Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
+FIXME:
+
+ * ,x of failing computation
+ * (quit)
+
\f
(During the 1.9 series, we will keep an incremental NEWS for the latest
prerelease, and a full NEWS corresponding to 1.8 -> 2.0.)
Changes in 1.9.12 (since the 1.9.11 prerelease):
+** Many R6RS bugfixes
+
+`(rnrs bytevectors)' and `(rnrs io ports)' now have version information,
+like the rest of the modules. The `(rnrs unicode)' module is now
+re-exported by `(rnrs)'. Top-level `import' forms may have more than one
+clause. Warnings about duplicate bindings have been fixed, along with
+some typos in the modules. There were a number of other bugfixes as well.
+
+For the current list of known R6RS incompatibilities, see "R6RS
+Incompatibilities" in the manual.
+
+** Documentation for standard R6RS libraries
+
+See "R6RS Standard Libraries" in the manual, for more details.
+
+** Support for `letrec*'
+
+Guile now supports letrec*, a form of letrec in which the identifiers
+are bound in order. See "Local Bindings" in the manual, for more
+details.
+
+** Internal definitions now expand to `letrec*'
+
+Following the R6RS, internal definitions now expand to letrec* instead
+of letrec. The following program is invalid for R5RS, but valid for
+R6RS:
+
+ (define (foo)
+ (define bar 10)
+ (define baz (+ bar 20))
+ baz)
+
+ ;; R5RS and Guile <= 1.8:
+ (foo) => Unbound variable: bar
+ ;; R6RS and Guile >= 2.0:
+ (foo) => 30
+
+This change should not affect correct R5RS programs, or programs written
+in earlier Guile dialects.
+
+** Recursive debugging REPL on error
+
+When Guile sees an error, instead of dropping into a special debugging
+prompt, it will enter a recursive REPL in the dynamic context of the
+error. See "Error Handling" in the manual, for more information.
+
+A recursive REPL is the same as any other REPL, except that it
+has been augmented with debugging information, so that one can inspect
+the context of the error. The debugger has been integrated with the REPL
+via a set of debugging meta-commands.
+
+For example, one may access a backtrace with `,backtrace' (or
+`,bt'). See "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for more
+information.
+
+** Readline tab completion for arguments
+
+When readline is enabled, tab completion works for arguments too, not
+just for the operator position.
+
+** Various REPL robustness fixes
+
+The REPL no longer enters the debugger when an error occurs at read-time
+and compile-time, or when executing meta-commands. Additionally, the
+REPL is more strict about the ports that it uses, saving the current
+input and output ports at startup and using those ports when entering
+recursive prompts. This allows debugging of an error within
+e.g. `call-with-input-port'.
+
+Finally, Ctrl-d can now be used to exit a recursive REPL, dropping the
+user back to the parent REPL.
+
+** Better procedure name and source location propagation
+
+There was a bug in 1.9.11 which would leave most procedures un-named;
+this and other previous deficiencies have been fixed.
+
+** New macro: `current-source-location'
+
+See FIXME in the manual, for more information.
+
+** module-filename field and accessor
+
+Modules now record the file in which they are defined. This field may be
+accessed with the new `module-filename' procedure.
+
+** call-with-error-handling / with-error-handling
+
+FIXME: document?
+
+** Deprecate the old scm-style-repl
+
+The following bindings from boot-9 are now found in `(ice-9
+scm-style-repl)': `scm-style-repl', `error-catching-loop',
+`error-catching-repl', `bad-throw', `scm-repl-silent'
+`assert-repl-silence', `repl-print-unspecified',
+`assert-repl-print-unspecified', `scm-repl-verbose',
+`assert-repl-verbosity', `scm-repl-prompt', `set-repl-prompt!', `repl',
+`default-pre-unwind-handler', `handle-system-error',
+
+The following bindings have been deprecated, with no replacement:
+`pre-unwind-handler-dispatch'.
+
+The following bindings have been totally removed:
+`before-signal-stack'.
+
+Deprecated forwarding shims have been installed so that users that
+expect these bindings in the main namespace will still work, but receive
+a deprecation warning.
+
+** Miscellaneous other deprecations
+
+`apply-to-args', `has-suffix?', `scheme-file-suffix'
+`get-option', `for-next-option', `display-usage-report',
+`transform-usage-lambda', `collect', `set-batch-mode?!'
