1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
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12 * New modules (see the manual for details)
14 ** The `(ice-9 i18n)' module provides internationalization support
16 * Changes to the distribution
18 ** Guile now uses Gnulib as a portability aid
20 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
21 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
23 ** A new 'memoize-symbol evaluator trap has been added. This trap can
24 be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code coverage.
26 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
27 This slightly improves program startup times.
29 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
30 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
32 * Changes to the C interface
34 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
35 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
39 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
41 * Infrastructure changes
43 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
45 The new repository can be accessed using
46 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
47 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
51 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
52 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
54 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
55 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
57 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
58 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
60 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
61 lead to a stack overflow.
63 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
64 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
65 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
66 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
67 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
68 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
69 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
70 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
71 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
72 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
73 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
75 * Changes to the distribution
79 We've started collecting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), and will
80 distribute these (with answers!) in future Guile releases.
83 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
87 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
88 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
89 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
90 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
91 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
92 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
93 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
94 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
95 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
96 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
97 system and library calls.
98 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
99 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
100 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
101 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
102 uniform vectors on AIX.
103 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
104 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
105 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
106 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
107 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
109 * New modules (see the manual for details)
113 * Documentation fixes and improvements
115 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
117 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
118 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
120 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
122 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
124 * Changes to the distribution
126 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
128 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
129 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
130 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
132 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
134 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
137 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
139 * New modules (see the manual for details)
146 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
147 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
148 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
149 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
150 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
151 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
152 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
154 * Implementation improvements
156 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
157 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
161 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
163 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
165 ** set-program-arguments
170 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
171 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
172 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
173 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
174 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
175 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
177 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
178 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
179 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
180 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
181 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
182 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
183 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
184 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
185 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
186 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
187 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
188 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
189 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
190 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
191 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
192 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
195 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
197 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
199 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
201 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
202 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
203 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
204 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
205 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
206 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
212 * New `(ice-9 i18n)' module (see the manual for details)
216 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
218 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
220 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
222 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
224 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
226 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
228 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
229 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
230 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
232 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
234 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
236 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
237 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
239 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
241 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
242 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
244 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
246 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
248 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
250 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
252 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
254 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
256 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
258 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
260 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
262 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
263 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
264 file was on a different device.
267 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
269 * Changes to the distribution
271 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
273 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
275 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
277 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
279 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
281 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
284 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
286 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
287 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
288 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
289 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
290 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
291 items like the versioned share directory name
292 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
294 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
295 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
296 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
297 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
298 with each micro release during a stable series.
300 ** Thread implementation has changed.
302 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
303 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
304 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
305 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
306 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
309 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
310 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
311 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
312 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
315 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
316 in which case "null" threads are used.
318 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
319 "Blocking", and others.
321 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
323 This is a milder form of deprecation.
325 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
326 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
327 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
328 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
329 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
331 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
332 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
334 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
336 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
337 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
339 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
342 This SRFI is always available.
344 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
346 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
347 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
348 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
349 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
352 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
354 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
355 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
356 parameters without currying.
358 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
360 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
361 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
363 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
364 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
367 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
368 with a renaming import, for example.
370 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
372 The official version is good enough now.
374 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
376 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
377 provided. Use 'make html'.
379 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
381 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
382 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
383 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
384 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
386 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
388 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
391 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
393 ** New command line option `-L'.
395 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
397 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
399 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
400 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
402 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
404 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
405 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
407 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
409 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
410 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
413 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
416 (define-module (demo)
420 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
423 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
425 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
427 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
428 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
429 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
431 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
433 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
434 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
436 ** New function hashx-remove!
438 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
440 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
441 barriers and dynamic states.
443 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
444 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
445 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
448 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
449 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
450 Barriers" in the manual.
452 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
453 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
455 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
457 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
458 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
459 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
462 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
464 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
465 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
467 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
468 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
469 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
471 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
472 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
474 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
475 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
476 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
478 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
479 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
480 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
483 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
484 substrings and read-only strings.
486 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
487 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
490 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
492 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
501 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
502 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
503 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
505 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
506 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
507 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
510 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
511 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
514 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
516 See the manual for details.
518 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
520 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
523 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
525 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
526 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
527 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
528 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
530 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
531 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
532 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
535 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
537 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
538 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
549 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
553 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
558 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
562 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
566 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
569 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
570 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
571 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
572 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
574 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
575 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
578 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
581 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
585 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
587 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
588 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
589 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
592 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
595 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
597 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
600 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
601 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
609 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
610 has been detected is to
612 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
613 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
614 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
617 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
620 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
622 to your .guile init file.
624 ** New define-module option: :replace
626 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
629 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
630 for the core binding `format'.
632 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
634 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
635 a prefix to all imported bindings.
638 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
640 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
643 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
645 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
646 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
647 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
649 ** New function: effective-version
651 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
652 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
653 to the distribution" above.
655 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
657 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
658 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
660 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
662 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
663 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
665 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
667 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
668 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
671 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
673 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
675 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
677 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
678 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
679 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
682 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
683 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
684 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
687 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
688 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
690 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
691 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
692 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
695 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
697 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
698 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
701 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
702 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
704 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
705 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
706 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
707 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
708 level for the current thread.
710 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
712 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
714 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
715 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
718 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
720 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
722 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
725 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
727 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
730 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
731 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
732 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
734 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
735 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
736 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
737 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
748 ERROR: Numerical overflow
750 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
753 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
755 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
756 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
757 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
768 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
770 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
771 them is also done exactly, of course:
776 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
779 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
780 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
782 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
784 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
785 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
786 equal to a floating point number. For example:
788 (inexact->exact 1.234)
789 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
791 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
793 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
796 ** New function 'rationalize'.
798 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
799 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
801 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
804 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
805 result when both its arguments are exact.
807 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
809 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
810 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
811 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
813 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
815 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
816 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
817 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
819 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
822 ** pretty-print has more options.
824 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
825 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
826 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
828 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
830 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
831 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
832 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
834 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
836 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
837 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
839 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
841 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
842 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
845 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
847 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
848 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
849 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
850 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
851 without the soft port blocking.
853 ** Deprecated: undefine
855 There is no replacement for undefine.
857 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
858 have been discouraged.
860 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
861 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
862 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
865 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
867 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
869 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
870 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
871 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
872 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
875 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
876 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
877 be removed in the next major Guile release.
879 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
881 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
882 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
883 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
884 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
885 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
886 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
888 * Changes to the C interface
890 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
891 take a 'delete' function argument.
893 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
894 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
896 This is an incompatible change.
898 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
900 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
901 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
902 --disable-deprecated.
904 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
906 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
907 Scheme values has been added.
909 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
910 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
915 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
916 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
918 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
920 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
921 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
924 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
926 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
927 scm_from_int for ints.
929 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
930 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
931 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
933 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
935 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
936 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
937 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
940 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
942 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
944 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
946 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
947 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
948 following alternatives.
950 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
951 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
952 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
953 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
955 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
956 do the validating for you.
958 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
959 have been discouraged.
961 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
962 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
965 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
967 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
968 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
971 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
973 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
976 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
979 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
981 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
982 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
984 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
985 scm_truncate_number should have.
987 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
988 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
990 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
993 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
994 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
995 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
997 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
998 easier to use from C.
1000 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
1001 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
1003 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
1004 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
1005 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
1008 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
1009 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
1010 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
1011 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
1014 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
1015 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
1016 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
1017 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
1018 and is thus quite efficient.
1020 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
1022 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
1023 about the character encoding.
