1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes. -*- text -*-
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
7 Changes since Guile 1.4:
9 * Changes to the distribution
11 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
13 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
14 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
15 to be named `and-let*', of course.
17 On systems that support it, there is also a compatability module named
18 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
20 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
25 (oop goops active-slot)
26 (oop goops composite-slot)
28 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
29 integrated into Guile.
33 (use-modules (oop goops))
35 access GOOPS bindings.
37 We're now ready to try some basic GOOPS functionality.
41 (define-method (+ (x <string>) (y <string>))
45 (+ "abc" "de") --> "abcde"
49 (define-class <2D-vector> ()
50 (x #:init-value 0 #:accessor x-component #:init-keyword #:x)
51 (y #:init-value 0 #:accessor y-component #:init-keyword #:y))
53 (define-method write ((obj <2D-vector>) port)
54 (display (format #f "<~S, ~S>" (x-component obj) (y-component obj))
57 (define v (make <2D-vector> #:x 3 #:y 4))
60 (define-method + ((x <2D-vector>) (y <2D-vector>))
62 #:x (+ (x-component x) (x-component y))
63 #:y (+ (y-component x) (y-component y))))
67 Asking for the type of an object
69 (class-of v) --> #<<class> <2D-vector> 40241ac0>
70 <2D-vector> --> #<<class> <2D-vector> 40241ac0>
71 (class-of 1) --> #<<class> <integer> 401b2a98>
72 <integer> --> #<<class> <integer> 401b2a98>
74 (is-a? v <2D-vector>) --> #t
76 See further in the GOOPS tutorial available in the guile-doc
77 distribution in info (goops.info) and texinfo formats.
79 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
81 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
82 in the default environment:
84 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
87 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
88 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
90 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
92 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
95 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
96 can be used for similar functionality.
98 ** New module (ice-9 match)
100 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher:
102 (use-modules (ice-9 match))
106 (('+ x y) `(add ,x ,y))
107 (('- x y) `(sub ,x ,y))) => (add 1 2)
109 See ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
110 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html for complete documentation.
112 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
114 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
118 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
119 (define m (make-safe-module))
120 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
121 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
122 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
124 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
126 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
128 The function `eval' will now save and restore the current module
129 around the evaluation of the specified expression. While this
130 expression is evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right
131 module, which is the module specified as the second argument to
134 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularily
135 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
136 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
137 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
138 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
139 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
140 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
141 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
142 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
143 one eval to the next.
145 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
146 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
147 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
148 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
149 subforms are at the top-level as well.
151 To prevent strange behaviour, the forms `define-module',
152 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
153 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
154 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
155 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
156 used in a lexical environment.
158 ** `port-for-each' makes an additional guarantee.
160 From the docstring: @var{proc} is applied exactly once to every port
161 that exists in the system at the time @var{port-for-each} is invoked.
162 Changes to the port table while @var{port-for-each} is running have no
163 effect as far as @var{port-for-each} is concerned.
165 This guarantee is important to make (ice-9 popen) work reliable.
167 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
169 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
170 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
171 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
173 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
175 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
176 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
177 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
179 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
180 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
181 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
182 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
184 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
186 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
187 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
189 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
190 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
191 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
192 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
193 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
196 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
197 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
198 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
199 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
200 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
201 successful and #f if it wasn't.
203 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
204 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
205 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
206 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
207 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
209 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
210 objects are usually permanent.
212 ** Escape procedures created by call-with-current-continuation now
213 accept any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
215 ** New function `make-object-property'
217 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
218 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
222 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
223 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
227 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
228 source properties eventually.
230 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
232 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
233 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
234 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
236 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
237 will be removed in the next release.
239 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
241 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
242 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
244 (scheme-report-environment 5)
246 (interaction-environment)
252 ** New define-module option: pure
254 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
259 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
262 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
264 Export names NAME1 ...
266 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
267 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
273 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
276 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
281 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
283 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
285 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
286 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
288 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
290 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
293 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
295 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
297 ** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
299 Read characters from an fport or file descriptor into a string
300 STR. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
301 large strings. It will:
303 * attempt to fill the entire string, unless the START and/or
304 END arguments are supplied. i.e., START defaults to 0 and
305 END defaults to `(string-length str)'
307 * use the current input port if PORT_OR_FDES is not supplied.
309 * read any characters that are currently available, without
310 waiting for the rest (short reads are possible).
312 * wait for as long as it needs to for the first character to
313 become available, unless the port is in non-blocking mode
315 * return `#f' if end-of-file is encountered before reading any
316 characters, otherwise return the number of characters read.
318 * return 0 if the port is in non-blocking mode and no characters
319 are immediately available.
321 * return 0 if the request is for 0 bytes, with no end-of-file
324 ** New function: port? X
326 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
327 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
329 ** New function: file-port?
331 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
333 ** New function: port-for-each proc
335 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The
336 return value is unspecified.
338 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
340 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
341 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
342 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
343 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
344 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
347 ** New function: close-fdes fd
349 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
350 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
351 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
352 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
355 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except. This was intended for closing
356 ports in a child process after a fork, but it has the undesirable side
357 effect of flushing buffers. port-for-each is more flexible.
359 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
360 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
361 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
363 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
365 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
367 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
369 * Changes to the gh_ interface
371 * Changes to the scm_ interface
373 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
375 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
376 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
378 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
380 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
381 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
382 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
383 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
385 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
386 scm_primitive_property_ref
387 scm_primitive_property_set_x
388 scm_primitive_property_del_x
390 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
391 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
393 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
395 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
396 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
397 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
398 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
400 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
402 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
403 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
404 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
405 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
406 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
407 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
408 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
410 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
411 scm_remember_upto_here
413 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
415 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
417 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
418 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
420 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
422 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
423 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
424 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
425 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
426 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
427 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
429 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
431 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
433 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
434 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
435 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
437 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
439 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
440 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
441 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
443 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
445 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
446 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
449 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
452 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
453 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
456 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
458 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
460 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
462 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
464 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
466 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
468 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
469 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
470 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
471 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
472 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
473 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
474 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
475 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
476 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
477 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
478 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
479 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR
481 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
482 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
483 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
484 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
485 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
486 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
487 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
488 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
489 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
490 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
491 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
492 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
493 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
494 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
495 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
496 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
497 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
498 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
499 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
500 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
501 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
502 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
503 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
505 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
507 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
509 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
510 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
512 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
514 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
516 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
518 Use scm_string_hash instead.
520 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
522 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
524 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
526 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
528 ** New function: scm_gentemp (SCM prefix, SCM obarray)
530 The builtin `gentemp' has now become a primitive.
532 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
535 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
536 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
538 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
540 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
542 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
544 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
547 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
549 * Changes to the distribution
551 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
553 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
554 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
555 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
556 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
557 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
558 obtain these programs.
