@c -*-Texinfo-*-

@chapter News
@cindex News

@heading 0.92.5
@itemize @bullet
@item Assume stack-direction @code{downwards} for all sparc, hppa, mips, mipsel, ia64 and alpha variants (fixes compilation) [Christopher Bratusek]
@item Fix compilation due to bug in libtool 2.0+ if /bin/sh is not /bin/bash [Christopher Bratusek]
@item rules.mk clean-up [宋文武] [Daniel M. German]:
@itemize x
  @item Variables that depend on prefix should not be recursive
  @item Don't set prefix, datadir, libdir, datarootdir and repdir
  @item Use pkg-config to get the absolute path for repcommonexecdir
@end itemize
@item Update .gitignore [Meng Zhang]
@item Update config.sub to 2014-09-11 from autoconf
@end itemize

@heading 0.92.4
@itemize @bullet

@item Fix building librep on ARM [Togan Muftouglu, Christopher Bratusek]

@item Fix building librep on AArch64 [Kim B. Heino]

@item Misc. updates to debian packaging scripts [Christopher Bratusek]
@end itemize
@heading 0.92.3
@itemize @bullet

@item More entities support for xml-reader (gt, umlauts, esszett)

@item Fix address of FSF in all files [Togan Muftouglu]

@item Assume stack-direciton @code{downwards} for all ppc and s390 variants [Kimb B. Heino]

@item Updated @file{install-sh} to version 2011-01-19.21.

@item Added @code{program-exists-p} [Mark Triggs]
@end itemize
@heading 0.92.2.1
@itemize @bullet

@item Assume stack-direction @code{downwards} on ARM [Kim B. Heino]

@end itemize
@heading 0.92.2
@itemize @bullet

@item Sync librep.spec with Fedora [Kim B. Heino]

@item Assume stack-direction @code{downwards} for x86_64.
Self-detection doesn't work with gcc >= 4.7.0 [Kim B. Heino]

@item read_line no longer aborts at 400 characters [Timo Korvola]
@end itemize

@heading 0.92.1b
@itemize @bullet

@item Fixed a bug in librep.pc
@end itemize

@heading 0.92.1
@itemize @bullet

@item Fixed building REP on OS-X 10.6 by not exporting librepm.sym
via libtool[John Harper]

@item Fixed building REP on OS-X 10.7 by defining a proper ALIGN
if ffi.h doesn't provide one [John Harper]

@item Fixed detection of FFI, if ffi.h isn't found [John Harper]

@item Added various missing symbols in librep.sym [John Harper]

@item Fixed a warning from configure regarding librep.pc [Christopher Bratusek]

@item Removed VPATH from Makefiles, to allow building REP using @code{makepp}
[Daniel Pfeiffer]

@item Added @code{positon} meta-function [Jeremy Hankins] [Eli Barzilay]

@item Imported utility-functions from Sawfish: @code{beautify-symbol},
@code{remove-newlines}, @code{option-index} and @code{string->symbol}.
@end itemize

@heading 0.92.0
@itemize @bullet

@item Bumped soname to 16.0.0 [Ian Zimmermann]

@item Make librep loading shared-objects, rather than libtool-archives [Kim B. Heino]

@item Removed architecture and version from installation paths [Christopher Bratusek]

@item Improved debian packaging-scripts [Ian Zimmermann, Christopher Bratusek]
@end itemize

@heading 0.91.1
@itemize @bullet

@item @code{rep.ffi.util} module [Sergey Bolshakov]

A new module containing utils for rep's ffi binding is added.

@item Fixed librep.pc to prevent a possible build issue in rep-gtk or sawfish
(occured on fedora 14) [Christopher Bratusek]

@item New functions [Teika Kazura]

@code{function-name} returns the name of the function object. (@pxref{Functions})

@code{remove-hook-by-name} removes functions from a hook by their name. (@pxref{Normal Hooks})

@item Documentation [Teika kazura]

Function @code{in-hook-p} now has the documentation. (@pxref{Normal Hooks})

New sections ``Module Aliases'' (@pxref{Module Aliases}), ``Module Limits''
(@pxref{Module Limits}).

@item Minor bugfix: @code{remove-hook} used to emit an error if the hook was unbound, but it's fixed. [Teika kazura]

@item fixed the spec-file [Kim B. Heino]
@item updated debian packaging-scripts (mostly) to the new format [Christopher Bratusek]
@end itemize
@heading 0.91.0
@itemize @bullet

@item Update note [important]:

You need to rebuild rep-gtk and sawfish against this version of librep,
because of an ABI-change.

Your lisp files have to be byte-compiled again, too.