1025 Replace according to the following table:
1027 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
1028 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
1029 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
1030 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
1031 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
1032 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
1033 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
1034 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
1035 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
1037 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
1038 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
1040 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
1042 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
1043 now also available to C code.
1045 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
1047 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
1048 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
1049 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
1051 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
1054 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
1056 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
1057 unceremoniously removed.
1059 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
1060 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
1061 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
1063 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
1064 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
1065 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1066 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1067 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
1068 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
1071 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
1073 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
1074 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
1075 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
1076 manual for more details.
1078 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1079 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1081 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
1082 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
1083 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1085 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
1087 Migrate according to the following table:
1089 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
1090 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
1091 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
1092 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
1093 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
1094 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
1095 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
1097 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
1098 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
1099 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
1100 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
1101 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
1102 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
1103 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
1105 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
1107 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
1108 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
1110 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
1111 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
1112 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
1113 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
1115 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
1117 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
1118 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
1119 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
1121 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
1122 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
1124 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
1125 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
1126 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
1127 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
1129 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
1131 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
1132 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
1133 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
1134 prevent a potential memory leak:
1141 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
1143 mem = scm_malloc (100);
1144 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
1146 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
1147 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
1154 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
1155 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
1159 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
1161 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
1163 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
1164 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
1165 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
1167 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1168 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
1170 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
1172 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
1174 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
1175 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
1176 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
1178 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
1179 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
1181 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
1182 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
1183 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
1184 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
1187 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
1189 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
1190 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1191 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
1193 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
1195 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
1196 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
1198 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
1200 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
1201 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
1203 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
1205 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
1206 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
1207 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
1209 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
1211 You should not have used them.
1213 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
1215 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
1216 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
1218 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
1220 This macro is not intended for public use.
1222 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
1224 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
1226 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
1228 Use scm_is_real instead.
1230 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
1232 Use scm_is_complex instead.
1234 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
1236 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
1237 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
1239 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
1240 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
1242 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
1243 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
1245 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
1247 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
1250 ** New function: scm_effective_version
1252 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1253 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1254 to the distribution" above.
1256 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
1258 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
1259 arguments are now passed directly:
1261 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
1263 This is an incompatible change.
1265 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
1267 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
1268 function in the init section.
1270 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
1272 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
1274 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
1275 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
1276 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
1277 stays roughly constant.
1279 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
1280 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
1281 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
1282 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
1283 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
1286 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
1287 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
1288 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
1289 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
1291 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
1292 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
1293 objects for every type.
1296 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
1298 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
1300 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
1302 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
1303 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
1304 initializes a new cell (see below).
1306 ** New functions for memory management
1308 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
1309 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
1310 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
1311 cause aborts in long running programs.
1313 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
1314 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
1316 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
1317 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
1318 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
1319 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
1320 details and for upgrading instructions.
1322 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
1323 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
1324 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
1326 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
1328 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
1329 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
1330 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
1331 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
1332 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
1334 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
1335 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
1336 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
1338 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
1339 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
1341 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
1343 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
1344 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
1345 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
1346 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
1347 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
1349 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
1351 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
1354 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
1356 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
1358 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
1360 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
1361 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
1363 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1365 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1366 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1368 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
1369 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
1371 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
1373 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
1375 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
1376 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
1377 blocking it is not well defined.
1379 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
1381 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
1382 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
1383 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
1384 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
1385 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
1386 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
1387 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
1388 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
1389 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
1390 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
1391 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1392 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
1393 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
1394 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
1395 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
1396 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
1397 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
1398 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1399 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1400 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1401 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1402 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1403 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1404 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1405 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1406 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1407 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1408 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1409 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1410 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
1411 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
1413 * Changes to bundled modules
1417 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
1418 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
1419 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
1420 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
1421 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
1424 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1426 * Changes to the distribution
1428 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1430 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1432 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1433 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1434 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1435 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1436 indicate major changes in Guile.
1438 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1439 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1440 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1441 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1443 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1444 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1445 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1446 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1447 micro version number.
1449 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1451 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1453 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1454 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1456 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1458 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1459 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1460 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1462 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1464 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1465 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1466 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1469 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1471 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1474 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1476 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1477 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1479 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1481 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1482 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1485 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1487 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1490 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1493 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1495 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1497 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1498 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1499 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1501 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1503 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1505 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1508 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1510 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1512 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1514 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1515 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1516 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1518 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1520 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1522 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1523 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1532 See README there for more info.
1534 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1535 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1538 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1540 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1542 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1544 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1545 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1546 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1548 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1550 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1551 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1552 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1554 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1555 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1557 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1560 (oop goops describe)
1562 (oop goops active-slot)
1563 (oop goops composite-slot)
1565 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1566 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1567 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1569 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1571 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1572 in the default environment:
1574 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1575 %read-line write-line
1577 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1578 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1580 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1582 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1585 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1586 can be used for similar functionality.
1588 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1590 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1591 it defines two procedures:
1593 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1595 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1596 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1597 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1600 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1602 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1603 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1604 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1605 write large strings.
1607 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1609 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1610 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1612 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1614 for complete documentation.
1616 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1618 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1619 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1620 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1621 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1623 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1624 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1628 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1629 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1630 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1633 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1636 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1637 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1639 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1640 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1643 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1646 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1648 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1650 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1652 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1654 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1655 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1656 Scheme programs easier.
1658 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1659 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1660 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1661 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1662 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1665 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1666 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1668 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1671 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1673 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1674 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1675 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1678 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1680 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1682 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1683 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1684 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1685 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1686 was also ASCII, for example.
1688 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1690 tag - no replacement.
1691 fseek - replaced by seek.
1692 list* - replaced by cons*.
1694 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1698 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1699 (define m (make-safe-module))
1700 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1701 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1702 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1704 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1706 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1707 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1708 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1710 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1712 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1713 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1714 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1715 from the issues related to the module system.
1717 *** New function: load-extension
1719 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1721 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1723 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1724 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1725 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1727 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1729 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1730 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1731 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1732 support dynamic linking).
1734 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1736 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1737 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1738 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1739 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1742 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1743 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1744 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1745 library and initialize it explicitly.
1747 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1748 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1750 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1752 (define-module (foo bar))
1754 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1756 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1758 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1759 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1761 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1762 (null-environment 5)
1763 (interaction-environment)
1769 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1771 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1772 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1773 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1774 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1776 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1777 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1778 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1779 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1780 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1781 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1782 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1783 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1784 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1785 one eval to the next.
1787 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1788 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1789 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1790 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1791 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1793 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1794 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1795 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1796 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1797 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1798 used in a lexical environment.
1800 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1801 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1802 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1803 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1804 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1805 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1807 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1809 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1810 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1811 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1812 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1813 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1815 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1816 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1817 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1819 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1820 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1822 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1823 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1824 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1826 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1827 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1829 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1830 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1831 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1832 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1835 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1836 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1837 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1838 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1840 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1841 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1842 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1844 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1845 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1846 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1847 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1848 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1850 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1852 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1853 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1854 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1856 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1857 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1858 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1860 See manual for more info.
1862 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1864 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1865 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1866 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1868 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1870 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1871 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1872 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1874 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1875 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1876 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1877 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1879 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1881 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1882 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1884 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1885 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1886 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1887 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1888 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1891 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1892 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1893 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1894 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1895 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1896 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1898 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1899 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1900 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1901 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1902 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1904 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1905 objects are usually permanent.
1907 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1908 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1910 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1912 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1913 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1916 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1920 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1925 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1927 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1928 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1929 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1930 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1932 ** New function `make-object-property'
1934 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1935 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1939 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1940 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1944 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1945 source properties eventually.
