790 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2792 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2793 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2794 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2795 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2797 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2799 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2803 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2804 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2806 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2808 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2809 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2811 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2812 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2813 number of objects of that kind.
2815 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2817 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2818 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2819 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2820 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2821 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2823 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2825 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2827 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2829 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2832 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2834 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2836 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2838 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2840 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2842 ** New command line option --debug
2844 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2846 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2848 ** New help facility
2850 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2851 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2852 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2853 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2854 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2855 (help) gives this text
2857 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2858 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2860 Examples: (help help)
2862 (help "output-string")
2864 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2866 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2868 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2869 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2872 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2873 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2874 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2877 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2878 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2879 use absolute filenames when possible.
2881 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2882 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2883 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2886 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2888 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2889 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2890 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2891 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2893 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2895 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2897 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2898 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2899 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2901 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2902 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2903 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2905 (read-enable 'positions)
2906 (debug-enable 'debug)
2908 ** Backtraces in scripts
2910 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2914 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2916 at the top of the script.
2918 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2919 The second enables backtraces.)
2921 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2923 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2924 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2925 substantially faster than before.
2927 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2928 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2930 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2931 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2933 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2935 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2936 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2937 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2939 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2940 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2941 when this hook is run in the future.
2943 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2944 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2946 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2948 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2949 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2952 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2953 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2954 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2956 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2957 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2959 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2960 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2962 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2963 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2964 in order not to need further allocation.)
2966 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2969 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2970 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2971 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2972 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2974 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2976 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2979 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2981 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2984 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2985 GC in percent of total heap size
2988 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2989 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2991 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2993 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2994 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2996 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2998 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2999 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
3001 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
3003 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
3004 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
3008 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
3009 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
3011 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
3013 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3015 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
3017 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
3019 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
3021 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
3022 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
3024 (simple-format port message . args)
3025 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
3026 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
3027 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
3028 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
3029 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
3030 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
3031 Does not add a trailing newline."
3033 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
3035 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
3036 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
3038 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
3039 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
3041 ** Deprecated: list*
3043 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
3045 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
3047 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
3048 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
3050 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
3051 is returned as result.
3053 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
3055 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
3057 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
3059 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
3060 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
3063 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
3065 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
3067 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
3068 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
3070 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3072 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
3074 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
3076 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3078 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
3080 Thanks to Greg Badros!
3082 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3084 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3085 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
3086 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
3088 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
3091 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
3093 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
3094 the readability of argument checking.
3096 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
3098 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
3100 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
3102 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
3103 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
3104 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
3105 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
3106 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
3107 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
3108 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
3110 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
3112 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
3114 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
3115 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
3117 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
3119 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
3120 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
3123 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
3125 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
3126 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
3127 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
3129 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
3130 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
3131 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
3133 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
3134 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
3135 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
3136 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
3137 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
3138 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
3139 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
3141 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
3142 scm_end_input (object);
3143 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
3144 ptob->flush (object);
3146 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
3147 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
3150 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
3152 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
3154 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
3155 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
3156 removed in a future version.
3158 ** The format of error message strings has changed
3160 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
3161 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
3162 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
3163 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
3165 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
3166 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
3168 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
3171 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
3173 in your configure.in.
3175 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
3180 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
3186 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
3188 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
3192 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
3193 (define make-message string-append)
3195 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
3197 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
3201 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
3206 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
3210 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
3212 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
3213 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
3215 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
3217 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
3218 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
3219 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
3220 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
3221 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
3222 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
3224 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
3225 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
3226 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
3228 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
3229 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
3230 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
3233 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
3234 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
3235 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
3236 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
3237 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
3239 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
3240 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
3241 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
3242 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
3243 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
3244 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
3245 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
3247 Destructors are not yet implemented.
3249 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
3250 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
3251 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
3253 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
3254 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
3255 KEY in the calling thread.
3257 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
3258 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
3259 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
3260 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
3261 associated with the key.
3263 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
3265 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
3266 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
3268 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
3270 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
3271 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
3272 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
3274 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
3276 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
3277 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
3279 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
3281 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
3283 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
3284 returned is undefined.
3286 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
3287 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
3288 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
3290 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
3291 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
3292 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
3294 ** New C level GC hooks
3296 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
3298 scm_before_gc_c_hook
3301 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
3302 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
3303 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
3305 scm_before_mark_c_hook
3306 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
3307 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
3309 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
3310 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
3313 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
3315 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
3316 allocation parameters
3318 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
3319 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
3320 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
3324 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
3325 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
3326 scm_default_max_segment_size
3328 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
3330 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
3331 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
3333 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
3335 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
3336 object and count on the object being protected until
3337 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
3339 The functions also have better time complexity.
3341 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
3342 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
3343 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
3344 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
3345 are no longer needed.
3347 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
3349 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
3350 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
3351 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
3352 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
3354 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
3356 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
3358 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
3360 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
3361 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
3362 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
3363 until this issue has been settled.
3365 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
3367 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
3369 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
3372 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
3374 * Changes to system call interfaces:
3376 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
3377 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
3378 descriptors were checked.