559 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
560 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
562 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
563 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
564 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
565 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
566 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
568 However, this approach means that minor differences between
569 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
570 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
571 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
575 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
578 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
579 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
580 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
581 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
583 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
585 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
587 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
588 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
590 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
591 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
593 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
594 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
596 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
597 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
598 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
599 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
601 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
603 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
607 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
608 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
610 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
612 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
613 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
615 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
616 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
617 number of objects of that kind.
619 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
621 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
622 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
623 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
624 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
625 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
627 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
629 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
631 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
633 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
636 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
638 ** New command line option --debug
640 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
642 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
646 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
647 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
648 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
649 (help) gives this text
651 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
652 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
654 Examples: (help help)
656 (help "output-string")
658 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
660 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
662 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
663 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
666 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
667 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
668 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
671 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
672 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
673 use absolute filenames when possible.
675 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
676 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
677 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
680 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
682 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
683 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
684 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
685 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
687 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
689 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
691 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
692 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
693 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
695 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
696 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
697 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
699 (read-enable 'positions)
700 (debug-enable 'debug)
702 ** Backtraces in scripts
704 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
708 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
710 at the top of the script.
712 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
713 The second enables backtraces.)
715 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
717 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
718 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
719 substantially faster than before.
721 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
722 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
724 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
725 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
727 ** gc-thunk is deprecated
729 gc-thunk will be removed in next release of Guile. It has been
730 replaced by after-gc-hook.
732 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
734 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
735 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
736 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
738 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
739 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
740 when this hook is run in the future.
742 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
743 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
745 ** Improvements to garbage collector
747 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
748 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
751 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
752 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
753 more and more memory for certain programs.)
755 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
756 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
758 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
759 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
761 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
762 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
763 in order not to need further allocation.)
765 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
768 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
769 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
770 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
771 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
773 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
775 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
778 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
780 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
783 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
784 GC in percent of total heap size
787 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
788 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
790 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
792 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
793 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
795 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
797 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
798 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
800 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
802 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
803 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
807 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
808 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
810 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
812 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
814 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
816 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
818 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
820 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
821 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
823 (simple-format port message . args)
824 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
825 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
826 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
827 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
828 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
829 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
830 Does not add a trailing newline."
832 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
834 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
835 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
837 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
838 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
842 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
844 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
846 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
847 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
849 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
850 is returned as result.
852 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
854 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
856 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
858 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
859 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
862 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
864 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
866 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
867 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
869 * Changes to the gh_ interface
871 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
873 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
875 * Changes to the scm_ interface
877 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
879 Thanks to Greg Badros!
881 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
883 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
884 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
885 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
887 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
890 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
892 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
893 the readability of argument checking.
895 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
897 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
899 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
901 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
902 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
903 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
904 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
905 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
906 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
907 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
909 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
911 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
913 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
914 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
916 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
918 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
919 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
922 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
924 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
925 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
926 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
928 Further, it is recommended not to rely on implementation details for guile's
929 current implementation of bignums. It is planned to replace this
930 implementation with gmp in the future.
932 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
933 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
934 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
936 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
937 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
938 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
939 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
940 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
941 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
942 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
944 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
945 scm_end_input (object);
946 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
947 ptob->flush (object);
949 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
950 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
953 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
955 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
957 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
958 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
959 removed in a future version.
961 ** The format of error message strings has changed
963 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
964 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
965 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
966 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
968 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
969 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
971 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
974 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
976 in your configure.in.
978 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
983 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
989 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
991 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
995 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
996 (define make-message string-append)
998 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
1000 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
1004 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
1009 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
1013 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
1015 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
1016 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
1018 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
1020 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
1021 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
1022 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
1023 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
1024 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
1025 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
1027 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
1028 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
1029 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
1031 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
1032 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
1033 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
1036 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
1037 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
1038 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
1039 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
1040 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
1042 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
1043 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
1044 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
1045 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
1046 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
1047 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
1048 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
1050 Destructors are not yet implemented.
1052 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
1053 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
1054 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
1056 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
1057 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
1058 KEY in the calling thread.
1060 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
1061 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
1062 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
1063 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
1064 associated with the key.
1066 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
1068 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
1069 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
1071 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
1073 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
1074 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
1075 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
1077 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
1079 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
1080 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
1082 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
1084 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
1086 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
1087 returned is undefined.
1089 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
1090 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
1091 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
1093 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
1094 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
1095 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
1097 ** New C level GC hooks
1099 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
1101 scm_before_gc_c_hook
1104 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
1105 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
1106 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
1108 scm_before_mark_c_hook
1109 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
1110 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
1112 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
1113 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
1116 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
1118 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
1119 allocation parameters
1121 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
1122 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
1123 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
1127 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
1128 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
1129 scm_default_max_segment_size
1131 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
1133 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
1134 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
1136 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
1138 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
1139 object and count on the object being protected until
1140 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
1142 The functions also have better time complexity.
1144 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
1145 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
1146 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
1147 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
1148 are no longer needed.
1150 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
1152 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
1153 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
1154 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
1155 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
1157 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
1159 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
1161 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
1163 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
1164 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
1165 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
1166 until this issue has been settled.
1168 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
1170 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
1172 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
1175 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
1177 * Changes to system call interfaces:
1179 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
1180 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
1181 descriptors were checked.
1183 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
1184 atomically written to a pipe.
1186 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
1187 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
1188 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
1189 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
1190 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
1191 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
1192 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
1195 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
1196 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
1197 is changed without calling tzset.
1199 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
1201 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
1202 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
1203 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
1205 (define write-network-long
1206 (lambda (value port)
1207 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
1208 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
1209 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
1211 (define read-network-long
1213 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
1214 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
1215 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
1217 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
1218 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
1220 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
1221 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
1222 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
1223 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
1225 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
1226 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
1227 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
1228 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
1232 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
1234 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1238 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
1239 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
1240 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
1246 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
1247 for a description of available commands.
1249 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
1250 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
1251 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
1253 (debug-enable 'backwards)
1255 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
1256 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
1258 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
1260 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
1262 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
1263 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
1264 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
1265 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
1266 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
1267 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
1270 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
1272 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
1273 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
1274 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
1275 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
1277 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
1278 the file and should not be affected by this change.