1947 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1949 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1950 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1951 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1953 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1954 will be removed in the next release.
1956 ** New define-module option: pure
1958 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1963 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1966 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1968 Export names NAME1 ...
1970 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1971 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1975 (define-module (foo)
1977 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1980 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1985 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1987 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1989 ** New function: port? X
1991 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1992 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1994 ** New function: file-port?
1996 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1998 ** New function: port-for-each proc
2000 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
2001 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
2002 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
2003 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
2004 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
2006 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
2008 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
2009 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
2010 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
2011 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
2012 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
2015 ** New function: close-fdes fd
2017 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
2018 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
2019 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
2020 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
2023 ** New function: crypt password salt
2025 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
2028 ** New function: chroot path
2030 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
2032 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
2034 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
2037 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
2039 Get or set the priority of the running process.
2041 ** New function: getpass prompt
2043 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
2046 ** New function: flock file operation
2048 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
2050 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
2052 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
2055 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
2057 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
2058 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
2059 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
2060 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
2061 of the temporary file.
2063 ** New function: open-input-string string
2065 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
2066 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
2067 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
2069 ** New function: open-output-string
2071 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
2072 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
2074 ** New function: get-output-string
2076 Return the contents of an output string port.
2078 ** New function: identity
2080 Return the argument.
2082 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
2083 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
2085 ** New function: inet-pton family address
2087 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
2088 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
2089 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2092 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
2093 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
2095 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
2097 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
2098 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
2099 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2102 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
2103 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
2104 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
2108 Use `identity' instead.
2114 ** Deprecated: return-it
2118 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
2120 Use `string-length' instead.
2122 ** Deprecated: flags
2124 Use `logior' instead.
2126 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
2128 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
2129 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
2130 port-for-each is more flexible.
2132 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
2133 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
2134 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
2136 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
2138 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
2140 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
2142 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
2144 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
2146 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
2147 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
2149 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
2150 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
2152 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
2153 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
2155 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
2157 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
2158 Removed function: builtin-bindings
2160 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
2161 Use module system operations for all variables.
2163 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
2165 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
2168 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
2170 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
2171 The following bugs have been fixed:
2173 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
2174 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
2177 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
2178 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
2179 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
2181 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
2182 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
2184 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
2185 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
2188 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
2189 The expansion used to be like so:
2191 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
2193 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
2195 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
2197 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
2198 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
2200 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
2202 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
2203 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
2204 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
2208 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
2209 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
2211 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
2216 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
2217 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
2219 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
2220 and `d', other keywords allowed.
2221 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
2223 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
2226 * Changes to the C interface
2228 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
2230 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
2231 with "_t". What a concept.
2233 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
2235 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
2237 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
2241 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
2242 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
2244 *** C Functions removed
2246 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
2247 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
2248 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
2249 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
2250 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
2251 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
2252 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
2254 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
2256 Use scm_mem2string instead.
2258 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
2260 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
2262 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
2263 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
2265 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
2267 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
2270 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
2272 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
2274 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
2276 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
2277 Evaluation" in the manual.
2279 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
2281 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
2282 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2284 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
2286 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
2287 Constructors" in the manual.
2289 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
2291 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
2292 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
2294 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
2296 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
2298 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
2299 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
2300 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
2302 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2304 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
2306 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
2307 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
2308 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
2311 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2313 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
2315 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
2316 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
2318 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
2320 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
2321 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
2322 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
2323 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
2325 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
2326 scm_primitive_property_ref
2327 scm_primitive_property_set_x
2328 scm_primitive_property_del_x
2330 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
2331 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2333 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2335 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2336 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2337 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2338 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2340 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2342 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2343 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2344 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2345 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2346 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2347 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2348 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2350 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2351 scm_remember_upto_here
2353 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2355 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2357 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2358 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2360 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2362 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2364 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2366 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2368 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2370 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2371 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2372 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2373 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2374 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2375 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2377 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2379 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2381 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2382 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2383 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2385 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2387 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2388 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2389 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2391 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2393 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2394 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2397 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2400 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2401 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2404 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2406 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2408 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2410 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2412 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2414 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2416 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2417 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2418 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2419 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2420 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2421 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2422 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2423 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2424 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2425 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2426 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2427 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2428 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2429 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2430 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2432 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2433 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2434 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2435 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2436 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2437 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2438 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2439 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2440 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2441 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2442 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2443 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2444 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2445 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2446 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2447 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2448 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2449 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2450 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2451 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2452 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2453 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2454 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2455 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2456 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2457 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2458 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2459 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2460 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2462 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2464 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2466 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2467 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2469 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2471 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2473 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2475 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2477 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2479 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2481 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2483 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2485 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2488 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2489 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2491 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2493 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2495 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2497 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2499 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2501 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2503 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2505 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2508 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2510 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2512 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2514 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2515 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2517 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2518 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2520 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2522 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2523 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2524 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2526 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2528 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2530 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2531 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2533 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2534 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2535 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2536 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2538 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2539 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2540 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2542 Use the new ones from above instead.
2544 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2546 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2547 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2548 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2550 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2551 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2553 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2554 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2557 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2558 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2560 Use the new functions instead.
2562 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2565 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2567 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2569 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2572 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2574 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2577 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2579 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2582 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2583 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2584 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2586 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2588 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2589 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2591 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2592 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2593 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2594 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2597 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2599 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2600 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2601 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2602 inexact for an exact.
2604 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2605 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2606 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2609 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2610 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2611 accept an inexact argument.
2613 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2614 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2616 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2619 ** New number validation macros:
2620 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2624 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2626 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2627 scm_unprotect_object.
2629 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2631 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2633 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2636 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2638 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2642 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2644 * Changes to the distribution
2646 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2648 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2649 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2650 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2651 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2652 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2653 obtain these programs.
2654 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2655 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2657 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2658 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2659 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2660 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2661 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2663 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2664 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2665 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2666 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2670 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2673 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2674 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2675 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2676 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2678 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2680 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2682 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2683 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2685 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2686 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2688 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2689 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2691 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2692 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2693 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2694 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2696 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2698 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2702 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2703 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2705 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2707 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2708 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2710 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2711 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2712 number of objects of that kind.
2714 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2716 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2717 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2718 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2719 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2720 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2722 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2724 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2726 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2728 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2731 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2733 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2735 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2737 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2739 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2741 ** New command line option --debug
2743 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2745 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2747 ** New help facility
2749 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2750 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2751 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2752 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2753 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2754 (help) gives this text
2756 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2757 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2759 Examples: (help help)
2761 (help "output-string")
2763 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2765 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2767 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2768 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2771 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2772 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2773 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2776 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2777 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2778 use absolute filenames when possible.
2780 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2781 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2782 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2785 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2787 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2788 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2789 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2790 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2792 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2794 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2796 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2797 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2798 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2800 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2801 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2802 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2804 (read-enable 'positions)
2805 (debug-enable 'debug)
2807 ** Backtraces in scripts
2809 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2813 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2815 at the top of the script.
2817 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2818 The second enables backtraces.)
2820 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2822 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2823 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2824 substantially faster than before.
2826 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2827 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2829 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2830 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2832 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2834 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2835 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2836 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2838 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2839 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2840 when this hook is run in the future.
2842 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2843 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2845 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2847 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2848 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2851 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2852 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2853 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2855 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2856 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2858 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2859 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2861 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2862 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2863 in order not to need further allocation.)