3380 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
3381 atomically written to a pipe.
3383 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
3384 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
3385 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
3386 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
3387 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
3388 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
3389 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
3392 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
3393 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
3394 is changed without calling tzset.
3396 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
3398 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
3399 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
3400 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
3402 (define write-network-long
3403 (lambda (value port)
3404 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3405 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
3406 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
3408 (define read-network-long
3410 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3411 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
3412 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
3414 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
3415 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
3417 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
3418 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
3419 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
3420 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
3422 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
3423 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
3424 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
3425 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
3429 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
3431 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3435 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3436 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3437 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3443 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3444 for a description of available commands.
3446 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3447 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3448 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3450 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3452 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3453 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3455 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3457 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3459 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3460 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3461 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3462 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3463 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3464 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3467 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3469 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3470 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3471 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3472 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3474 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3475 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3477 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3479 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3481 ** Readline support has changed again.
3483 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3484 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3485 to activate readline is now
3487 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3490 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3492 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3493 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3494 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3497 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3498 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3499 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3502 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3503 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3504 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3505 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3506 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3507 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3509 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3510 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3512 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3514 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3515 object it receives is the same string passed to
3516 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3517 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3518 string, not the suffix.
3520 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3521 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3522 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3524 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3526 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3527 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3528 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3529 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3532 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3534 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3536 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3537 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3538 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3539 appear from left to right.
3541 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3544 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3546 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3547 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3549 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3553 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3555 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3557 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3559 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3560 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3561 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3563 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3565 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3567 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3569 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3572 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3574 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3575 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3576 mentioning it here anyway.
3578 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3580 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3581 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3582 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3583 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3586 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3588 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3590 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3592 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3593 otherwise return #f.
3595 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3597 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3598 returned by `opendir'.
3600 ** New function: using-readline?
3602 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3604 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3606 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3607 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3609 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3611 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3613 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3614 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3615 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3617 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3619 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3620 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3622 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3624 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3625 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3626 documentation slots are not yet used.
3628 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3630 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3631 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3632 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3637 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3638 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3639 (string-append x y))
3641 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3642 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3644 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3645 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3646 be made in a clean way.]
3648 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3650 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3652 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3654 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3655 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3657 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3659 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3661 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3663 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3665 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3666 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3667 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3668 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3671 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3673 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3675 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3677 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3679 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3680 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3682 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3684 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3686 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3688 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3690 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3691 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3692 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3693 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3694 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3695 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3697 This should not make any difference for most users.
3699 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3701 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3702 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3704 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3706 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3707 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3708 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3709 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3710 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3712 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3714 It is now replaced by:
3716 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3718 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3719 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3721 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3723 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3724 This might change when we get the new module system.
3726 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3730 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3732 * Changes to mailing lists
3734 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3736 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3739 * Changes to the distribution
3741 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3743 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3744 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3745 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3746 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3747 you explicitly specify it.
3749 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3750 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3751 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3752 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3753 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3756 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3757 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3758 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3759 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3761 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3762 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3763 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3766 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3768 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3771 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3773 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3775 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3776 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3777 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3778 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3780 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3781 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3784 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3786 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3787 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3788 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3789 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3790 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3791 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3792 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3793 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3805 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3806 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3807 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3808 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3809 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3814 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3815 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3823 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3828 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3829 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3832 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3833 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3834 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3835 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3837 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3839 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3841 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3842 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3844 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3846 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3848 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3849 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3851 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3854 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3856 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3858 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3860 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3862 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3864 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3866 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3867 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3868 when the hook was created.
3870 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3871 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3872 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3873 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3874 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3875 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3876 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3877 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3878 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3880 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3881 the dlopen family of functions.
3883 ** New function `provided?'
3885 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3886 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3887 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3888 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3890 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3892 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3893 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3894 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3895 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3898 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3899 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3900 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3901 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3903 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3904 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3905 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3908 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3909 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3910 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3911 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3912 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3913 but with the flag set.
3915 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3917 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3918 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3920 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3921 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3922 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3923 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3924 available Scheme format implementations.
3926 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3927 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3928 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3929 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3930 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3931 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3932 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3933 output is to the current error port if available by the
3934 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3937 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3938 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3939 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3940 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3941 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3942 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3943 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3944 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3946 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3947 be executed at a time.
3950 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3952 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3953 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3954 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3956 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3957 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3958 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3959 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3960 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3961 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3962 general form of a directive is:
3964 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3966 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3968 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3970 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3971 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3972 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3975 Any (print as `display' does).
3979 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3983 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3987 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3993 print number sign always.
3996 print comma separated.
3998 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
4004 print number sign always.
4007 print comma separated.
4009 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
4015 print number sign always.
4018 print comma separated.
4020 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
4026 print number sign always.
4029 print comma separated.
4031 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
4036 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
4040 print a number as a Roman numeral.
4043 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
4046 print a number as an ordinal English number.
4049 print a number as a cardinal English number.
4054 prints `y' and `ies'.