1280 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
1282 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1284 ** Readline support has changed again.
1286 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
1287 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
1288 to activate readline is now
1290 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
1293 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
1295 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
1296 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
1297 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
1300 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
1301 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
1302 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
1305 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
1306 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
1307 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
1308 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
1309 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
1310 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
1312 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
1313 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
1315 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
1317 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
1318 object it receives is the same string passed to
1319 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
1320 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
1321 string, not the suffix.
1323 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
1324 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
1325 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
1327 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
1329 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
1330 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
1331 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
1332 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
1335 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
1337 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
1339 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
1340 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
1341 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
1342 appear from left to right.
1344 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
1347 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
1349 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
1350 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
1352 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
1356 *** New function: hook? OBJ
1358 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
1360 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
1362 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
1363 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
1364 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
1366 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
1368 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
1370 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
1372 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
1375 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
1377 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
1378 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
1379 mentioning it here anyway.
1381 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
1383 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
1384 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
1385 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
1386 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
1389 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
1391 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
1393 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
1395 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
1396 otherwise return #f.
1398 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
1400 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
1401 returned by `opendir'.
1403 ** New function: using-readline?
1405 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
1407 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
1409 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
1410 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
1412 * Changes to the scm_ interface
1414 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
1416 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
1417 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
1418 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
1420 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
1422 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
1423 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
1425 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
1427 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
1428 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
1429 documentation slots are not yet used.
1431 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
1433 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
1434 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
1435 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
1440 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
1441 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
1442 (string-append x y))
1444 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
1445 can also be used for concatenating strings.
1447 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
1448 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
1449 be made in a clean way.]
1451 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
1453 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
1455 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
1457 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
1458 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
1460 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
1462 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
1464 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
1466 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
1468 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
1469 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
1470 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
1471 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
1474 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
1476 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
1478 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
1480 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
1482 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
1483 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
1485 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
1487 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
1489 Evaluates the body of a special form.
1491 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
1493 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
1494 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
1495 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
1496 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
1497 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
1498 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
1500 This should not make any difference for most users.
1502 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
1504 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
1505 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
1507 *** New functions for applying generic functions
1509 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
1510 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
1511 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
1512 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
1513 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
1515 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
1517 It is now replaced by:
1519 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
1521 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
1522 binds a variable named NAME to it.
1524 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
1526 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
1527 This might change when we get the new module system.
1529 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
1533 Changes since Guile 1.3:
1535 * Changes to mailing lists
1537 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
1539 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
1542 * Changes to the distribution
1544 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
1546 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
1547 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
1548 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
1549 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
1550 you explicitly specify it.
1552 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
1553 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
1554 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
1555 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
1556 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
1559 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
1560 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
1561 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
1562 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
1564 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
1565 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
1566 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
1569 You can activate the readline support by issuing
1571 (use-modules (readline-activator))
1574 from your ".guile" file, for example.
1576 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1578 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
1579 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
1580 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
1581 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
1583 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
1584 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
1587 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1589 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
1590 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
1591 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
1592 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
1593 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
1594 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
1595 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
1596 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
1608 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
1609 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
1610 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
1611 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
1612 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
1617 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
1618 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
1626 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
1631 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
1632 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
1635 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
1636 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
1637 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
1638 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
1640 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
1642 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
1644 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
1645 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
1647 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
1649 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
1651 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
1652 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
1654 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
1657 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
1659 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
1661 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
1663 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
1665 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
1667 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
1669 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
1670 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
1671 when the hook was created.
1673 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
1674 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
1675 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
1676 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
1677 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
1678 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
1679 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
1680 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
1681 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
1683 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
1684 the dlopen family of functions.
1686 ** New function `provided?'
1688 - Function: provided? FEATURE
1689 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
1690 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
1691 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
1693 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
1695 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
1696 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
1697 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
1698 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
1701 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
1702 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
1703 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
1704 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
1706 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
1707 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
1708 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
1711 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
1712 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
1713 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
1714 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
1715 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
1716 but with the flag set.
1718 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
1720 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
1721 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
1723 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
1724 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
1725 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
1726 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
1727 available Scheme format implementations.
1729 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
1730 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
1731 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
1732 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
1733 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
1734 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
1735 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
1736 output is to the current error port if available by the
1737 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
1740 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
1741 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
1742 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
1743 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
1744 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
1745 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
1746 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
1747 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
1749 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
1750 be executed at a time.
1753 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
1755 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
1756 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
1757 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
1759 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
1760 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
1761 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
1762 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
1763 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
1764 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
1765 general form of a directive is:
1767 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
1769 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
1771 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
1773 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
1774 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
1775 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
1778 Any (print as `display' does).
1782 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
1786 S-expression (print as `write' does).
1790 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
1796 print number sign always.
1799 print comma separated.
1801 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
1807 print number sign always.
1810 print comma separated.
1812 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
1818 print number sign always.
1821 print comma separated.
1823 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
1829 print number sign always.
1832 print comma separated.
1834 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
1839 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
1843 print a number as a Roman numeral.
1846 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
1849 print a number as an ordinal English number.
1852 print a number as a cardinal English number.
1857 prints `y' and `ies'.
1860 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
1863 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
1868 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
1872 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
1875 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
1876 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
1878 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
1881 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
1882 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
1884 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
1887 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
1889 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
1891 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
1894 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
1896 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
1898 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
1901 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
1904 The sign appears before the padding.
1912 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
1914 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
1919 print N page separators.
1929 newline is ignored, white space left.
1932 newline is left, white space ignored.
1937 relative tabulation.
1943 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
1945 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
1948 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
1950 converts by `string-capitalize'.
1953 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
1956 converts by `string-upcase'.
1959 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
1961 jumps N arguments forward.
1964 jumps 1 argument backward.
1967 jumps N arguments backward.
1970 jumps to the 0th argument.
1973 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
1975 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
1976 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
1978 take argument from N.
1981 true test conditional.
1984 if-else-then conditional.
1990 default clause follows.
1993 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
1995 at most N iterations.
1998 args from next arg (a list of lists).
2001 args from the rest of arguments.
2004 args from the rest args (lists).
2015 aborts if N <= M <= K
2017 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
2020 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
2023 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
2029 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
2031 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
2033 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
2034 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
2035 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
2036 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
2037 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
2038 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
2042 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
2046 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
2052 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
2055 Print a `#\space' character
2057 print N `#\space' characters.
2060 Print a `#\tab' character
2062 print N `#\tab' characters.