+
+** All core defmacros reimplemented hygienically
+
+All macros present in the default environment are now implemented with
+syntax-case. This should not have practical ramifications, beyond those
+listed below in "Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not
+be referenced by nonhygienic macros".
+
** Random generator state may be serialized to a datum
`random-state->datum' will serialize a random state to a datum, which
-may be written out and read back in later. That datum may be used to
-construct an equivalent random state by calling `datum->random-state'.
+may be written out, read back in later, and revivified using
+`datum->random-state'. See "Random" in the manual, for more details.
+
+** New primitive: `tmpfile'.
+
+See "File System" in the manual.
+
+** Modules load within a known environment
+
+It takes a few procedure calls to define a module, and those procedure
+calls need to be in scope. Now we ensure that the current module when
+loading a module is one that has the needed bindings, instead of relying
+on chance.
+
+** Remove encoding of versions into the file system
+
+It used to be that, when loading a module, if the user specified a
+version, Guile would grovel about in the filesystem to find the
+module. This process was slow and not robust. This support has been
+removed: modules are once more always loaded via `primitive-load-path'.
+
+Module versions in the filesystem may be added again in the future, in
+an extensible way. Contact bug-guile@gnu.org with patches.
+
+** Alex Shinn's pattern matcher for (ice-9 match).
+
+Guile's copy of Andrew K. Wright's `match' library has been replaced by
+a compatible hygienic implementation by Alex Shinn.
+
+Compared to Andrew K. Wright's `match', the new `match' lacks
+`match-define', `match:error-control', `match:set-error-control',
+`match:error', `match:set-error', and all structure-related procedures.
+
+** Better debugging for psyntax
+
+We now build psyntax-pp.go directly from psyntax.scm, which allows us to
+preserve the original source locations and variable names. Git users
+will also be please to note that psyntax-pp.scm is no longer
+automatically regenerated from a normal `make' invocation.
+
+** AM_SILENT_RULES
+
+Guile's build is visually quieter, due to the use of Automake 1.11's
+AM_SILENT_RULES. Build as `make V=1' to see all of the output.
+
+** Better REPL options interface
+
+The set of REPL options is now fixed and typechecked -- you can't
+mistakenly set an option that doesn't exist, or set an value with an
+incorrect type. The following options have been added: `prompt',
+`compile-options', and `value-history'.
+
+The new `repl-default-option-set!' procedure from `(system repl common)'
+can set default options for future REPLs. `repl-default-prompt-set!' is
+a convenience procedure to set default prompts.
+
+** `*unspecified*' is identifier syntax
+
+`*unspecified*' is no longer a variable, so it is optimized properly by
+the compiler, and is not `set!'-able.
+
+** `set-batch-mode?!' replaced by `ensure-batch-mode!'
+
+"Batch mode" is a flag used to tell a program that it is not running
+interactively. One usually turns it on after a fork. It may not be
+turned off. `ensure-batch-mode!' deprecates the old `set-batch-mode?!',
+because it is a better interface, as it can only turn on batch mode, not
+turn it off.
+
+** `(debug)' gone (fix?)
+
+ * module/system/vm/debug.scm (debug): Change to debug the current stack
+ instead of the last stack.
+
+** Support for settable identifier syntax
+
+Following the R6RS, "variable transformers" are settable
+identifier-syntax. See "Identifier macros" in the manual, for more
+information.
+
+** Deprecate `save-stack', `the-last-stack'
+
+It used to be that the way to debug programs in Guile was to capture the
+stack at the time of error, drop back to the REPL, then debug that
+stack. But this approach didn't compose, was tricky to get right in the
+presence of threads, and was not very powerful.
+
+So `save-stack', `stack-saved?', and `the-last-stack' have been moved to
+`(ice-9 save-stack)', with deprecated bindings left in the root module.
+
+** Compilation warnings at the REPL
+
+By default, Guile now prints compile-time warnings for code entered at
+the REPL. Current warnings are for unbound variables and mismatched
+arities.
+
+** syntax-case treats `_' as a placeholder
+
+Following R6RS, a `_' in a syntax-rules or syntax-case pattern matches
+anything, and binds no pattern variables. Unlike the R6RS, Guile also
+permits `_' to be in the literals list for a pattern.
+
+** Remove old Emacs interface
+
+Guile had an unused `--emacs' command line argument that was supposed to
+help when running Guile inside Emacs. This option has been removed, and
+the helper functions `named-module-use!' and `load-emacs-interface' have
+been deprecated.