2865 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2868 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2869 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2870 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2871 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2873 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2875 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2878 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2880 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2883 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2884 GC in percent of total heap size
2887 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2888 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2890 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2892 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2893 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2895 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2897 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2898 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2900 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2902 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2903 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2907 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2908 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2910 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2912 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2914 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2916 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2918 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2920 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2921 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2923 (simple-format port message . args)
2924 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2925 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2926 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2927 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2928 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2929 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2930 Does not add a trailing newline."
2932 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2934 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2935 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2937 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2938 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2940 ** Deprecated: list*
2942 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2944 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2946 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2947 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2949 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2950 is returned as result.
2952 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2954 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2956 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2958 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2959 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2962 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2964 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2966 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2967 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2969 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2971 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2973 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2975 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2977 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2979 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2981 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2983 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2984 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2985 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2987 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2990 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2992 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2993 the readability of argument checking.
2995 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2997 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2999 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
3001 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
3002 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
3003 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
3004 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
3005 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
3006 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
3007 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
3009 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
3011 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
3013 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
3014 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
3016 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
3018 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
3019 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
3022 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
3024 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
3025 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
3026 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
3028 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
3029 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
3030 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
3032 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
3033 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
3034 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
3035 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
3036 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
3037 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
3038 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
3040 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
3041 scm_end_input (object);
3042 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
3043 ptob->flush (object);
3045 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
3046 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
3049 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
3051 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
3053 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
3054 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
3055 removed in a future version.
3057 ** The format of error message strings has changed
3059 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
3060 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
3061 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
3062 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
3064 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
3065 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
3067 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
3070 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
3072 in your configure.in.
3074 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
3079 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
3085 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
3087 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
3091 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
3092 (define make-message string-append)
3094 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
3096 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
3100 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
3105 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
3109 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
3111 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
3112 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
3114 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
3116 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
3117 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
3118 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
3119 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
3120 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
3121 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
3123 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
3124 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
3125 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
3127 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
3128 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
3129 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
3132 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
3133 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
3134 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
3135 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
3136 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
3138 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
3139 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
3140 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
3141 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
3142 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
3143 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
3144 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
3146 Destructors are not yet implemented.
3148 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
3149 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
3150 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
3152 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
3153 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
3154 KEY in the calling thread.
3156 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
3157 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
3158 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
3159 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
3160 associated with the key.
3162 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
3164 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
3165 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
3167 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
3169 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
3170 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
3171 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
3173 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
3175 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
3176 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
3178 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
3180 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
3182 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
3183 returned is undefined.
3185 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
3186 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
3187 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
3189 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
3190 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
3191 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
3193 ** New C level GC hooks
3195 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
3197 scm_before_gc_c_hook
3200 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
3201 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
3202 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
3204 scm_before_mark_c_hook
3205 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
3206 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
3208 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
3209 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
3212 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
3214 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
3215 allocation parameters
3217 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
3218 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
3219 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
3223 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
3224 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
3225 scm_default_max_segment_size
3227 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
3229 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
3230 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
3232 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
3234 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
3235 object and count on the object being protected until
3236 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
3238 The functions also have better time complexity.
3240 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
3241 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
3242 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
3243 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
3244 are no longer needed.
3246 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
3248 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
3249 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
3250 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
3251 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
3253 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
3255 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
3257 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
3259 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
3260 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
3261 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
3262 until this issue has been settled.
3264 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
3266 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
3268 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
3271 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
3273 * Changes to system call interfaces:
3275 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
3276 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
3277 descriptors were checked.
3279 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
3280 atomically written to a pipe.
3282 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
3283 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
3284 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
3285 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
3286 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
3287 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
3288 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
3291 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
3292 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
3293 is changed without calling tzset.
3295 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
3297 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
3298 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
3299 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
3301 (define write-network-long
3302 (lambda (value port)
3303 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3304 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
3305 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
3307 (define read-network-long
3309 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3310 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
3311 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
3313 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
3314 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
3316 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
3317 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
3318 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
3319 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
3321 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
3322 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
3323 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
3324 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
3328 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
3330 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3334 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3335 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3336 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3342 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3343 for a description of available commands.
3345 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3346 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3347 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3349 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3351 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3352 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3354 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3356 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3358 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3359 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3360 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3361 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3362 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3363 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3366 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3368 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3369 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3370 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3371 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3373 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3374 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3376 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3378 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3380 ** Readline support has changed again.
3382 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3383 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3384 to activate readline is now
3386 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3389 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3391 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3392 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3393 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3396 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3397 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3398 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3401 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3402 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3403 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3404 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3405 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3406 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3408 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3409 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3411 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3413 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3414 object it receives is the same string passed to
3415 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3416 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3417 string, not the suffix.
3419 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3420 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3421 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3423 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3425 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3426 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3427 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3428 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3431 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3433 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3435 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3436 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3437 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3438 appear from left to right.
3440 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3443 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3445 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3446 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3448 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3452 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3454 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3456 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3458 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3459 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3460 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3462 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3464 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3466 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3468 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3471 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3473 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3474 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3475 mentioning it here anyway.
3477 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3479 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3480 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3481 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3482 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3485 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3487 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3489 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3491 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3492 otherwise return #f.
3494 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3496 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3497 returned by `opendir'.
3499 ** New function: using-readline?
3501 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3503 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3505 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3506 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3508 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3510 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3512 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3513 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3514 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3516 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3518 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3519 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3521 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3523 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3524 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3525 documentation slots are not yet used.
3527 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3529 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3530 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3531 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3536 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3537 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3538 (string-append x y))
3540 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3541 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3543 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3544 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3545 be made in a clean way.]
3547 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3549 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3551 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3553 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3554 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3556 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3558 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3560 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3562 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3564 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3565 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3566 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3567 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3570 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3572 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3574 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3576 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3578 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3579 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3581 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3583 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3585 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3587 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3589 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3590 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3591 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3592 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3593 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3594 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3596 This should not make any difference for most users.
3598 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3600 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3601 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3603 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3605 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3606 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3607 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3608 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3609 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3611 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3613 It is now replaced by:
3615 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3617 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3618 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3620 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3622 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3623 This might change when we get the new module system.
3625 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3629 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3631 * Changes to mailing lists
3633 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3635 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3638 * Changes to the distribution
3640 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3642 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3643 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3644 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3645 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3646 you explicitly specify it.
3648 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3649 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3650 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3651 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3652 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3655 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3656 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3657 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3658 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3660 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3661 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3662 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3665 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3667 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3670 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3672 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3674 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3675 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3676 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3677 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3679 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3680 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3683 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3685 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3686 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3687 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3688 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3689 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3690 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3691 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3692 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3704 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3705 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3706 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3707 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3708 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3713 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3714 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3722 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3727 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3728 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3731 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3732 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3733 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3734 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3736 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3738 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3740 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3741 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3743 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3745 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3747 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3748 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3750 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3753 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3755 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3757 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3759 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3761 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3763 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3765 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3766 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3767 when the hook was created.
3769 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3770 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3771 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3772 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3773 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3774 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3775 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3776 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3777 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3779 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3780 the dlopen family of functions.
3782 ** New function `provided?'
3784 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3785 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3786 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3787 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3789 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3791 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3792 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3793 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3794 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3797 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3798 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3799 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3800 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3802 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3803 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3804 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3807 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3808 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3809 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3810 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3811 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3812 but with the flag set.
3814 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3816 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3817 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3819 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3820 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3821 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3822 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3823 available Scheme format implementations.
3825 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3826 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3827 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3828 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3829 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3830 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3831 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3832 output is to the current error port if available by the
3833 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3836 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3837 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3838 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3839 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3840 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3841 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3842 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3843 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3845 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3846 be executed at a time.