2065 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
2066 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
2067 must be a positive decimal number.
2070 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
2071 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
2072 be processed by `read'.
2075 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
2076 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
2077 be processed by `read'.
2080 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
2083 prints format version.
2086 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
2087 and format it accordingly.
2089 *** Configuration Variables
2091 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
2092 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
2093 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
2094 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
2097 format:symbol-case-conv
2098 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
2099 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
2100 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
2101 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
2102 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
2104 format:iobj-case-conv
2105 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
2106 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
2109 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
2112 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
2118 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
2119 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
2120 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
2121 `format' padding style.
2124 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
2125 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
2126 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
2127 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
2131 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
2132 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
2133 directive parameters or modifiers)).
2136 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
2137 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
2138 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
2139 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
2140 parameters or modifiers)).
2143 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
2145 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
2147 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
2148 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
2150 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
2151 string-downcase! functions.
2153 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
2154 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
2156 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
2159 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
2162 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
2163 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
2165 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
2167 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
2168 the symbol had be read by `read'.
2170 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
2171 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
2172 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
2173 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
2174 would if STRING were input.
2176 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
2178 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
2179 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
2180 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
2181 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
2184 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
2186 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
2187 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
2190 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
2192 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
2193 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
2195 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
2196 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
2198 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
2199 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
2200 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
2201 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
2203 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
2204 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
2206 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
2207 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
2208 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
2210 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
2211 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
2213 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
2214 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
2215 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
2216 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
2217 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
2219 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
2220 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
2221 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
2222 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
2223 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
2224 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
2226 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
2227 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
2228 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
2231 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
2232 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
2233 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
2234 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
2235 the following grammar:
2236 ((apples (single-char #\a))
2237 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
2238 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
2239 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
2240 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
2241 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
2242 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
2243 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
2244 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
2245 last option in its combination)
2247 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
2248 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
2249 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
2250 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
2252 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
2253 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
2254 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
2256 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
2257 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
2258 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
2260 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
2261 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
2262 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
2263 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
2264 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
2265 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
2266 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
2267 ordinary argument strings.
2269 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
2270 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
2271 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
2272 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
2274 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
2275 as a list, associated with the empty list.
2277 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
2278 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
2279 - a required option is omitted
2280 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
2281 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
2282 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
2283 - an option predicate fails
2288 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
2291 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
2292 (verbose (required? #f)
2295 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
2296 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
2297 (predicate ,string?))))
2299 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
2300 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
2302 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
2303 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
2304 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
2305 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
2308 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
2310 It will be removed in a few releases.
2312 ** New syntax: lambda*
2313 ** New syntax: define*
2314 ** New syntax: define*-public
2315 ** New syntax: defmacro*
2316 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
2317 Guile now supports optional arguments.
2319 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
2320 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
2321 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
2322 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
2323 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
2325 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
2326 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
2327 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
2329 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
2331 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
2332 and examples for `lambda*':
2335 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
2337 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
2338 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
2339 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
2340 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
2341 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
2342 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
2343 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
2344 can be checked with the bound? macro.
2346 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
2348 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
2349 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
2350 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
2351 are given as keywords are bound to values.
2353 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
2354 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
2355 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
2356 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
2357 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
2358 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
2359 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
2360 and until the procedure is called.
2362 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
2364 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
2365 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
2366 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
2367 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
2368 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
2369 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
2370 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
2371 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
2372 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
2373 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
2375 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
2376 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
2377 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
2378 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
2381 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
2383 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
2384 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
2385 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
2386 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
2388 ** New syntax: and-let*
2389 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
2391 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
2392 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
2393 (<variable> <expression>)
2396 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
2397 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
2398 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
2401 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
2402 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
2403 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
2404 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
2405 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
2406 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
2407 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
2409 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
2410 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
2411 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
2412 shadow earlier bindings.
2414 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
2416 ** New sorting functions
2418 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
2419 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
2420 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
2421 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
2423 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
2424 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
2427 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
2428 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
2429 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
2431 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
2432 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
2433 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
2434 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
2436 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
2437 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
2438 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
2439 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
2440 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
2443 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
2444 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
2445 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
2446 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
2447 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
2448 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
2450 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
2451 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
2452 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
2454 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
2455 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
2456 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
2459 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
2460 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
2461 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
2463 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
2464 Added for compatibility with scsh.
2466 ** New built-in random number support
2468 *** New function: random N [STATE]
2469 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
2470 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
2471 returned have a uniform distribution.
2473 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
2474 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
2475 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
2476 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
2477 effect of the `random' operation.
2479 *** New variable: *random-state*
2480 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
2481 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
2482 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
2483 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
2484 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
2487 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
2488 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
2489 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
2490 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
2491 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
2493 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
2494 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
2495 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
2496 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
2497 initialized using SEED.
2499 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
2500 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
2501 range between 0 and 1.
2503 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
2504 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
2505 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
2506 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
2507 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
2508 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
2509 or a uniform vector of doubles.
2511 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
2512 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
2513 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
2514 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
2515 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
2516 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
2518 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
2519 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
2520 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
2521 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
2523 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
2524 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
2525 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
2526 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
2528 *** New function: random:exp STATE
2529 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
2530 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
2532 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
2534 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
2537 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
2538 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
2541 ** New function: make-guardian
2542 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
2543 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
2544 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
2545 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
2546 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
2548 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
2549 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
2550 one object if at all.
2552 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
2553 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
2554 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
2556 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
2557 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
2558 read again in last-in first-out order.
2560 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
2561 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
2563 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
2565 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
2566 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
2567 file position is used.
2569 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
2570 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
2571 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
2573 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
2574 redefined using seek.
2576 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
2577 size is not supplied.
2579 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
2580 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
2582 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
2583 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
2585 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
2587 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
2588 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
2589 and returns the contents as a single string.
2591 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
2592 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
2593 lists in serial order.
2595 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
2596 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
2597 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
2599 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
2600 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
2601 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
2602 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
2604 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
2605 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
2606 and #f if an error occured.
2608 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
2610 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
2611 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
2612 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
2613 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
2615 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
2617 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
2620 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
2622 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
2625 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2629 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
2630 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
2632 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
2633 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
2637 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2639 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
2641 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
2642 binds a variable named NAME to it.
2644 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
2646 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
2647 might change when we get the new module system.
2649 ** The smob interface
2651 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
2652 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
2654 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
2656 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
2660 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
2661 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
2662 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
2663 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
2664 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
2665 will be freed by the default free function.