4057 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4060 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4065 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
4069 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
4072 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
4073 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
4075 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4078 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
4079 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
4081 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4084 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
4086 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
4088 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4091 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
4093 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
4095 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4098 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
4101 The sign appears before the padding.
4109 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
4111 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
4116 print N page separators.
4126 newline is ignored, white space left.
4129 newline is left, white space ignored.
4134 relative tabulation.
4140 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
4142 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
4145 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
4147 converts by `string-capitalize'.
4150 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
4153 converts by `string-upcase'.
4156 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
4158 jumps N arguments forward.
4161 jumps 1 argument backward.
4164 jumps N arguments backward.
4167 jumps to the 0th argument.
4170 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
4172 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
4173 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
4175 take argument from N.
4178 true test conditional.
4181 if-else-then conditional.
4187 default clause follows.
4190 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
4192 at most N iterations.
4195 args from next arg (a list of lists).
4198 args from the rest of arguments.
4201 args from the rest args (lists).
4212 aborts if N <= M <= K
4214 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
4217 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4220 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4226 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
4228 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
4230 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
4231 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
4232 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
4233 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
4234 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
4235 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
4239 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
4243 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
4249 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
4252 Print a `#\space' character
4254 print N `#\space' characters.
4257 Print a `#\tab' character
4259 print N `#\tab' characters.
4262 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
4263 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
4264 must be a positive decimal number.
4267 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4268 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4269 be processed by `read'.
4272 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4273 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4274 be processed by `read'.
4277 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
4280 prints format version.
4283 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
4284 and format it accordingly.
4286 *** Configuration Variables
4288 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
4289 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
4290 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
4291 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
4294 format:symbol-case-conv
4295 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
4296 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
4297 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
4298 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
4299 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
4301 format:iobj-case-conv
4302 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
4303 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
4306 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
4309 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
4315 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
4316 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
4317 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
4318 `format' padding style.
4321 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
4322 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
4323 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
4324 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
4328 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
4329 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
4330 directive parameters or modifiers)).
4333 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
4334 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
4335 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
4336 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
4337 parameters or modifiers)).
4340 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
4342 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
4344 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
4345 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
4347 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
4348 string-downcase! functions.
4350 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
4351 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
4353 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
4356 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
4359 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
4360 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
4362 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
4364 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
4365 the symbol had be read by `read'.
4367 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
4368 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
4369 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
4370 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
4371 would if STRING were input.
4373 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
4375 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
4376 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
4377 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
4378 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
4381 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
4383 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
4384 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
4387 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
4389 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
4390 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
4392 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
4393 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
4395 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
4396 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
4397 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
4398 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
4400 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
4401 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
4403 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
4404 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
4405 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
4407 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
4408 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
4410 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
4411 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
4412 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
4413 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
4414 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
4416 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
4417 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
4418 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
4419 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
4420 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
4421 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
4423 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
4424 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
4425 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
4428 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
4429 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
4430 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
4431 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
4432 the following grammar:
4433 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4434 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4435 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4436 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4437 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4438 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4439 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4440 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4441 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4442 last option in its combination)
4444 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4445 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4446 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4447 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4449 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4450 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4451 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4453 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4454 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4455 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4457 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4458 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4459 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4460 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4461 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4462 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4463 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4464 ordinary argument strings.
4466 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4467 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4468 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4469 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4471 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4472 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4474 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4475 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4476 - a required option is omitted
4477 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4478 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4479 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4480 - an option predicate fails
4485 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4488 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4489 (verbose (required? #f)
4492 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4493 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4494 (predicate ,string?))))
4496 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4497 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4499 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4500 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4501 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4502 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4505 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4507 It will be removed in a few releases.
4509 ** New syntax: lambda*
4510 ** New syntax: define*
4511 ** New syntax: define*-public
4512 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4513 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4514 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4516 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4517 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4518 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4519 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4520 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4522 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4523 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4524 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4526 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4528 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4529 and examples for `lambda*':
4532 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4534 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4535 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4536 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4537 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4538 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4539 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4540 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4541 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4543 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4545 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4546 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4547 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4548 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4550 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4551 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4552 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4553 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4554 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4555 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4556 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4557 and until the procedure is called.
4559 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4561 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4562 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4563 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4564 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4565 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4566 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4567 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4568 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4569 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4570 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4572 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4573 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4574 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4575 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4578 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4580 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4581 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4582 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4583 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4585 ** New syntax: and-let*
4586 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4588 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4589 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4590 (<variable> <expression>)
4593 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4594 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4595 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4598 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4599 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4600 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4601 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4602 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4603 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4604 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4606 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4607 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4608 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4609 shadow earlier bindings.
4611 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4613 ** New sorting functions
4615 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4616 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4617 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4618 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4620 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4621 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4624 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4625 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4626 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4628 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4629 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4630 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4631 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4633 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4634 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4635 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4636 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4637 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4640 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4641 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4642 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4643 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4644 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4645 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4647 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4648 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4649 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4651 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4652 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4653 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4656 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4657 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4658 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4660 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4661 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4663 ** New built-in random number support
4665 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4666 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4667 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4668 returned have a uniform distribution.