3849 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3851 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3852 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3853 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3855 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3856 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3857 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3858 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3859 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3860 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3861 general form of a directive is:
3863 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3865 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3867 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3869 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3870 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3871 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3874 Any (print as `display' does).
3878 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3882 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3886 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3892 print number sign always.
3895 print comma separated.
3897 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3903 print number sign always.
3906 print comma separated.
3908 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3914 print number sign always.
3917 print comma separated.
3919 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3925 print number sign always.
3928 print comma separated.
3930 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3935 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3939 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3942 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3945 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3948 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3953 prints `y' and `ies'.
3956 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3959 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3964 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3968 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3971 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3972 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3974 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3977 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3978 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3980 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3983 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3985 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3987 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3990 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3992 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3994 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3997 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
4000 The sign appears before the padding.
4008 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
4010 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
4015 print N page separators.
4025 newline is ignored, white space left.
4028 newline is left, white space ignored.
4033 relative tabulation.
4039 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
4041 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
4044 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
4046 converts by `string-capitalize'.
4049 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
4052 converts by `string-upcase'.
4055 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
4057 jumps N arguments forward.
4060 jumps 1 argument backward.
4063 jumps N arguments backward.
4066 jumps to the 0th argument.
4069 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
4071 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
4072 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
4074 take argument from N.
4077 true test conditional.
4080 if-else-then conditional.
4086 default clause follows.
4089 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
4091 at most N iterations.
4094 args from next arg (a list of lists).
4097 args from the rest of arguments.
4100 args from the rest args (lists).
4111 aborts if N <= M <= K
4113 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
4116 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4119 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4125 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
4127 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
4129 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
4130 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
4131 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
4132 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
4133 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
4134 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
4138 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
4142 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
4148 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
4151 Print a `#\space' character
4153 print N `#\space' characters.
4156 Print a `#\tab' character
4158 print N `#\tab' characters.
4161 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
4162 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
4163 must be a positive decimal number.
4166 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4167 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4168 be processed by `read'.
4171 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4172 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4173 be processed by `read'.
4176 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
4179 prints format version.
4182 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
4183 and format it accordingly.
4185 *** Configuration Variables
4187 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
4188 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
4189 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
4190 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
4193 format:symbol-case-conv
4194 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
4195 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
4196 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
4197 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
4198 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
4200 format:iobj-case-conv
4201 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
4202 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
4205 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
4208 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
4214 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
4215 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
4216 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
4217 `format' padding style.
4220 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
4221 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
4222 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
4223 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
4227 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
4228 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
4229 directive parameters or modifiers)).
4232 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
4233 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
4234 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
4235 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
4236 parameters or modifiers)).
4239 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
4241 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
4243 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
4244 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
4246 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
4247 string-downcase! functions.
4249 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
4250 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
4252 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
4255 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
4258 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
4259 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
4261 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
4263 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
4264 the symbol had be read by `read'.
4266 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
4267 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
4268 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
4269 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
4270 would if STRING were input.
4272 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
4274 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
4275 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
4276 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
4277 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
4280 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
4282 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
4283 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
4286 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
4288 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
4289 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
4291 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
4292 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
4294 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
4295 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
4296 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
4297 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
4299 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
4300 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
4302 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
4303 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
4304 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
4306 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
4307 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
4309 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
4310 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
4311 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
4312 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
4313 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
4315 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
4316 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
4317 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
4318 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
4319 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
4320 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
4322 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
4323 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
4324 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
4327 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
4328 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
4329 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
4330 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
4331 the following grammar:
4332 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4333 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4334 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4335 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4336 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4337 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4338 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4339 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4340 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4341 last option in its combination)
4343 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4344 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4345 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4346 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4348 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4349 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4350 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4352 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4353 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4354 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4356 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4357 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4358 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4359 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4360 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4361 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4362 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4363 ordinary argument strings.
4365 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4366 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4367 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4368 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4370 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4371 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4373 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4374 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4375 - a required option is omitted
4376 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4377 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4378 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4379 - an option predicate fails
4384 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4387 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4388 (verbose (required? #f)
4391 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4392 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4393 (predicate ,string?))))
4395 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4396 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4398 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4399 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4400 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4401 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4404 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4406 It will be removed in a few releases.
4408 ** New syntax: lambda*
4409 ** New syntax: define*
4410 ** New syntax: define*-public
4411 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4412 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4413 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4415 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4416 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4417 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4418 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4419 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4421 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4422 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4423 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4425 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4427 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4428 and examples for `lambda*':
4431 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4433 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4434 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4435 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4436 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4437 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4438 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4439 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4440 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4442 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4444 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4445 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4446 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4447 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4449 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4450 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4451 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4452 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4453 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4454 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4455 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4456 and until the procedure is called.
4458 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4460 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4461 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4462 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4463 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4464 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4465 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4466 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4467 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4468 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4469 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4471 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4472 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4473 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4474 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4477 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4479 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4480 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4481 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4482 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4484 ** New syntax: and-let*
4485 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4487 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4488 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4489 (<variable> <expression>)
4492 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4493 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4494 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4497 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4498 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4499 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4500 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4501 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4502 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4503 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4505 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4506 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4507 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4508 shadow earlier bindings.
4510 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4512 ** New sorting functions
4514 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4515 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4516 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4517 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4519 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4520 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4523 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4524 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4525 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4527 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4528 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4529 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4530 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4532 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4533 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4534 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4535 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4536 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4539 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4540 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4541 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4542 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4543 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4544 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4546 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4547 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4548 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4550 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4551 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4552 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4555 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4556 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4557 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4559 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4560 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4562 ** New built-in random number support
4564 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4565 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4566 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4567 returned have a uniform distribution.
4569 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4570 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4571 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4572 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4573 effect of the `random' operation.
4575 *** New variable: *random-state*
4576 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4577 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4578 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4579 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4580 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4583 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4584 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4585 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4586 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4587 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4589 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4590 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4591 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4592 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4593 initialized using SEED.
4595 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4596 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4597 range between 0 and 1.
4599 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4600 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4601 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4602 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4603 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4604 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4605 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4607 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4608 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4609 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4610 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4611 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4612 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4614 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4615 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4616 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4617 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4619 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4620 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4621 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4622 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4624 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4625 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4626 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4628 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4630 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4633 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4634 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4637 ** New function: make-guardian
4638 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4639 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4640 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4641 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4642 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4644 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4645 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4646 one object if at all.
4648 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4649 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4650 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4652 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4653 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4654 read again in last-in first-out order.
4656 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4657 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4659 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4661 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4662 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4663 file position is used.
4665 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4666 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4667 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4669 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4670 redefined using seek.
4672 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4673 size is not supplied.
4675 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4676 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4678 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4679 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4681 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4683 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4684 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4685 and returns the contents as a single string.
4687 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4688 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4689 lists in serial order.
4691 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4692 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4693 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4695 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4696 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4697 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4698 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4700 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4701 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4702 and #f if an error occured.
4704 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4706 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4707 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4708 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4709 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4711 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4713 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4716 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4718 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4721 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4725 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4726 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4728 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4729 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4733 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4735 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4737 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4738 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4740 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4742 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4743 might change when we get the new module system.
4745 ** The smob interface
4747 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4748 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4750 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4752 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4756 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4757 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4758 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4759 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4760 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4761 will be freed by the default free function.