@item Halfway improved @code{debug-on-error} and @code{backtrace-on-error} [Teika Kazura]

Previously, setting these values to @code{t} triggered the debugger /
backtracer even if the error was signalled inside of @code{condition-case}.
This behavior can still be obtained by setting them to the symbol @code{always}.

Now, if they're @code{t}, the debugger / backtracer is invoked only
if the control is not inside of any @code{condition-case}. Notice that
the condition is NOT if the error is actually handled by an error
handler. It is not the best, but we can't improve it.

The default value of @code{backtrace-on-error} is now @code{t}.

@item When you evaluate a closure interactively, the module it belongs to is printed, too. [Teika kazura]

@item Improved functions' docstring support [Teika Kazura]

Handling of functions' docstring is improved. The revised
@code{documenation} function is ensured to return the docstring
of functions, macros, and special forms (@pxref{Docstrings}).

Previously, fuctions' docstrings of byte-compiled user-files (eg:
pager.jlc) were lost, but not now.

@item New function @code{subr-structure} [Teika Kazura]@*
It returns the module a subr belongs to.

@item Major documentation revision [Teika kazura]

Reorganized documentation files. Many capital letter name files were updated
or merged into the info.

New entries: @xref{Crash course for Elisp users}, @xref{Closures},
on leading tilde in a filename and tarball access (@pxref{File Handlers}),
fully revised the module section (@pxref{Modules}), improved
description on invocation (@pxref{Invocation}), improved
``fluid'' and @code{let} descriptions (@pxref{Fluid Variables},
and @pxref{Local Variables}), improved the read syntax of character
(@pxref{Characters}). Module names are supplied for all functions.

Supplied documentation to some functions: Input stream functions
@code{peek-char}, @code{read-char} (@pxref{Input Functions}), list
functions @code{remove-if}, @code{remove-if-not} (@pxref{Mapping
Functions}), @code{table-size} (@pxref{Hash Tables}), @code{setcar},
@code{setcdr} and @code{cdddr} family (@pxref{Cons Cells}),
@code{assoc-regexp} (@pxref{Association Lists}).

@item @code{define-special-variable} is replaced by @code{defvar-setq} [Teika kazura]

The former is still valid, but it's a very confusing name, therefore the latter is
introduced.

@item Makefile's uninstall rule has been fixed [Christopher Bratusek]
@end itemize
@heading 0.90.6
@itemize @bullet

@item renamed @code{file-uid-p} to @code{file-uid} and @code{file-gid-p} to @code{file-gid}
[Christopher Bratusek]

@item Minor doc improvements [Teika Kazura]

Describes functions @code{signal} and @code{string-split}. Correction
in suffix handling of @code{load} function. More details on the function
@code{require}.

@item improved specfile [Kim B. Heino]
@item Process execution failure emits better message. [Teika Kazura]
@end itemize

@heading 0.90.5
@itemize @bullet

@item Byte compiler bugfix in docstring loss [Teika Kazura]

Practical effect: Previously, if a user byte-compile files, then the
docstring is lost in sawfish-config. This is fixed.

Details: Loss of docstring happened only if (1) byte compiler is not
given @code{--write-docs}, so only byte-compilation by user (2) defvar
is invoked within macro definition, including @code{defcustom} in
Sawfish. Plain defvar was not affected by this bug.  It was because in
'trans-defvar' in lisp/rep/vm/compiler/rep.jl, the docstring is stored
in a wrong property @code{variable-documentation}. It is corrected to
@code{documentation}.

Symbol @code{variable-documentation} is not used elsewhere, including
Sawfish and emacs' sawfish-mode.

@item Our own implementation of dlmalloc is disabled since 2002, as it breaks
librep on several architectures. From this version on, we don't ship it.
[Kim B. Heino]

@item Our own implementation of alloca/memcmp is not needed, rely on libcs instead.
[Kim B. Heino]

@item Majorly improved the debian and rpm packaging scripts
[Christopher Bratusek] [Kim B. Heino]

@item Install headers to $includedir/rep/ instead of $includedir/
[Christopher Bratusek]

@item Autotools improvements (Makefile, autogen.sh & Co.)
[Christopher Bratusek]

@item Added @code{file-gid-p} function for getting the gid of a file
[Christopher Bratusek]

@item Added @code{file-uid-p} function for getting the uid of a file
[Christopher Bratusek]
@end itemize

@heading 0.90.4

@itemize @bullet

@item Library version bumped to 9.4.1

@item Use $prefix/lib instead of $prefix/libexec

@item Fixups for OpenBSD [Jasper Lievisse Adriaanse]