4670 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4671 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4672 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4673 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4674 effect of the `random' operation.
4676 *** New variable: *random-state*
4677 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4678 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4679 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4680 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4681 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4684 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4685 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4686 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4687 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4688 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4690 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4691 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4692 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4693 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4694 initialized using SEED.
4696 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4697 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4698 range between 0 and 1.
4700 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4701 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4702 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4703 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4704 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4705 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4706 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4708 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4709 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4710 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4711 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4712 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4713 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4715 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4716 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4717 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4718 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4720 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4721 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4722 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4723 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4725 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4726 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4727 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4729 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4731 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4734 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4735 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4738 ** New function: make-guardian
4739 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4740 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4741 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4742 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4743 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4745 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4746 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4747 one object if at all.
4749 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4750 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4751 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4753 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4754 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4755 read again in last-in first-out order.
4757 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4758 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4760 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4762 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4763 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4764 file position is used.
4766 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4767 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4768 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4770 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4771 redefined using seek.
4773 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4774 size is not supplied.
4776 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4777 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4779 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4780 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4782 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4784 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4785 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4786 and returns the contents as a single string.
4788 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4789 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4790 lists in serial order.
4792 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4793 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4794 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4796 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4797 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4798 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4799 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4801 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4802 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4803 and #f if an error occured.
4805 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4807 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4808 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4809 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4810 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4812 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4814 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4817 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4819 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4822 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4826 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4827 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4829 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4830 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4834 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4836 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4838 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4839 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4841 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4843 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4844 might change when we get the new module system.
4846 ** The smob interface
4848 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4849 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4851 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4853 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4857 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4858 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4859 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4860 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4861 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4862 will be freed by the default free function.
4864 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4865 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4866 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4867 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4869 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4870 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4871 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4872 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4874 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4876 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4877 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4881 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4882 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4883 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4885 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4886 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4887 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4888 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4890 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4891 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4892 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4894 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4895 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4896 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4897 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4899 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4900 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4901 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4903 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4907 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4909 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4910 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4911 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4913 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4914 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4915 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4917 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4918 a string port's buffer.
4920 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4921 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4922 function pointers which together define the current random number
4923 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4924 number library functions.
4926 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4929 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4930 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4933 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4934 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4936 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4937 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4939 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4940 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4943 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4944 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4945 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4946 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4948 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4949 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4950 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4951 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4952 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4953 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4954 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4956 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4957 by libguile and the application.
4959 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4960 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4961 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4962 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4964 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4965 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4967 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4968 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4969 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4971 ** Random number library functions
4972 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4973 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4974 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4976 The default random state is stored in:
4978 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4979 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4980 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4985 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4987 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4988 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4989 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4990 isn't a random state.
4992 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4993 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4995 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4996 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4997 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4998 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
5000 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5001 Return 32 random bits.
5003 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5004 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
5006 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5007 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
5009 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5010 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
5012 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
5013 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
5015 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
5016 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
5017 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
5021 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
5023 * Changes to the distribution
5025 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
5026 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
5027 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
5030 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
5031 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
5032 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
5034 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
5035 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
5036 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
5037 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
5040 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
5041 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
5042 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
5044 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5046 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
5048 *** Function: batch-mode?
5050 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
5053 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
5055 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
5056 case has not been implemented.
5058 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
5059 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
5060 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
5063 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
5064 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
5066 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
5068 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5070 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
5072 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
5073 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
5076 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
5077 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
5078 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
5079 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
5082 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
5084 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
5085 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
5086 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
5087 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
5088 find those libraries.
5090 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
5091 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
5094 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
5096 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
5097 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
5098 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
5099 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
5101 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
5102 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
5103 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
5107 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
5109 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
5110 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
5111 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
5114 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
5115 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
5116 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
5117 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
5119 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
5120 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
5123 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
5124 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
5125 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
5126 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
5127 compiler where to find the libraries.
5129 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
5130 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
5131 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
5133 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
5134 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
5135 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
5136 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
5137 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
5141 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5143 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
5144 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
5145 internationalization support.
5147 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
5148 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
5149 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
5150 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
5151 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
5153 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
5154 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
5155 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
5156 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
5157 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
5159 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
5160 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
5161 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
5162 any GNU mirror site.
5164 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
5166 ** New function: add-history STRING
5167 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
5168 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
5169 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
5171 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
5173 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
5174 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
5175 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
5178 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
5179 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
5180 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
5182 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
5184 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
5187 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
5188 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
5191 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
5192 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
5193 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
5194 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
5195 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
5196 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
5198 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
5199 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
5200 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
5201 of the form mentioned above.
5203 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
5204 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
5205 returned in the special `rest' list.