4763 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4764 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4765 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4766 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4768 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4769 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4770 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4771 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4773 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4775 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4776 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4780 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4781 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4782 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4784 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4785 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4786 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4787 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4789 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4790 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4791 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4793 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4794 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4795 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4796 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4798 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4799 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4800 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4802 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4806 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4808 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4809 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4810 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4812 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4813 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4814 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4816 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4817 a string port's buffer.
4819 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4820 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4821 function pointers which together define the current random number
4822 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4823 number library functions.
4825 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4828 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4829 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4832 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4833 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4835 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4836 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4838 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4839 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4842 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4843 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4844 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4845 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4847 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4848 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4849 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4850 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4851 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4852 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4853 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4855 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4856 by libguile and the application.
4858 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4859 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4860 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4861 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4863 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4864 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4866 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4867 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4868 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4870 ** Random number library functions
4871 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4872 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4873 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4875 The default random state is stored in:
4877 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4878 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4879 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4884 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4886 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4887 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4888 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4889 isn't a random state.
4891 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4892 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4894 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4895 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4896 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4897 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4899 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4900 Return 32 random bits.
4902 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4903 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4905 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4906 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4908 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4909 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4911 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4912 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4914 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4915 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4916 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4920 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4922 * Changes to the distribution
4924 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4925 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4926 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4929 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4930 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4931 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4933 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4934 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4935 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4936 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4939 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4940 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4941 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4943 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4945 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4947 *** Function: batch-mode?
4949 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4952 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4954 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4955 case has not been implemented.
4957 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4958 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4959 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4962 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4963 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4965 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4967 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4969 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4971 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4972 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4975 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4976 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4977 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4978 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4981 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4983 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4984 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4985 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4986 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4987 find those libraries.
4989 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4990 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4993 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4995 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4996 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4997 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4998 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
5000 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
5001 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
5002 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
5006 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
5008 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
5009 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
5010 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
5013 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
5014 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
5015 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
5016 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
5018 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
5019 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
5022 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
5023 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
5024 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
5025 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
5026 compiler where to find the libraries.
5028 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
5029 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
5030 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
5032 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
5033 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
5034 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
5035 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
5036 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
5040 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5042 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
5043 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
5044 internationalization support.
5046 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
5047 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
5048 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
5049 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
5050 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
5052 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
5053 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
5054 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
5055 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
5056 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
5058 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
5059 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
5060 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
5061 any GNU mirror site.
5063 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
5065 ** New function: add-history STRING
5066 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
5067 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
5068 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
5070 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
5072 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
5073 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
5074 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
5077 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
5078 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
5079 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
5081 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
5083 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
5086 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
5087 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
5090 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
5091 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
5092 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
5093 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
5094 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
5095 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
5097 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
5098 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
5099 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
5100 of the form mentioned above.
5102 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
5103 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
5104 returned in the special `rest' list.
5106 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
5107 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
5109 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
5111 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
5113 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
5115 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
5116 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
5117 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
5118 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
5119 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
5120 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
5121 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
5122 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
5125 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
5127 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
5129 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
5130 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
5133 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
5134 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
5135 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
5139 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
5140 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
5141 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
5142 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
5143 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
5144 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
5145 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
5146 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
5149 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
5151 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
5152 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
5153 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
5155 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
5157 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
5158 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
5160 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
5161 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
5162 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
5164 Why do we have this function?
5165 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
5166 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
5167 primitive, and display it differently, and
5168 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
5169 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
5172 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
5173 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
5176 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
5177 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
5178 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
5179 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
5181 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
5182 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
5185 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
5186 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
5188 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
5190 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
5191 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
5192 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
5193 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
5194 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
5195 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
5196 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
5199 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
5201 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
5202 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
5204 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
5205 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
5206 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
5207 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
5208 properly continue the print chain.
5210 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
5211 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
5212 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
5213 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
5214 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
5215 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
5216 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
5217 print-state, it is simply ignored.
5219 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
5220 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
5221 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
5222 safest to not check for these pairs.
5224 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
5225 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
5226 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
5227 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
5229 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
5231 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
5232 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
5234 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
5236 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
5238 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
5239 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
5240 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
5242 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
5243 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
5244 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
5246 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
5247 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
5248 the following functions and macros:
5250 Function: make-fluid
5252 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
5253 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
5254 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
5255 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
5256 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
5258 Function: fluid? OBJ
5260 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
5262 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
5263 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
5265 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
5266 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
5268 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
5270 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
5271 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
5272 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
5273 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
5274 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
5275 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
5276 modified by `with-fluids*'.
5278 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
5280 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
5281 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
5282 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
5283 should evaluate to a fluid.
5285 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
5287 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
5288 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
5289 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
5290 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
5291 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
5293 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
5296 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
5298 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
5300 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
5302 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
5305 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
5306 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
5307 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
5308 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
5309 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
5312 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
5313 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
5314 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
5316 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
5317 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
5318 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
5320 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
5321 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
5322 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5323 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
5325 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
5326 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
5327 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5328 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
5330 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
5331 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5332 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5333 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5335 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5336 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5337 their revealed counts set to zero.
5339 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5340 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5342 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5343 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5345 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5346 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5348 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5349 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5350 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5352 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5353 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5354 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5356 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5357 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5358 default environment inherited by child processes.
5360 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5361 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5362 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5364 The return value is unspecified.
5366 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5367 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5368 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5369 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5370 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5372 The return value is unspecified.
5374 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5375 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5383 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5384 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5387 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5390 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5391 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5392 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5394 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5395 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5396 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5397 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5400 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5401 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5403 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5404 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5405 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5406 the `environ' procedure.
5408 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5409 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5412 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5413 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5415 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5416 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5417 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5418 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5420 *** procedure: times
5421 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5422 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5423 return a selected component:
5426 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5430 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5433 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5437 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5438 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5442 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5443 terminated child processes.
5445 ** Removed: list-length
5446 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5447 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5449 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5451 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5453 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5455 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5456 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5457 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5458 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5460 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5461 extra complexity it introduces.
5463 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5464 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5466 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5467 variable to any non-empty value.
5469 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5470 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5472 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5474 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5475 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5477 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5479 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5480 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5482 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5484 ** vector handling routines
5486 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5487 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5488 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5489 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5490 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5492 ** pair and list routines
5494 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5497 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5499 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5502 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5504 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5506 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5507 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5508 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5509 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5510 site-specific initialization code.
5512 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5513 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5514 initialization processes.
5516 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5517 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5518 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5519 initialized properly.
5521 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5522 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5523 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5525 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5526 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5527 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5528 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5529 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5531 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5533 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5534 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5535 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5536 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5537 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5539 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5540 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5541 which look like this:
5544 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5546 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5547 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5550 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5551 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5554 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5556 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5557 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5558 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5560 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5561 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5562 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5563 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5564 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5566 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5567 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5569 int (*free) (SCM port);
5570 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5571 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5572 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5576 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5577 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5578 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5580 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5583 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5584 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5585 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5587 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5588 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5589 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5592 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5596 struct timeval *timeout);
5598 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5599 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5600 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5601 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5602 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5603 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5605 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5606 scm_catch_body_t body,
5608 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5611 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5612 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5613 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5614 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5615 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5616 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5618 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5620 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5623 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5624 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5625 spawning threads from application C code.
5627 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5628 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5629 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5630 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5631 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5632 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5634 ** Removed functions:
5636 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5637 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5639 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5641 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5642 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5644 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5646 ** mbstrings are now removed
5648 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5649 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5651 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5653 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5654 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5655 their new names and arguments:
5657 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5658 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5659 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5660 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5663 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5665 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5667 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5670 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5672 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5673 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5674 pass a #f arg to catch.