@item Don't hardcode /usr in manpage installation path
@end itemize

@heading 0.90.3

@itemize @bullet

@item Added @code{file-executable-p} function

@item Improved spec-file [Kim B. Heino]

@item Improved ebuild [Fuchur, Christopher Bratusek]

@item Fallback check for ffi, if there's no libffi.pc [Vincent Untz]

@item Removed rep-config script (use librep.pc instead)

@item Added man-pages for @code{rep}, @code{repdoc}, @code{rep-remote} and @code{rep-xgettext} [Debian]

@item Added debian packaging scripts based on the official ones
@end itemize

@heading 0.90.2

@itemize @bullet

@item Fixed a major defunct with prin1 + utf8 [Timo Korvola]

@item Fixed descriptions of formats %s and %S in streams.c
@end itemize

@heading 0.90.1

@itemize @bullet

@item Properly terminate the rep interpreter [Jürgen Hötzel]

@item Use readline history in interactive mode [Jürgen Hötzel]

@item Tar file-handler does now support XZ compressed tarballs

@item Tar file-handler does now support LZMA compressed tarballs

@item Improved regex for parsing tar output in the file-handler [Alexey I. Froloff]

@item We do now correctly check for libffi

@item Improved libffi-binding [Alexey I. Froloff]

@item Updated librep.sym for missing entries [Alexey I. Froloff]

@item Fixed an incomplete definition

@item Added -L$prefix to libs section of the .pc file

@item No C++ style comments in C code
@end itemize

@heading 0.90.0

@itemize @bullet

@item Added UTF-8 Support! [Wang Diancheng]

@item Remove scheme and unscheme modules

@item Going on with code-cleanup
@end itemize

@heading 0.17.4

@itemize @bullet

@item Don't ignore datarootdir setting

@item Fixed an aclocal warning from configure.in

@item Improved configures ending message

@item Doc update in 'Numbers' section. Lacking description on machine dependence is added. [Teika]

@item Remove tar target from Makefile [Ritz]
@end itemize

@heading 0.17.3

@itemize @bullet

@item Updated MAINTAINERS

@item Dropped rep.m4 - use librep.pc instead

@item Improved librep.pc

@item Updated librep.spec

@item Add -L/lib$libsuff to READLINE_LIBS [T2 Patch]

@item Fix compilation on PPC64 [Marcus Comstedt]

@item Small fixup in src/fake-libexec [SuSE]

@item No rpath in src/rep-config.sh [Fedora]

@item Added ebuild [Harald van Dijk]

@item Improved Makefile's distclean rule

@item Reworked autogen.sh

@item Reworked configure.in

@item Major rework of the spec-file

@item Improved configure's ending message

@item Fixed configure.in's templates for autoheader

@item BSD-Tar is not supported by librep, give users a usefull warning message [Mark Diekhans]
@end itemize

@heading 0.17.2

@itemize @bullet

@item fixups for configure.in

@item updated BUGS, HACKING and README

@item define inline if undefined (fixes compiler warnings)

@item create the destination directory for the .pc file before installing it

@item fixed in issue with FreeBSD in numbers.c [FreeBSD patch]

@item improved a function of numbers.c [FreeBSD patch]

@item rep_file_fdopen has not been listed in librep.sym

@item added --tag=CC to libtool in several places

@item don't ignore $LDFLAGS upon build

@item dropped some useless code in sdbm.c

@item make sure inline is defined

@end itemize

@heading 0.17.1

@itemize @bullet

@item started code-cleanup

@item added a .pc file

@item added --no-split to makeinfo [FreeBSD patch]

@item added --enable-paranoia to configure [compile with CFLAGS+="-Wall -ansi"]

@item updated the spec file

@item replaced a static void by a void in main.c [Debian patch]

@item use correct shebang in rep-xgettext.jl [ALT-Linux patch]

@item trim trailing / to mkdir(2) [NetBSD patch]

@end itemize

@heading 0.17

@itemize @bullet

@item Added @code{rep.ffi} module (Foreign Function Interface). Uses
gcc's libffi. Very untested.

@item Partial implementation of guile's @code{GH} interface.

@item Bug fixes:

@itemize @minus

@item Don't hang in select for a second when starting processes via the
@code{system} function (race condition that only seems to show up on
Linux 2.6 kernels)

@item Miscellaneous fixes for Mac OS X.