5207 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
5208 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
5210 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
5212 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
5214 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
5216 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
5217 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
5218 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
5219 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
5220 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
5221 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
5222 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
5223 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
5226 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
5228 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
5230 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
5231 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
5234 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
5235 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
5236 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
5240 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
5241 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
5242 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
5243 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
5244 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
5245 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
5246 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
5247 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
5250 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
5252 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
5253 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
5254 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
5256 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
5258 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
5259 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
5261 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
5262 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
5263 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
5265 Why do we have this function?
5266 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
5267 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
5268 primitive, and display it differently, and
5269 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
5270 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
5273 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
5274 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
5277 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
5278 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
5279 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
5280 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
5282 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
5283 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
5286 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
5287 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
5289 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
5291 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
5292 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
5293 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
5294 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
5295 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
5296 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
5297 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
5300 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
5302 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
5303 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
5305 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
5306 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
5307 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
5308 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
5309 properly continue the print chain.
5311 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
5312 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
5313 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
5314 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
5315 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
5316 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
5317 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
5318 print-state, it is simply ignored.
5320 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
5321 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
5322 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
5323 safest to not check for these pairs.
5325 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
5326 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
5327 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
5328 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
5330 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
5332 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
5333 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
5335 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
5337 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
5339 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
5340 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
5341 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
5343 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
5344 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
5345 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
5347 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
5348 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
5349 the following functions and macros:
5351 Function: make-fluid
5353 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
5354 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
5355 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
5356 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
5357 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
5359 Function: fluid? OBJ
5361 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
5363 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
5364 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
5366 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
5367 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
5369 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
5371 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
5372 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
5373 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
5374 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
5375 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
5376 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
5377 modified by `with-fluids*'.
5379 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
5381 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
5382 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
5383 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
5384 should evaluate to a fluid.
5386 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
5388 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
5389 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
5390 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
5391 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
5392 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
5394 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
5397 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
5399 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
5401 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
5403 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
5406 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
5407 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
5408 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
5409 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
5410 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
5413 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
5414 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
5415 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
5417 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
5418 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
5419 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
5421 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
5422 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
5423 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5424 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
5426 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
5427 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
5428 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5429 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
5431 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
5432 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5433 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5434 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5436 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5437 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5438 their revealed counts set to zero.
5440 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5441 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5443 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5444 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5446 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5447 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5449 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5450 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5451 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5453 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5454 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5455 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5457 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5458 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5459 default environment inherited by child processes.
5461 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5462 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5463 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5465 The return value is unspecified.
5467 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5468 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5469 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5470 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5471 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5473 The return value is unspecified.
5475 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5476 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5484 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5485 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5488 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5491 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5492 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5493 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5495 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5496 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5497 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5498 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5501 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5502 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5504 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5505 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5506 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5507 the `environ' procedure.
5509 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5510 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5513 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5514 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5516 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5517 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5518 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5519 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5521 *** procedure: times
5522 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5523 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5524 return a selected component:
5527 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5531 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5534 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5538 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5539 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5543 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5544 terminated child processes.
5546 ** Removed: list-length
5547 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5548 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5550 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5552 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5554 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5556 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5557 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5558 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5559 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5561 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5562 extra complexity it introduces.
5564 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5565 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5567 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5568 variable to any non-empty value.
5570 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5571 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5573 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5575 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5576 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5578 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5580 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5581 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5583 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5585 ** vector handling routines
5587 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5588 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5589 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5590 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5591 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5593 ** pair and list routines
5595 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5598 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5600 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5603 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5605 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5607 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5608 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5609 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5610 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5611 site-specific initialization code.
5613 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5614 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5615 initialization processes.
5617 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5618 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5619 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5620 initialized properly.
5622 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5623 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5624 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5626 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5627 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5628 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5629 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5630 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5632 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5634 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5635 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5636 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5637 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5638 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5640 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5641 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5642 which look like this:
5645 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5647 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5648 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5651 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5652 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5655 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5657 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5658 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5659 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5661 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5662 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5663 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5664 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5665 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5667 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5668 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5670 int (*free) (SCM port);
5671 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5672 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5673 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5677 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5678 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5679 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5681 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5684 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5685 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5686 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5688 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5689 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5690 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5693 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5697 struct timeval *timeout);
5699 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5700 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5701 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5702 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5703 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5704 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5706 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5707 scm_catch_body_t body,
5709 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5712 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5713 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5714 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5715 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5716 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5717 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5719 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5721 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5724 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5725 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5726 spawning threads from application C code.
5728 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5729 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5730 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5731 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5732 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5733 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5735 ** Removed functions:
5737 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5738 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5740 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5742 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5743 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5745 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5747 ** mbstrings are now removed
5749 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5750 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5752 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5754 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5755 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5756 their new names and arguments:
5758 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5759 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5760 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5761 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5764 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5766 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5768 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5771 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5773 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5774 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5775 pass a #f arg to catch.
5777 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5779 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5780 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5783 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5784 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5785 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5786 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5787 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5788 reclaim its storage.
5790 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5791 worrying that some other function you call will call
5792 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5793 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5794 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5795 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5798 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5800 * Changes to the distribution
5802 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5803 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5806 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5807 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5809 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5810 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5812 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5814 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5815 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5816 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5818 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5820 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5821 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5822 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5823 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5824 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5825 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5827 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5828 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5829 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5832 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5833 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5834 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5835 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5837 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5838 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5839 libraries to your link command:
5841 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5842 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5843 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5844 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5846 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5847 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5848 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5850 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5852 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5853 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5856 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5858 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5859 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5860 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5861 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5862 searched is system dependent.