5676 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5678 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5679 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5682 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5683 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5684 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5685 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5686 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5687 reclaim its storage.
5689 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5690 worrying that some other function you call will call
5691 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5692 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5693 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5694 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5697 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5699 * Changes to the distribution
5701 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5702 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5705 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5706 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5708 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5709 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5711 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5713 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5714 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5715 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5717 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5719 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5720 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5721 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5722 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5723 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5724 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5726 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5727 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5728 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5731 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5732 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5733 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5734 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5736 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5737 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5738 libraries to your link command:
5740 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5741 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5742 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5743 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5745 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5746 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5747 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5749 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5751 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5752 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5755 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5757 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5758 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5759 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5760 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5761 searched is system dependent.
5763 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5765 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5767 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5769 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5770 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5772 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5774 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5775 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5776 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5777 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5778 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5781 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5783 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5784 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5785 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5786 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5787 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5789 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5791 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5792 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5794 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5796 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5797 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5798 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5801 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5803 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5804 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5805 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5806 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5808 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5809 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5811 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5813 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5814 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5816 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5818 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5819 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5827 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5829 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5830 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5831 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5832 a more informative way.
5834 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5835 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5836 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5837 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5838 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5839 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5841 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5842 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5845 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5846 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5847 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5850 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5851 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5852 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5853 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5854 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5855 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5857 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5858 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5859 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5860 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5863 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5864 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5865 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5866 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5867 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5868 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5870 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5871 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5872 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5873 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5874 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5876 *** regexp functions
5878 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5879 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5880 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5882 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5883 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5884 with SCSH regular expressions.
5886 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5887 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5888 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5889 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5891 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5892 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5893 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5894 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5896 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5897 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5898 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5899 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5900 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5901 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5903 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5904 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5905 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5906 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5907 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5909 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5911 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5912 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5913 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5914 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5916 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5917 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5918 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5920 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5921 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5923 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5926 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5927 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5928 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5930 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5931 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5932 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5934 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5935 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5936 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5937 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5938 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5941 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5943 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5944 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5945 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5946 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5947 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5948 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5950 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5951 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5952 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5954 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5955 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5958 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5959 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5961 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5962 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5963 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5964 may be one of the following arguments:
5966 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5968 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5970 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5971 the regexp match is written.
5973 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5974 following the regexp match is written.
5976 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5977 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5980 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5981 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5982 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5983 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5984 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5985 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5987 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5990 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5991 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5992 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5993 written out to PORT.
5995 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5996 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5997 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5998 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5999 will return after processing a single match.
6001 *** Match Structures
6003 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
6004 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
6005 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
6006 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
6007 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
6008 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
6011 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
6012 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
6013 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
6014 information about the original target string that was matched against a
6015 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
6017 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
6018 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
6019 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
6021 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
6022 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
6023 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
6024 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
6025 number N did not match, return `#f'.
6027 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
6028 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
6030 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
6031 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
6033 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
6034 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
6036 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
6037 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
6039 **** Function: match:count MATCH
6040 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
6041 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
6042 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
6044 **** Function: match:string MATCH
6045 Return the original TARGET string.
6047 *** Backslash Escapes
6049 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
6050 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
6051 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
6052 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
6053 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
6054 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
6056 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
6057 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
6058 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
6059 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
6060 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
6061 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
6062 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
6063 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
6065 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
6066 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
6067 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
6068 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
6069 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
6070 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
6071 each match a single backslash in the target string.
6073 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
6074 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
6075 return the resulting string.
6077 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
6078 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
6079 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
6080 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
6081 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
6082 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
6083 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
6084 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
6085 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
6086 translated to the single character `*'.
6088 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
6089 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
6090 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
6091 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
6092 consecutive backslashes:
6094 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
6096 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
6097 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
6098 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
6100 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
6101 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
6102 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
6103 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
6104 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
6105 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
6107 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
6109 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
6110 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
6111 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
6112 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
6113 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
6114 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
6115 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
6116 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
6117 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
6118 cumbersome escape syntax.
6120 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6122 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6124 * Changes to system call interfaces:
6126 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
6129 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
6131 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
6133 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
6136 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
6137 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
6138 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
6139 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
6140 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
6142 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
6143 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
6144 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
6145 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
6146 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
6147 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
6148 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
6151 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
6152 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
6153 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
6156 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
6157 `force-output' on every port open for output.
6159 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
6160 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
6161 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
6162 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
6163 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
6164 installed, you can say:
6166 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
6169 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6171 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
6172 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
6173 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
6174 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
6175 new dynamic roots and threads.
6178 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
6180 * Changes to the distribution.
6182 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
6184 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
6185 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
6186 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
6187 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
6188 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
6189 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
6190 programming language. These are packaged together because the
6191 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
6193 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
6196 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
6197 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
6202 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6204 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
6205 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
6207 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
6208 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
6209 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
6210 the (command-line) function.
6211 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
6212 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
6213 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
6215 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
6216 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
6217 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
6218 command line arguments
6219 -ds do -s script at this point
6220 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
6221 -h, --help display this help and exit
6222 -v, --version display version information and exit
6223 \ read arguments from following script lines
6225 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
6226 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
6228 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6231 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6235 (main (command-line))
6237 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
6239 ekko a speckled gecko
6241 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
6242 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
6243 following list of command-line arguments:
6245 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
6247 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
6248 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
6249 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
6250 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
6251 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6253 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
6255 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
6257 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
6258 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
6261 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
6262 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
6263 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
6264 SCSH) for circumventing them.
6266 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
6267 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
6268 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
6269 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
6271 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
6275 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6279 If the user invokes this script as follows:
6281 ekko a speckled gecko
6283 Unix expands this into
6285 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
6287 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
6288 read from the second line of the script, producing:
6290 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6292 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
6293 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6295 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
6296 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
6297 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
6298 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
6299 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
6300 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
6301 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
6302 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
6303 it only terminates the argument list.)
6304 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
6305 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
6306 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
6307 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
6308 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
6309 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
6310 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
6311 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
6313 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6315 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
6316 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
6317 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
6318 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
6319 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
6321 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
6322 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
6323 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
6325 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
6327 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
6328 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
6329 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
6330 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6333 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6334 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6335 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6337 * Changes to Scheme functions
6339 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6340 and disabled by default.
6342 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6343 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6344 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6345 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6347 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6349 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6351 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6352 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6354 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6355 (read-set! keywords #f)
6357 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6358 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6359 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6362 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6363 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6364 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6367 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6368 support for Scheme functions.
6370 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6371 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6372 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6373 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6376 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6377 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6378 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6381 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6382 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6383 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6386 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6387 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6388 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6389 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6390 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6391 display the result as a prompt.
6392 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6394 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6395 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6396 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6399 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6400 procedure of zero arguments.
6402 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6403 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6404 argument is bound in the current module.
6406 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6407 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6408 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6409 public bindings into the current module.
6411 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6412 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6414 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6415 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6417 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6418 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6420 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6421 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6423 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6424 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6426 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6427 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6428 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6429 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6430 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6432 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6433 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6434 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6435 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6437 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6440 ** Changes to I/O functions
6442 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6443 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6444 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6446 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6447 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6448 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6450 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6451 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6453 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6454 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6455 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6456 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6458 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6460 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6461 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6463 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6464 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6465 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6466 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6467 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6470 'trim omit delimiter from result
6471 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6472 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6473 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6475 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6477 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6478 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6480 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6481 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6482 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6483 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6484 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6486 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6487 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6488 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6490 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6491 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6492 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6493 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6495 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6496 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6498 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6499 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6501 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6503 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6504 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6505 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6506 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6507 a delimiting character.