@item Don't return a reversed list of items from the XML parser.
(Alexander V. Nikolaev)

@item Fixes to string capitalization functions. (Charles Stewart)

@end itemize
@end itemize


@heading 0.16

@itemize @bullet

@item New modules @code{rep.data.trie}, @code{rep.threads.proxy}

@item Also added @code{rep.xml.reader} and @code{rep.xml.printer},
though these should probably be used with extreme caution

@item Appending to queues is now O(1) not O(n)

@item Many changes to @code{rep.net.rpc} module, protocol is
incompatible with previous version. Should be more robust

@item @code{rep.i18n.gettext} module exports the
@code{bindtextdomaincodeset} function (Christophe Fergeau)

@item Slightly more secure way of seeding the rng

@item @code{inexact->exact} can now convert floating point numbers to
rationals (though not optimally). This means that @code{numerator} and
@code{denominator} also work better with floats now

@item New function @code{file-ttyp}

@item Some random bug fixes

@end itemize


@heading 0.15

@itemize @bullet

@item Parser can now associate lexical location (file name and line
number) with parsed objects. Added @code{call-with-lexical-origins} and
@code{lexical-origin} functions. This adds memory overhead but is only
enabled in interpreted mode, or other times it could be useful (e.g.
when compiling)

@item The compiler enables line-numbering, and uses the information
when it prints errors. It also prints errors in a more standard format
(intended to mimic GCC), and distinguishes warnings from errors

@item Debugger is much improved, and supports emacs-style emission of
line number tokens. Use the included @file{rep-debugger.el} elisp code
to source-debug rep programs in Emacs!

@item New command line option @samp{--debug}. When given, rep starts up
in the debugger

@item Reformatted backtrace output. Also backtraces only ever include
evaluated argument lists now. They also include lexical information
when possible

@item Syntax errors include error description and line number

@item Now supports weak reference objects. New functions
@code{make-weak-ref}, @code{weak-ref}, @code{weak-ref-set}. A weak
reference is a pointer to another object. When that object is garbage
collected, the pointer in the weak reference is set to false.

@item New `error helper' module. When an error is handled, this module
is called and tries to print a human-understandable message explaining
why the error may have occurred

@item REPL commands may now be specified by their shortest unique set
of leading characters, e.g. @samp{,o} instead of @samp{,open}

@item Added an @code{#undefined} value. Returned by @code{%define} and
the macros using it (@code{defun}, @code{defmacro}, etc@dots{})

@item New function @code{table-size} in module @code{rep.data.tables}

@item @code{thread-suspend} returns true iff the timeout was reached
(i.e. return false if @code{thread-wake} was used to unsuspend the
thread)

@item Objects defined using the @code{object} macro now have an
implicit @code{self} binding -- the object representing their self (or
their most derived self)

@item Added @var{timeout} parameter to @code{condition-variable-wait}
and @code{obtain-mutex} functions

@item New @code{rep.threads.message-port} module, implements a simple
message queue for threads

@item @code{log} function now optionally accepts a second argument, the
base of the logarithm

@item Use gmp to generate random numbers when possible (if at least
version 3 of gmp is found) [disabled in librep 0.15.1 -- gmp seems to
be buggy?]

@item The @code{string-replace} function may now be given a function as
its @var{template} parameter

@item Bug fixes:

@itemize @minus

@item Signal an error if writes don't write all characters they were
asked to. Also, some functions could write fewer characters than they
were supposed to even if no errors occurred

@item Remembered that file sizes may not fit in fixnums

@item Don't preserve trailing slashes in results of canonical-file-name
(to make the path canonical)

@item Don't signal an error when end of file is encountered immediately
after reading @samp{#\X} syntax

@item @code{current-thread} and @code{all-threads} will create a thread
object for the implicit thread if there isn't one already

@item In C subrs that take optional integer arguments, signal an error
if the given value isn't an integer or undefined (false). Also, accept
all types of numbers where it makes sense to do so

@item Signal an error if end of file is read while parsing a block
comment

@item Don't ever return a null object from @code{current-time-string}

@item Catch errors signalled during command line option processing, and
pass them to the standard error handler

@item Right hand side of @code{letrec} bindings may now have more than
one form

@item The @code{object} macro now evaluates its @var{base-object}
parameter exactly once

@item Finally removed @code{define-value}

@item Ignore null lines (or lines which only have comments) in the repl

@item In the compiler, don't expand macros which have have been
shadowed by local bindings

@item Don't print some compiler errors/warnings twice

@item Fixes for @code{mips-compaq-nonstopux} architecture (Tom Bates)

@item Fixed @code{,reload} and @code{,unload} repl commands not to try
to remove non-existent structures

@end itemize
@end itemize


@heading 0.14

@itemize @bullet

@item New module @code{rep.util.md5}, has two functions for generating
MD5 message digests (of files or strings)

@item Changes to the @code{rep.io.sockets} function:

In the @code{socket-server} function the @var{host} and/or @var{port}
arguments may be false, meaning to listen on all addresses and to
choose a random unused port.