2667 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
2668 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
2669 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
2670 `scm_make_smob_type'.
2672 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
2673 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
2674 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
2675 `scm_make_smob_type'.
2677 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
2679 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
2680 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
2684 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
2685 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
2686 `scm_make_smob_type'.
2688 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
2689 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
2690 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
2691 `scm_make_smob_type'.
2693 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
2694 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
2695 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
2697 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
2698 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
2699 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
2700 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
2702 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
2703 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
2704 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
2706 *** scm_newptob has been removed
2710 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
2712 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
2713 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
2714 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
2716 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
2717 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
2718 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
2720 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
2721 a string port's buffer.
2723 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
2724 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
2725 function pointers which together define the current random number
2726 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
2727 number library functions.
2729 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
2732 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
2733 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
2736 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
2737 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
2739 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
2740 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
2742 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
2743 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
2746 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
2747 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
2748 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
2749 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
2751 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
2752 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
2753 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
2754 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
2755 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
2756 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
2757 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
2759 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
2760 by libguile and the application.
2762 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
2763 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
2764 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
2765 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
2767 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
2768 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
2770 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
2771 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
2772 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
2774 ** Random number library functions
2775 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
2776 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
2777 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
2779 The default random state is stored in:
2781 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
2782 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
2783 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
2788 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
2790 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
2791 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
2792 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
2793 isn't a random state.
2795 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
2796 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
2798 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
2799 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
2800 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
2801 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
2803 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
2804 Return 32 random bits.
2806 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
2807 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
2809 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
2810 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
2812 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
2813 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
2815 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
2816 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
2818 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
2819 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
2820 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
2824 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
2826 * Changes to the distribution
2828 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
2829 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
2830 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
2833 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
2834 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
2835 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
2837 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
2838 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
2839 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
2840 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
2843 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
2844 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
2845 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
2847 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2849 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
2851 *** Function: batch-mode?
2853 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
2856 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
2858 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
2859 case has not been implemented.
2861 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
2862 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
2863 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
2866 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
2867 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
2869 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
2871 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
2873 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
2875 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
2876 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
2879 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
2880 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
2881 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
2882 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
2885 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
2887 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
2888 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
2889 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
2890 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
2891 find those libraries.
2893 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
2894 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
2897 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
2899 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
2900 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
2901 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
2902 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
2904 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
2905 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
2906 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
2910 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
2912 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
2913 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
2914 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
2917 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
2918 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
2919 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
2920 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
2922 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
2923 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
2926 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
2927 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
2928 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
2929 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
2930 compiler where to find the libraries.
2932 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
2933 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
2934 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
2936 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
2937 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
2938 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
2939 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
2940 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
2944 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2946 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
2947 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
2948 internationalization support.
2950 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
2951 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
2952 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
2953 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
2954 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
2956 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
2957 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
2958 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
2959 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
2960 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
2962 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
2963 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
2964 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
2965 any GNU mirror site.
2967 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
2969 ** New function: add-history STRING
2970 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
2971 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
2972 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
2974 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
2976 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
2977 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
2978 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
2981 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
2982 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
2983 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
2985 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
2987 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
2990 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
2991 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
2994 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
2995 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
2996 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
2997 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
2998 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
2999 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
3001 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
3002 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
3003 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
3004 of the form mentioned above.
3006 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
3007 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
3008 returned in the special `rest' list.
3010 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
3011 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
3013 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
3015 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
3017 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
3019 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
3020 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
3021 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
3022 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
3023 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
3024 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
3025 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
3026 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
3029 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
3031 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
3033 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
3034 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
3037 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
3038 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
3039 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
3043 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
3044 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
3045 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
3046 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
3047 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
3048 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
3049 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
3050 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
3053 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
3055 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
3056 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
3057 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
3059 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
3061 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
3062 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
3064 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
3065 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
3066 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
3068 Why do we have this function?
3069 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
3070 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
3071 primitive, and display it differently, and
3072 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
3073 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
3076 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
3077 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
3080 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
3081 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
3082 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
3083 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
3085 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
3086 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
3089 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
3090 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
3092 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
3094 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
3095 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
3096 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
3097 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
3098 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
3099 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
3100 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
3103 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
3105 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
3106 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
3108 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
3109 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
3110 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
3111 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
3112 properly continue the print chain.
3114 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
3115 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
3116 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
3117 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
3118 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
3119 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
3120 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
3121 print-state, it is simply ignored.
3123 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
3124 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
3125 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
3126 safest to not check for these pairs.
3128 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
3129 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
3130 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
3131 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
3133 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
3135 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
3136 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
3138 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
3140 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
3142 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
3143 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
3144 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
3146 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
3147 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
3148 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
3150 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
3151 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
3152 the following functions and macros:
3154 Function: make-fluid
3156 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
3157 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
3158 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
3159 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
3160 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
3162 Function: fluid? OBJ
3164 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
3166 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
3167 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
3169 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
3170 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
3172 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
3174 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
3175 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
3176 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
3177 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
3178 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
3179 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
3180 modified by `with-fluids*'.
3182 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
3184 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
3185 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
3186 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
3187 should evaluate to a fluid.
3189 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
3191 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
3192 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
3193 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
3194 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
3195 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
3197 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
3200 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
3202 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
3204 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
3206 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
3209 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
3210 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
3211 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
3212 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
3213 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
3216 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
3217 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
3218 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
3220 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
3221 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
3222 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
3224 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
3225 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
3226 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
3227 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
3229 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
3230 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
3231 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
3232 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
3234 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
3235 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
3236 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
3237 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
3239 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
3240 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
3241 their revealed counts set to zero.
3243 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3244 Returns an integer file descriptor.
3246 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3247 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
3249 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3250 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
3252 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3253 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
3254 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
3256 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
3257 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
3258 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
3260 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
3261 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
3262 default environment inherited by child processes.
3264 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
3265 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
3266 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
3268 The return value is unspecified.
3270 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
3271 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
3272 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
3273 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
3274 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
3276 The return value is unspecified.
3278 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
3279 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
3287 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
3288 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
3291 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
3294 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
3295 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
3296 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
3298 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
3299 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
3300 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
3301 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
3304 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
3305 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
3307 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
3308 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
3309 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
3310 the `environ' procedure.
3312 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
3313 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
3316 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
3317 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
3319 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
3320 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
3321 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
3322 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
3324 *** procedure: times
3325 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
3326 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
3327 return a selected component:
3330 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
3334 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
3337 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
3341 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
3342 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
3346 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
3347 terminated child processes.