+
+** `top-repl' has its own module
+
+The `top-repl' binding, called with Guile is run interactively, is now
+is its own module, `(ice-9 top-repl)'. A deprecated forwarding shim was
+left in the default environment.
+
+** Value history in the REPL on by default
+
+By default, the REPL will save computed values in variables like `$1',
+`$2', and the like. There are programmatic and interactive interfaces to
+control this. See "Value History" in the manual, for more information.
+
+** New threads are in `(guile-user)' by default, not `(guile)'
+
+It used to be that a new thread entering Guile would do so in the
+`(guile)' module, unless this was the first time Guile was initialized,
+in which case it was `(guile-user)'. This has been fixed to have all
+new threads unknown to Guile default to `(guile-user)'.
+
+** Backtrace improvements
+
+It used to be that backtraces showed a couple of extra frames, from the
+implementation of prompts. This has been fixed. Also, backtraces now
+print column numbers in addition to line numbers, if possible.
+
+** `display-error' takes a frame
+
+The `display-error' / `scm_display_error' helper now takes a frame as an
+argument instead of a stack. Stacks are still supported in deprecated
+builds. Additionally, `display-error' will again source location
+information for the error.
+
+** Better error reporting from the VM
+
+If a value of the wrong type is passed to `car', `cdr', `set-car!',
+`set-cdr!', `apply', a struct accessor, or a bytevector accessors, the
+error from the VM now indicates which procedure failed, instead of
+lumping them all into the non-helpful "VM error". In addition, unbound
+variable reporting is now more helpful.
+
+** No more `(ice-9 debug)'
+
+This module had some debugging helpers that are no longer applicable to
+the current debugging model. Importing this module will produce a
+deprecation warning. Users should contact bug-guile for support.
+
+** No more `(system vm debug)'
+
+This module is replaced by the recursive debugging REPL.
+
+** File ports handle binary mode and coding declarations
+
+Binary file ports are supported again, by opening files in the
+ISO-8859-1 encoding. If an encoding is not specified for textual ports,
+Guile now grovels the file for a "coding:" directive, and uses that if
+possible. See the documentation for `open-file', for more information.
+
+** R6RS character hex escapes on by default
+
+However, R6RS character escapes within strings are incompatible with
+older Guile escape sequences, so they still need the reader option
+turned on. See "Reader Options" in the manual, for more information.
+
+** Fix random number generator on 64-bit platforms
+
+There was a nasty bug on 64-bit platforms in which asking for a random
+integer with a range between 2**32 and 2**64 caused a segfault. After
+many embarrassing iterations, this was fixed.
+
+** Add `vhash-fold*' in `(ice-9 vlist)'.
+
+See "VLists" in the manual, for more information.
+
+** Timestamps on autocompiled files checked for freshness, not equality
+
+It used to be that to load a `.go' file instead of a `.scm' file, we
+required that the timestamp of the `.go' file be equal to that of the
+`.scm'. This has been relaxed to accept newer `.go' files, to integrate
+better with `make' tools.
+
+** Simplifications to the `(system foreign)' API.
+
+Guile's foreign function interface was simplified a great
+deal. Interested users should see the documentation for
+
+** User Scheme code may be placed in a version-specific path
+
+Before, there was only one way to install user Scheme code to a
+version-specific Guile directory: install to Guile's own path,
+e.g. /usr/share/guile/2.0. The site directory,
+e.g. /usr/share/guile/site, was unversioned. This has been changed to
+add a version-specific site directory, e.g. /usr/share/guile/site/2.0,
+searched before the global site directory.
** And of course, the usual collection of bugfixes
** `(sxml match)', a pattern matcher for SXML
** `(srfi srfi-9 gnu)', extensions to the SRFI-9 record library
** `(system vm coverage)', a line-by-line code coverage library
+
** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
as code is ported over from defmacros to syntax-case, it is possible to
-run into situations like this. In the future, Guile will probably port
-its `while' macro to syntax-case, which makes this issue one to know
-about.
+run into situations like this. For example, if you have a defmacro that
+generates a `while' expression, the `break' bound by the `while' may not
+be visible within other parts of your defmacro. The solution is to port
+from defmacros to syntax-rules or syntax-case.
** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
(e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
-directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensionsdir
+directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensiondir
guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
** New dependency: libgc