5864 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5866 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5868 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5870 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5871 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5873 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5875 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5876 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5877 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5878 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5879 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5882 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5884 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5885 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5886 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5887 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5888 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5890 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5892 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5893 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5895 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5897 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5898 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5899 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5902 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5904 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5905 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5906 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5907 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5909 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5910 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5912 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5914 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5915 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5917 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5919 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5920 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5928 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5930 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5931 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5932 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5933 a more informative way.
5935 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5936 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5937 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5938 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5939 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5940 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5942 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5943 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5946 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5947 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5948 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5951 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5952 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5953 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5954 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5955 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5956 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5958 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5959 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5960 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5961 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5964 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5965 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5966 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5967 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5968 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5969 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5971 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5972 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5973 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5974 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5975 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5977 *** regexp functions
5979 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5980 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5981 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5983 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5984 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5985 with SCSH regular expressions.
5987 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5988 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5989 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5990 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5992 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5993 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5994 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5995 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5997 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5998 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5999 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
6000 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
6001 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
6002 match strings against the compiled regexp.
6004 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
6005 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
6006 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
6007 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
6008 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
6010 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
6012 **** Constant: regexp/extended
6013 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
6014 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
6015 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
6017 **** Constant: regexp/icase
6018 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
6019 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
6021 **** Constant: regexp/newline
6022 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
6024 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
6027 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
6028 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
6029 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
6031 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
6032 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
6033 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
6035 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
6036 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
6037 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
6038 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
6039 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
6042 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
6044 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
6045 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
6046 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
6047 used when different portions of a string are passed to
6048 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
6049 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
6051 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
6052 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
6053 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
6055 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
6056 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
6059 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
6060 and replace them with the contents of another string.
6062 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
6063 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
6064 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
6065 may be one of the following arguments:
6067 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
6069 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
6071 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
6072 the regexp match is written.
6074 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
6075 following the regexp match is written.
6077 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
6078 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
6081 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
6082 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
6083 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
6084 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
6085 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
6086 which should be matched against this regular expression.
6088 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
6091 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
6092 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
6093 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
6094 written out to PORT.
6096 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
6097 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
6098 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
6099 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
6100 will return after processing a single match.
6102 *** Match Structures
6104 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
6105 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
6106 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
6107 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
6108 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
6109 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
6112 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
6113 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
6114 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
6115 information about the original target string that was matched against a
6116 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
6118 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
6119 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
6120 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
6122 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
6123 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
6124 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
6125 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
6126 number N did not match, return `#f'.
6128 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
6129 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
6131 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
6132 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
6134 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
6135 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
6137 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
6138 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
6140 **** Function: match:count MATCH
6141 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
6142 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
6143 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
6145 **** Function: match:string MATCH
6146 Return the original TARGET string.
6148 *** Backslash Escapes
6150 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
6151 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
6152 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
6153 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
6154 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
6155 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
6157 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
6158 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
6159 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
6160 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
6161 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
6162 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
6163 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
6164 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
6166 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
6167 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
6168 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
6169 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
6170 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
6171 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
6172 each match a single backslash in the target string.
6174 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
6175 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
6176 return the resulting string.
6178 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
6179 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
6180 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
6181 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
6182 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
6183 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
6184 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
6185 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
6186 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
6187 translated to the single character `*'.
6189 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
6190 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
6191 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
6192 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
6193 consecutive backslashes:
6195 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
6197 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
6198 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
6199 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
6201 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
6202 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
6203 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
6204 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
6205 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
6206 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
6208 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
6210 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
6211 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
6212 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
6213 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
6214 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
6215 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
6216 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
6217 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
6218 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
6219 cumbersome escape syntax.
6221 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6223 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6225 * Changes to system call interfaces:
6227 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
6230 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
6232 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
6234 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
6237 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
6238 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
6239 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
6240 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
6241 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
6243 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
6244 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
6245 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
6246 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
6247 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
6248 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
6249 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
6252 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
6253 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
6254 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
6257 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
6258 `force-output' on every port open for output.
6260 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
6261 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
6262 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
6263 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
6264 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
6265 installed, you can say:
6267 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
6270 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6272 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
6273 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
6274 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
6275 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
6276 new dynamic roots and threads.
6279 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
6281 * Changes to the distribution.
6283 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
6285 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
6286 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
6287 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
6288 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
6289 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
6290 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
6291 programming language. These are packaged together because the
6292 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
6294 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
6297 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
6298 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
6303 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6305 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
6306 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
6308 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
6309 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
6310 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
6311 the (command-line) function.