3349 ** Removed: list-length
3350 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
3351 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
3353 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
3355 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
3357 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
3359 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
3360 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
3361 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
3362 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
3364 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
3365 extra complexity it introduces.
3367 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
3368 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
3370 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
3371 variable to any non-empty value.
3373 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
3374 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
3376 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3378 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
3379 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
3381 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
3383 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
3384 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
3386 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
3388 ** vector handling routines
3390 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
3391 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
3392 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
3393 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
3394 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
3396 ** pair and list routines
3398 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
3401 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
3403 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
3406 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3408 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
3410 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
3411 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
3412 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
3413 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
3414 site-specific initialization code.
3416 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
3417 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
3418 initialization processes.
3420 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
3421 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
3422 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
3423 initialized properly.
3425 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
3426 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
3427 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
3429 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
3430 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
3431 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
3432 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
3433 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
3435 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
3437 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
3438 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
3439 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
3440 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
3441 objects the smob refers to get marked.
3443 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
3444 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
3445 which look like this:
3448 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
3450 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
3451 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
3454 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
3455 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
3458 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
3460 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
3461 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
3462 you will need to change your functions slightly.
3464 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
3465 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
3466 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
3467 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
3468 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
3470 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
3471 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
3473 int (*free) (SCM port);
3474 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
3475 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
3476 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
3480 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
3481 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
3482 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
3484 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
3487 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
3488 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
3489 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
3491 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
3492 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
3493 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
3496 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
3500 struct timeval *timeout);
3502 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
3503 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
3504 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
3505 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
3506 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
3507 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
3509 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
3510 scm_catch_body_t body,
3512 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
3515 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
3516 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
3517 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
3518 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
3519 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
3520 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
3522 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
3524 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
3527 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
3528 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
3529 spawning threads from application C code.
3531 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
3532 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
3533 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
3534 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
3535 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
3536 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
3538 ** Removed functions:
3540 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
3541 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
3543 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
3545 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
3546 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
3548 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
3550 ** mbstrings are now removed
3552 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
3553 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
3555 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
3557 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
3558 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
3559 their new names and arguments:
3561 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
3562 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
3563 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
3564 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
3567 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
3569 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
3571 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
3574 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
3576 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
3577 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
3578 pass a #f arg to catch.
3580 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
3582 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
3583 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
3586 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
3587 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
3588 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
3589 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
3590 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
3591 reclaim its storage.
3593 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
3594 worrying that some other function you call will call
3595 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
3596 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
3597 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
3598 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
3601 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
3603 * Changes to the distribution
3605 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
3606 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
3609 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
3610 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
3612 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
3613 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
3615 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
3617 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
3618 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
3619 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
3621 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
3623 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
3624 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
3625 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
3626 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
3627 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
3628 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
3630 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
3631 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
3632 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
3635 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
3636 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
3637 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
3638 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
3640 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
3641 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
3642 libraries to your link command:
3644 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
3645 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
3646 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
3647 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
3649 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
3650 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
3651 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
3653 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3655 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
3656 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
3659 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
3661 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
3662 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
3663 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
3664 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
3665 searched is system dependent.
3667 (dynamic-object? VAL)
3669 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
3671 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
3673 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
3674 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
3676 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
3678 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
3679 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
3680 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
3681 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
3682 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
3685 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
3687 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
3688 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
3689 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
3690 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
3691 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
3693 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
3695 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
3696 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
3698 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
3700 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
3701 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
3702 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
3705 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
3707 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
3708 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
3709 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
3710 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
3712 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
3713 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
3715 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
3717 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
3718 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
3720 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
3722 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
3723 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
3731 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
3733 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
3734 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
3735 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
3736 a more informative way.
3738 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
3739 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
3740 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
3741 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
3742 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
3743 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
3745 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
3746 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
3749 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
3750 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
3751 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
3754 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
3755 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
3756 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
3757 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
3758 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
3759 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
3761 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
3762 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
3763 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
3764 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
3767 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
3768 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
3769 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
3770 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
3771 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
3772 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
3774 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
3775 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
3776 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
3777 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
3778 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
3780 *** regexp functions
3782 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
3783 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
3784 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
3786 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
3787 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
3788 with SCSH regular expressions.
3790 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
3791 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
3792 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
3793 position of STR at which to begin matching.
3795 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
3796 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
3797 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
3798 `string-match' returns `#f'.
3800 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
3801 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
3802 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
3803 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
3804 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
3805 match strings against the compiled regexp.
3807 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
3808 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
3809 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
3810 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
3811 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
3813 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
3815 **** Constant: regexp/extended
3816 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
3817 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
3818 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
3820 **** Constant: regexp/icase
3821 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
3822 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
3824 **** Constant: regexp/newline
3825 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
3827 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
3830 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
3831 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
3832 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
3834 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
3835 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
3836 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
3838 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
3839 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
3840 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
3841 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
3842 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
3845 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
3847 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
3848 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
3849 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
3850 used when different portions of a string are passed to
3851 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
3852 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
3854 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
3855 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
3856 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
3858 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
3859 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
3862 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
3863 and replace them with the contents of another string.
3865 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
3866 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
3867 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
3868 may be one of the following arguments:
3870 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
3872 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
3874 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
3875 the regexp match is written.
3877 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
3878 following the regexp match is written.
3880 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
3881 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
3884 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
3885 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
3886 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
3887 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
3888 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
3889 which should be matched against this regular expression.
3891 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
3894 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
3895 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
3896 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
3897 written out to PORT.
3899 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
3900 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
3901 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
3902 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
3903 will return after processing a single match.
3905 *** Match Structures
3907 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
3908 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
3909 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
3910 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
3911 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
3912 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
3915 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
3916 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
3917 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
3918 information about the original target string that was matched against a
3919 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
3921 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
3922 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
3923 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
3925 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
3926 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
3927 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
3928 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
3929 number N did not match, return `#f'.
3931 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
3932 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
3934 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
3935 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
3937 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
3938 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
3940 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
3941 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
3943 **** Function: match:count MATCH
3944 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
3945 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
3946 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
3948 **** Function: match:string MATCH
3949 Return the original TARGET string.
3951 *** Backslash Escapes
3953 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
3954 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
3955 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
3956 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
3957 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
3958 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
3960 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
3961 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
3962 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
3963 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
3964 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
3965 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
3966 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
3967 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
3969 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
3970 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
3971 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
3972 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
3973 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
3974 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
3975 each match a single backslash in the target string.
3977 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
3978 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
3979 return the resulting string.