6508 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6510 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6511 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6512 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6513 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6514 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6515 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6517 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6518 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6520 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6521 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6522 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6524 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6525 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6526 the array to read and write.
6528 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6529 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6532 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6534 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6537 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6538 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6539 Values for COMMAND are:
6541 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6542 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6543 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6544 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6545 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6546 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6547 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6548 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6550 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6552 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6553 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6554 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6555 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6556 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6557 corresponding return set will be the same.
6559 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6562 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6563 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6564 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6565 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6566 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6567 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6568 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6569 special file being created.
6571 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6572 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6574 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6575 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6576 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6577 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6578 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6579 and originating address.
6581 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6582 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6583 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6585 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6588 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6589 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6592 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6593 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6594 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6595 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6596 this function returns #f.
6598 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6599 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6600 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6603 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6604 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6605 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6608 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6609 a valid STATUS value.
6611 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6613 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6614 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6616 Component Accessor Setter
6617 ========================= ============ ============
6618 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6619 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6620 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6621 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6622 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6623 year tm:year set-tm:year
6624 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6625 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6626 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6627 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6628 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6630 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6631 describing the host system:
6634 ============================================== ================
6635 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6636 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6637 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6638 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6639 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6641 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6642 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6643 system's user database:
6646 ====================== =================
6647 user name passwd:name
6648 user password passwd:passwd
6651 real name passwd:gecos
6652 home directory passwd:dir
6653 shell program passwd:shell
6655 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6656 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6657 system's group database:
6660 ======================= ============
6661 group name group:name
6662 group password group:passwd
6664 group members group:mem
6666 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6667 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6671 ========================= ===============
6672 official name of host hostent:name
6673 alias list hostent:aliases
6674 host address type hostent:addrtype
6675 length of address hostent:length
6676 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6678 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6679 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6683 ========================= ===============
6684 official name of net netent:name
6685 alias list netent:aliases
6686 net number type netent:addrtype
6687 net number netent:net
6689 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6690 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6694 ========================= ===============
6695 official protocol name protoent:name
6696 alias list protoent:aliases
6697 protocol number protoent:proto
6699 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6700 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6704 ========================= ===============
6705 official service name servent:name
6706 alias list servent:aliases
6707 port number servent:port
6708 protocol to use servent:proto
6710 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6711 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6714 ======================================== ===============
6715 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6716 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6717 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6718 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6720 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6721 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6722 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6724 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6725 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6727 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6728 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6730 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6731 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6733 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6735 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6737 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6738 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6739 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6741 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6742 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6743 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6744 return the remaining characters as a string.
6746 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6747 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6748 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6750 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6752 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6754 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6757 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6760 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6761 and returns the array
6763 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6764 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6765 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6767 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6769 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6770 symbol's value from C code:
6772 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6773 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6774 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6775 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6777 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6778 without assigning them a value.
6780 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6781 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6782 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6784 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6785 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6786 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6788 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6789 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6791 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6792 doesn't actually care about that.
6794 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6795 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6796 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6798 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6799 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6800 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6801 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6802 which we have just created and initialized.
6804 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6805 should one occur. We call it like this:
6806 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6808 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6809 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6810 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6811 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6812 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6813 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6816 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6817 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6818 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6819 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6820 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6821 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6822 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6825 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6826 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6827 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6828 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6829 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6832 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6833 scm_internal_catch, except:
6835 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6836 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6837 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6838 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6841 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6842 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6843 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6845 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6846 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6847 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6848 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6851 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6852 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6853 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6855 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6856 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6857 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6858 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6859 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6861 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6862 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6863 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6865 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6866 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6867 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6869 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6870 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6872 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6873 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6874 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6877 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6878 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6879 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6880 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6881 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6882 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6883 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6886 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6887 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6889 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6890 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6891 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6892 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6893 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6896 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6897 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6899 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6900 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6903 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6904 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6906 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6909 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6910 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6911 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6912 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6913 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6914 given the following arguments:
6916 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6918 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6920 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6922 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6925 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6926 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6927 command-line arguments.
6929 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6930 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6931 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6932 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6933 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6934 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6937 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6940 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6941 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6943 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6944 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6946 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6947 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6948 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6949 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6951 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6952 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6954 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6955 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6956 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6957 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6959 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6960 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6962 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6963 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6965 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6967 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6968 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6969 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6972 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6973 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6975 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6976 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6981 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6984 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6986 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6987 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6988 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6989 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6991 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6993 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6995 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6996 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6997 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6998 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6999 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
7000 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
7001 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
7002 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
7003 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
7004 for more information.
7006 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
7007 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
7009 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
7010 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
7011 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
7012 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
7013 following two lines at the top of the file:
7015 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7018 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
7019 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
7020 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
7022 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
7024 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7026 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
7029 (display (car args))
7030 (if (pair? (cdr args))
7032 (loop (cdr args)))))
7035 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
7036 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
7037 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
7038 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
7039 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
7040 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
7044 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
7047 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
7050 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
7052 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
7053 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
7054 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
7055 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
7056 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
7059 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
7060 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
7061 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
7062 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
7063 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
7066 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
7069 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
7070 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
7071 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
7074 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
7075 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
7076 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
7078 to see a backtrace, and
7079 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
7080 to see them by default.
7084 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
7086 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
7088 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
7089 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
7092 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
7093 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
7094 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
7095 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
7098 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
7099 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
7100 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
7101 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
7102 functions which inspired them.
7104 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
7105 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
7109 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
7111 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
7113 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
7114 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
7117 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
7118 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
7119 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
7121 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
7122 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
7123 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
7124 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
7125 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
7127 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
7129 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
7130 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
7131 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
7134 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
7137 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
7139 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
7140 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
7141 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
7142 above should serve their purposes.
7144 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
7145 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
7146 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
7147 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
7149 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
7152 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
7153 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
7154 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
7155 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
7157 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
7158 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
7159 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
7160 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
7162 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
7163 for the `read' function.
7166 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
7167 to that of `integer?'.
7169 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
7170 use the R4RS names for these functions.
7172 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
7173 it simply returns the object's property list.
7175 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
7176 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
7177 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
7178 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
7180 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
7182 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
7185 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
7187 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
7188 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
7190 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
7192 void (*main_func) (),
7195 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
7196 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
7197 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
7198 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
7199 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
7201 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
7202 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
7203 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
7204 know which arguments have been processed.
7206 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
7207 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
7208 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
7209 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
7210 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
7212 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
7213 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
7214 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
7215 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
7216 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
7217 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
7218 people from making that mistake.
7220 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
7221 convenient ways to override these when desired.
7223 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
7225 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
7229 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
7232 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
7233 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
7234 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
7235 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
7238 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
7239 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
7240 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
7241 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
7244 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
7245 have been added to the Guile library.
7247 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
7248 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
7249 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
7252 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
7253 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
7254 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
7256 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
7257 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
7258 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
7259 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
7260 argument from the list.
7263 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
7266 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
7267 null-terminated string, and returns it.
7269 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
7270 to a Scheme port object.
7272 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
7273 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
7278 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
7280 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
7281 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
7282 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
7283 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
7284 code as a special datatype.
7286 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
7287 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
7288 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
7289 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
7290 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
7293 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
7294 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
7295 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
7296 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
7297 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
7299 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
7302 Copyright information:
7304 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7306 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
7307 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
7308 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
7309 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
7311 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
7312 of this document, or of portions of it,
7313 under the above conditions, provided also that they
7314 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
7319 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"