6312 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
6313 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
6314 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
6316 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
6317 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
6318 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
6319 command line arguments
6320 -ds do -s script at this point
6321 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
6322 -h, --help display this help and exit
6323 -v, --version display version information and exit
6324 \ read arguments from following script lines
6326 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
6327 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
6329 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6332 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6336 (main (command-line))
6338 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
6340 ekko a speckled gecko
6342 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
6343 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
6344 following list of command-line arguments:
6346 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
6348 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
6349 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
6350 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
6351 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
6352 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6354 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
6356 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
6358 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
6359 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
6362 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
6363 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
6364 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
6365 SCSH) for circumventing them.
6367 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
6368 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
6369 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
6370 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
6372 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
6376 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6380 If the user invokes this script as follows:
6382 ekko a speckled gecko
6384 Unix expands this into
6386 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
6388 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
6389 read from the second line of the script, producing:
6391 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6393 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
6394 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6396 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
6397 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
6398 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
6399 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
6400 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
6401 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
6402 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
6403 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
6404 it only terminates the argument list.)
6405 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
6406 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
6407 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
6408 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
6409 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
6410 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
6411 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
6412 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
6414 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6416 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
6417 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
6418 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
6419 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
6420 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
6422 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
6423 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
6424 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
6426 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
6428 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
6429 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
6430 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
6431 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6434 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6435 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6436 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6438 * Changes to Scheme functions
6440 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6441 and disabled by default.
6443 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6444 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6445 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6446 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6448 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6450 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6452 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6453 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6455 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6456 (read-set! keywords #f)
6458 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6459 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6460 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6463 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6464 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6465 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6468 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6469 support for Scheme functions.
6471 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6472 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6473 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6474 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6477 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6478 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6479 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6482 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6483 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6484 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6487 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6488 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6489 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6490 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6491 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6492 display the result as a prompt.
6493 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6495 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6496 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6497 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6500 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6501 procedure of zero arguments.
6503 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6504 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6505 argument is bound in the current module.
6507 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6508 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6509 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6510 public bindings into the current module.
6512 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6513 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6515 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6516 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6518 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6519 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6521 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6522 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6524 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6525 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6527 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6528 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6529 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6530 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6531 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6533 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6534 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6535 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6536 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6538 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6541 ** Changes to I/O functions
6543 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6544 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6545 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6547 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6548 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6549 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6551 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6552 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6554 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6555 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6556 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6557 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6559 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6561 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6562 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6564 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6565 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6566 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6567 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6568 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6571 'trim omit delimiter from result
6572 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6573 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6574 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6576 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6578 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6579 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6581 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6582 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6583 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6584 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6585 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6587 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6588 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6589 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6591 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6592 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6593 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6594 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6596 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6597 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6599 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6600 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6602 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6604 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6605 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6606 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6607 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6608 a delimiting character.
6609 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6611 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6612 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6613 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6614 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6615 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6616 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6618 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6619 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6621 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6622 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6623 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6625 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6626 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6627 the array to read and write.
6629 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6630 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6633 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6635 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6638 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6639 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6640 Values for COMMAND are:
6642 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6643 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6644 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6645 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6646 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6647 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6648 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6649 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6651 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6653 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6654 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6655 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6656 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6657 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6658 corresponding return set will be the same.
6660 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6663 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6664 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6665 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6666 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6667 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6668 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6669 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6670 special file being created.
6672 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6673 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6675 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6676 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6677 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6678 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6679 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6680 and originating address.
6682 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6683 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6684 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6686 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6689 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6690 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6693 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6694 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6695 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6696 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6697 this function returns #f.
6699 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6700 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6701 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6704 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6705 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6706 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6709 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6710 a valid STATUS value.
6712 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6714 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6715 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6717 Component Accessor Setter
6718 ========================= ============ ============
6719 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6720 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6721 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6722 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6723 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6724 year tm:year set-tm:year
6725 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6726 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6727 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6728 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6729 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6731 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6732 describing the host system:
6735 ============================================== ================
6736 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6737 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6738 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6739 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6740 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6742 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6743 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6744 system's user database:
6747 ====================== =================
6748 user name passwd:name
6749 user password passwd:passwd
6752 real name passwd:gecos
6753 home directory passwd:dir
6754 shell program passwd:shell
6756 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6757 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6758 system's group database:
6761 ======================= ============
6762 group name group:name
6763 group password group:passwd
6765 group members group:mem
6767 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6768 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6772 ========================= ===============
6773 official name of host hostent:name
6774 alias list hostent:aliases
6775 host address type hostent:addrtype
6776 length of address hostent:length
6777 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6779 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6780 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6784 ========================= ===============
6785 official name of net netent:name
6786 alias list netent:aliases
6787 net number type netent:addrtype
6788 net number netent:net
6790 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6791 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6795 ========================= ===============
6796 official protocol name protoent:name
6797 alias list protoent:aliases
6798 protocol number protoent:proto
6800 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6801 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6805 ========================= ===============
6806 official service name servent:name
6807 alias list servent:aliases
6808 port number servent:port
6809 protocol to use servent:proto
6811 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6812 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6815 ======================================== ===============
6816 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6817 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6818 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6819 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6821 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6822 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6823 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6825 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6826 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6828 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6829 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6831 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6832 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6834 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6836 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6838 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6839 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6840 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6842 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6843 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6844 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6845 return the remaining characters as a string.