3981 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
3982 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
3983 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
3984 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
3985 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
3986 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
3987 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
3988 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
3989 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
3990 translated to the single character `*'.
3992 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
3993 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
3994 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
3995 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
3996 consecutive backslashes:
3998 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
4000 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
4001 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
4002 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
4004 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
4005 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
4006 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
4007 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
4008 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
4009 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
4011 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
4013 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
4014 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
4015 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
4016 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
4017 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
4018 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
4019 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
4020 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
4021 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
4022 cumbersome escape syntax.
4024 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4026 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4028 * Changes to system call interfaces:
4030 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
4033 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
4035 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
4037 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
4040 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
4041 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
4042 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
4043 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
4044 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
4046 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
4047 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
4048 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
4049 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
4050 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
4051 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
4052 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
4055 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
4056 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
4057 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
4060 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
4061 `force-output' on every port open for output.
4063 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
4064 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
4065 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
4066 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
4067 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
4068 installed, you can say:
4070 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
4073 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4075 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
4076 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
4077 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
4078 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
4079 new dynamic roots and threads.
4082 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
4084 * Changes to the distribution.
4086 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
4088 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
4089 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
4090 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
4091 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
4092 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
4093 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
4094 programming language. These are packaged together because the
4095 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
4097 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
4100 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
4101 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
4106 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4108 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
4109 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
4111 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
4112 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
4113 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
4114 the (command-line) function.
4115 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
4116 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
4117 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
4119 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
4120 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
4121 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
4122 command line arguments
4123 -ds do -s script at this point
4124 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
4125 -h, --help display this help and exit
4126 -v, --version display version information and exit
4127 \ read arguments from following script lines
4129 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
4130 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
4132 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
4135 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
4139 (main (command-line))
4141 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
4143 ekko a speckled gecko
4145 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
4146 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
4147 following list of command-line arguments:
4149 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
4151 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
4152 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
4153 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
4154 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
4155 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
4157 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
4159 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
4161 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
4162 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
4165 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
4166 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
4167 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
4168 SCSH) for circumventing them.
4170 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
4171 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
4172 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
4173 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
4175 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
4179 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
4183 If the user invokes this script as follows:
4185 ekko a speckled gecko
4187 Unix expands this into
4189 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
4191 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
4192 read from the second line of the script, producing:
4194 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
4196 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
4197 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
4199 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
4200 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
4201 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
4202 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
4203 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
4204 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
4205 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
4206 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
4207 it only terminates the argument list.)
4208 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
4209 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
4210 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
4211 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
4212 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
4213 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
4214 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
4215 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
4217 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4219 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
4220 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
4221 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
4222 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
4223 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
4225 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
4226 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
4227 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
4229 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
4231 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
4232 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
4233 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
4234 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
4237 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
4238 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
4239 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
4241 * Changes to Scheme functions
4243 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
4244 and disabled by default.
4246 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
4247 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
4248 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
4249 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
4251 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
4253 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
4255 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
4256 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
4258 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
4259 (read-set! keywords #f)
4261 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
4262 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
4263 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
4266 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
4267 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
4268 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
4271 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
4272 support for Scheme functions.
4274 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
4275 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
4276 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
4277 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
4280 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
4281 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
4282 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
4285 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
4286 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
4287 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
4290 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
4291 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
4292 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
4293 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
4294 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
4295 display the result as a prompt.
4296 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
4298 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
4299 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
4300 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
4303 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
4304 procedure of zero arguments.
4306 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
4307 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
4308 argument is bound in the current module.
4310 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
4311 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
4312 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
4313 public bindings into the current module.
4315 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
4316 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
4318 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
4319 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
4321 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
4322 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
4324 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
4325 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
4327 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
4328 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
4330 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
4331 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
4332 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
4333 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
4334 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
4336 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
4337 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
4338 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
4339 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
4341 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
4344 ** Changes to I/O functions
4346 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
4347 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
4348 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
4350 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
4351 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
4352 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
4354 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
4355 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
4357 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
4358 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
4359 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
4360 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
4362 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
4364 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
4365 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
4367 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
4368 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
4369 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
4370 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
4371 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
4374 'trim omit delimiter from result
4375 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
4376 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
4377 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
4379 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
4381 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
4382 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
4384 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
4385 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
4386 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
4387 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
4388 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
4390 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
4391 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
4392 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
4394 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
4395 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
4396 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
4397 above, and defaults to 'peek.
4399 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
4400 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
4402 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
4403 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
4405 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
4407 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
4408 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
4409 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
4410 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
4411 a delimiting character.
4412 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
4414 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
4415 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
4416 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
4417 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
4418 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
4419 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
4421 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
4422 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
4424 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
4425 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
4426 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
4428 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
4429 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
4430 the array to read and write.
4432 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
4433 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
4436 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
4438 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
4441 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
4442 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
4443 Values for COMMAND are:
4445 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
4446 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
4447 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
4448 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
4449 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
4450 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
4451 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
4452 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
4454 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
4456 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
4457 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
4458 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
4459 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
4460 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
4461 corresponding return set will be the same.
4463 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
4466 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
4467 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
4468 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
4469 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
4470 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
4471 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
4472 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
4473 special file being created.
4475 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
4476 clashing with various SCSH forks.
4478 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
4479 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
4480 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
4481 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
4482 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
4483 and originating address.
4485 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
4486 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
4487 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
4489 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
4492 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
4493 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
4496 (status:exit-val STATUS)
4497 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
4498 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
4499 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
4500 this function returns #f.
4502 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
4503 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
4504 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
4507 (status:term-sig STATUS)
4508 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
4509 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
4512 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
4513 a valid STATUS value.