6847 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6848 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6849 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6851 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6853 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6855 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6858 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6861 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6862 and returns the array
6864 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6865 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6866 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6868 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6870 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6871 symbol's value from C code:
6873 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6874 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6875 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6876 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6878 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6879 without assigning them a value.
6881 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6882 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6883 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6885 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6886 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6887 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6889 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6890 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6892 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6893 doesn't actually care about that.
6895 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6896 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6897 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6899 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6900 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6901 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6902 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6903 which we have just created and initialized.
6905 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6906 should one occur. We call it like this:
6907 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6909 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6910 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6911 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6912 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6913 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6914 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6917 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6918 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6919 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6920 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6921 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6922 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6923 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6926 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6927 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6928 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6929 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6930 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6933 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6934 scm_internal_catch, except:
6936 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6937 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6938 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6939 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6942 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6943 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6944 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6946 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6947 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6948 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6949 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6952 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6953 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6954 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6956 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6957 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6958 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6959 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6960 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6962 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6963 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6964 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6966 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6967 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6968 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6970 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6971 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6973 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6974 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6975 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6978 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6979 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6980 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6981 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6982 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6983 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6984 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6987 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6988 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6990 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6991 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6992 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6993 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6994 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6997 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6998 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
7000 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
7001 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
7004 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
7005 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
7007 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7010 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
7011 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
7012 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
7013 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
7014 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
7015 given the following arguments:
7017 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
7019 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
7021 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
7023 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7026 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
7027 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
7028 command-line arguments.
7030 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
7031 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
7032 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
7033 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
7034 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
7035 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
7038 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7041 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
7042 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
7044 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
7045 rearranged slightly. They are now:
7047 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7048 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7049 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
7050 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
7052 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7053 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7055 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7056 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
7057 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7058 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
7060 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7061 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7063 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
7064 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
7066 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
7068 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
7069 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
7070 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
7073 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
7074 returns a port instead of an FD object.
7076 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
7077 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
7082 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
7085 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
7087 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
7088 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
7089 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
7090 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
7092 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
7094 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
7096 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
7097 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
7098 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
7099 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
7100 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
7101 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
7102 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
7103 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
7104 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
7105 for more information.
7107 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
7108 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
7110 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
7111 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
7112 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
7113 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
7114 following two lines at the top of the file:
7116 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7119 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
7120 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
7121 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
7123 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
7125 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7127 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
7130 (display (car args))
7131 (if (pair? (cdr args))
7133 (loop (cdr args)))))
7136 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
7137 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
7138 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
7139 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
7140 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
7141 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
7145 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
7148 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
7151 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
7153 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
7154 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
7155 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
7156 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
7157 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
7160 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
7161 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
7162 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
7163 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
7164 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
7167 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
7170 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
7171 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
7172 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
7175 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
7176 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
7177 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
7179 to see a backtrace, and
7180 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
7181 to see them by default.
7185 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
7187 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
7189 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
7190 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
7193 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
7194 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
7195 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
7196 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
7199 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
7200 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
7201 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
7202 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
7203 functions which inspired them.
7205 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
7206 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
7210 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
7212 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
7214 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
7215 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
7218 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
7219 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
7220 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
7222 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
7223 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
7224 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
7225 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
7226 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
7228 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
7230 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
7231 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
7232 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
7235 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
7238 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
7240 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
7241 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
7242 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
7243 above should serve their purposes.
7245 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
7246 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
7247 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
7248 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
7250 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
7253 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
7254 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
7255 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
7256 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
7258 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
7259 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
7260 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
7261 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
7263 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
7264 for the `read' function.
7267 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
7268 to that of `integer?'.
7270 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
7271 use the R4RS names for these functions.
7273 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
7274 it simply returns the object's property list.
7276 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
7277 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
7278 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
7279 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
7281 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
7283 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
7286 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
7288 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
7289 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
7291 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
7293 void (*main_func) (),
7296 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
7297 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
7298 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
7299 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
7300 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
7302 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
7303 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
7304 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
7305 know which arguments have been processed.
7307 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
7308 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
7309 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
7310 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
7311 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
7313 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
7314 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
7315 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
7316 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
7317 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
7318 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
7319 people from making that mistake.
7321 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
7322 convenient ways to override these when desired.
7324 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
7326 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
7330 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
7333 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
7334 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
7335 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
7336 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
7339 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
7340 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
7341 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
7342 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
7345 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
7346 have been added to the Guile library.
7348 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
7349 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
7350 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
7353 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
7354 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
7355 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
7357 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
7358 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
7359 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
7360 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
7361 argument from the list.
7364 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
7367 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
7368 null-terminated string, and returns it.
7370 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
7371 to a Scheme port object.
7373 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
7374 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
7379 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
7381 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
7382 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
7383 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
7384 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
7385 code as a special datatype.
7387 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
7388 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
7389 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
7390 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
7391 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
7394 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
7395 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
7396 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
7397 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
7398 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
7400 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
7403 Copyright information:
7405 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7407 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
7408 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
7409 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
7410 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
7412 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
7413 of this document, or of portions of it,
7414 under the above conditions, provided also that they
7415 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
7420 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"