4515 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
4517 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
4518 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
4520 Component Accessor Setter
4521 ========================= ============ ============
4522 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
4523 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
4524 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
4525 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
4526 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
4527 year tm:year set-tm:year
4528 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
4529 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
4530 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
4531 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
4532 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
4534 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
4535 describing the host system:
4538 ============================================== ================
4539 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
4540 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
4541 release level of the operating system utsname:release
4542 version level of the operating system utsname:version
4543 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
4545 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
4546 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
4547 system's user database:
4550 ====================== =================
4551 user name passwd:name
4552 user password passwd:passwd
4555 real name passwd:gecos
4556 home directory passwd:dir
4557 shell program passwd:shell
4559 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
4560 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
4561 system's group database:
4564 ======================= ============
4565 group name group:name
4566 group password group:passwd
4568 group members group:mem
4570 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
4571 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
4575 ========================= ===============
4576 official name of host hostent:name
4577 alias list hostent:aliases
4578 host address type hostent:addrtype
4579 length of address hostent:length
4580 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
4582 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
4583 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
4587 ========================= ===============
4588 official name of net netent:name
4589 alias list netent:aliases
4590 net number type netent:addrtype
4591 net number netent:net
4593 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
4594 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
4598 ========================= ===============
4599 official protocol name protoent:name
4600 alias list protoent:aliases
4601 protocol number protoent:proto
4603 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
4604 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
4608 ========================= ===============
4609 official service name servent:name
4610 alias list servent:aliases
4611 port number servent:port
4612 protocol to use servent:proto
4614 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
4615 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
4618 ======================================== ===============
4619 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
4620 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
4621 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
4622 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
4624 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
4625 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
4626 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
4628 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
4629 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
4631 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
4632 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
4634 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
4635 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
4637 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
4639 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
4641 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
4642 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
4643 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
4645 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
4646 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
4647 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
4648 return the remaining characters as a string.
4650 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
4651 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
4652 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
4654 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
4656 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4658 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
4661 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
4664 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
4665 and returns the array
4667 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
4668 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
4669 the user to interpret the data both ways.
4671 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4673 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
4674 symbol's value from C code:
4676 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
4677 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
4678 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
4679 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
4681 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
4682 without assigning them a value.
4684 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
4685 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
4686 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
4688 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
4689 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
4690 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
4692 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
4693 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
4695 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
4696 doesn't actually care about that.
4698 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
4699 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
4700 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
4702 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
4703 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
4704 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
4705 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
4706 which we have just created and initialized.
4708 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
4709 should one occur. We call it like this:
4710 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
4712 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
4713 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
4714 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
4715 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
4716 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
4717 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
4720 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
4721 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
4722 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
4723 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
4724 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
4725 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
4726 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
4729 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
4730 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
4731 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
4732 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
4733 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
4736 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
4737 scm_internal_catch, except:
4739 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
4740 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
4741 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
4742 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
4745 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
4746 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
4747 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
4749 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
4750 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
4751 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
4752 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
4755 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
4756 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
4757 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
4759 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
4760 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
4761 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
4762 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
4763 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
4765 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
4766 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
4767 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
4769 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
4770 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
4771 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
4773 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
4774 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
4776 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
4777 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
4778 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
4781 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
4782 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
4783 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
4784 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
4785 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
4786 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
4787 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
4790 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
4791 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
4793 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
4794 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
4795 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
4796 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
4797 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
4800 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
4801 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
4803 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
4804 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
4807 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
4808 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
4810 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
4813 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
4814 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
4815 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
4816 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
4817 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
4818 given the following arguments:
4820 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
4822 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
4824 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
4826 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
4829 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
4830 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
4831 command-line arguments.
4833 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
4834 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
4835 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
4836 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
4837 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
4838 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
4841 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
4844 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
4845 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
4847 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
4848 rearranged slightly. They are now:
4850 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
4851 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
4852 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
4853 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
4855 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
4856 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
4858 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
4859 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
4860 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
4861 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
4863 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
4864 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
4866 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
4867 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
4869 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
4871 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
4872 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
4873 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
4876 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
4877 returns a port instead of an FD object.
4879 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
4880 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
4885 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
4888 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
4890 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
4891 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
4892 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
4893 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
4895 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
4897 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
4899 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
4900 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
4901 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
4902 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
4903 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
4904 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
4905 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
4906 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
4907 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
4908 for more information.
4910 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
4911 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
4913 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
4914 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
4915 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
4916 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
4917 following two lines at the top of the file:
4919 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
4922 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
4923 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
4924 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
4926 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
4928 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
4930 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
4933 (display (car args))
4934 (if (pair? (cdr args))
4936 (loop (cdr args)))))
4939 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
4940 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
4941 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
4942 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
4943 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
4944 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
4948 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
4951 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
4954 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
4956 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
4957 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
4958 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
4959 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
4960 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
4963 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
4964 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
4965 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
4966 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
4967 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
4970 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
4973 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
4974 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
4975 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
4978 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
4979 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
4980 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
4982 to see a backtrace, and
4983 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
4984 to see them by default.
4988 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
4990 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
4992 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
4993 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
4996 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
4997 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
4998 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
4999 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
5002 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
5003 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
5004 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
5005 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
5006 functions which inspired them.
5008 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
5009 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
5013 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
5015 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
5017 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
5018 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
5021 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
5022 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
5023 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
5025 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
5026 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
5027 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
5028 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
5029 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
5031 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
5033 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
5034 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
5035 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
5038 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
5041 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
5043 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
5044 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
5045 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
5046 above should serve their purposes.
5048 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
5049 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
5050 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
5051 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
5053 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
5056 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
5057 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
5058 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
5059 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
5061 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
5062 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
5063 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
5064 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
5066 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
5067 for the `read' function.
5070 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
5071 to that of `integer?'.
5073 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
5074 use the R4RS names for these functions.
5076 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
5077 it simply returns the object's property list.
5079 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
5080 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
5081 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
5082 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
5084 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
5086 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
5089 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
5091 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
5092 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
5094 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
5096 void (*main_func) (),
5099 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
5100 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
5101 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
5102 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
5103 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
5105 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
5106 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
5107 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
5108 know which arguments have been processed.
5110 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
5111 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
5112 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
5113 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
5114 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
5116 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
5117 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
5118 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
5119 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
5120 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
5121 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
5122 people from making that mistake.
5124 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
5125 convenient ways to override these when desired.
5127 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
5129 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
5133 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
5136 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
5137 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
5138 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
5139 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
5142 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
5143 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
5144 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
5145 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
5148 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
5149 have been added to the Guile library.
5151 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
5152 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
5153 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
5156 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
5157 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
5158 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
5160 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
5161 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
5162 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
5163 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
5164 argument from the list.
5167 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
5170 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
5171 null-terminated string, and returns it.
5173 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
5174 to a Scheme port object.
5176 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
5177 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
5182 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
5184 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
5185 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
5186 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
5187 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
5188 code as a special datatype.
5190 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
5191 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
5192 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
5193 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
5194 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
5197 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
5198 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
5199 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
5200 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
5201 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
5203 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
5206 Copyright information:
5208 Copyright (C) 1996,1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
5210 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
5211 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
5212 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
5213 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
5215 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
5216 of this document, or of portions of it,
5217 under the above conditions, provided also that they
5218 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
5223 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"