New functions @code{socket-peer-address} and @code{socket-peer-port},
these always returns the details of the far end of the connetion.
@code{socket-address} and @code{socket-port} have been changed to
always return the details of the local connection point.

@item New function in @code{rep.system} module, @code{crypt}. A wrapper
for the system's @code{crypt} function (if it has one)

@item New function in @code{rep.threads} mdoule,
@code{make-suspended-thread}

@item New module @code{rep.net.rpc}, provides a text-stream based RPC
mechanism for Lisp programs. Similar in some ways to untyped CORBA.
(This is still in the experimental stage -- its interface may change in
forthcoming releases)

@item New functions in @code{rep.data} module, @code{list->vector} and
@code{vector->list}

@item New macro @code{define-special-variable}. A combination of
@code{defvar} and @code{setq} -- it always makes the variable special
and it always sets it to the given value

@item New module @code{rep.test.framework} implementing @code{assert},
@code{check} and @code{test} macros. This provides a framework for
implementing unit tests in Lisp modules (such that running the
interpreter with the @samp{--check} option will run all tests that have
been set up to be autoloaded

@item Bug fixes:

@itemize @minus

@item When reading from strings, don't choke on zero bytes

@item When writing into sockets, be aware that the socket is
in non-blocking mode

@item SDBM and GDBM modules now close any open databases before the
interpreter exits

@item Fixed the @code{rep_parse_number} function not to require a
terminating null character in the string when parsing bignums

@item Only define @code{Qrep_lang_interpreter} once

@item Don't assign vm registers to physical registers on 68000
architectures -- it's been reported to crash

@item When running asynchronous subprocesses, open and initialize the
pty slave before forking to avoid a race condition with the child
process

@item Flush symbols from the module cache at another point

@item Fixes for Unixware

@item When compiling non-top-level @code{defvar} forms, add any doc
string they have to the database

@end itemize
@end itemize


@heading 0.13.5

@itemize @bullet

@item Tar file handling no longer requires GNU tar

@item The @code{defvar} special form can now take only a single
argument

@item The reader now treats @code{#\return} characters as white space

@item Other miscellaneous bug fixes@dots{}

@end itemize


@heading 0.13.4

@itemize @bullet

@item Don't restrict symbols exported from plugin libraries, some need
to export symbols to work properly (this bug only seemed to appear on
Solaris systems)

@item Added @code{rep_file_type} and @code{rep_guardian_type} to the
list of symbols exported from librep

@item Fixed the @code{install-aliases} script (Peter Teichman)

@item New module @code{rep.threads.condition-variable}

@item Added @code{string-split} and @code{string-replace} to the gaol

@end itemize


@heading 0.13.3

@itemize @bullet

@item Try to only export public symbols from @file{librep.so} and
modules

@item When expanding file names translate @samp{/..} to @samp{/}

@item Set an upper bound on the allowed recursion depth when regexp
matching, prevents the stack from overflowing in pathological cases

@item Added optional second arg to @code{readline} function, a function
to call to generate completions. The @code{rl-completion-generator}
method of supplying this function is deprecated

@item Fixed bugs when handling character-case in regexp module (Andrew
Rodionoff)

@item Added an @code{premature-end-of-stream} error. This is signalled
instead of @code{end-of-stream} when reading characters in the middle
of a syntax form. The @code{end-of-stream} error is only signalled when
the end of the stream is reached before encountering anything other
than whitespace characters

@item Fixed bug of expanding declarations in the @code{define} macro
expansion

@end itemize


@heading 0.13.2

@itemize @bullet

@item Fix @code{define} so that it tracks bound variables and ignores
shadowed keywords when traversing code

@item Added checks to compilation process for the kind of missing
shared-library problems that many people see

@item Fixed the @code{install-aliases} shell script

@item New configure option: @code{--enable-full-name-terminator}

@end itemize


@heading 0.13.1

@itemize @bullet

@item Added functions @code{remove-if} and @code{remove-if-not}

@item Various bug-fixes for non-linux or solaris systems (John H.
Palmieri, Philippe Defert)

@item @code{#f}, @code{#t}, @code{#!optional}, @code{#!key} and
@code{#!rest} are now uninterned symbols. Keywords are interned in a
separate obarray

@item Fixed bug of caching regexps even when their string has been
modified

@item Fixed some bugs in the ftp remote file handler and the
@code{pwd-prompt} function

@item Fixed @code{define} to ignore @code{structure} and
@code{define-structure} forms

@end itemize


@heading 0.13

@itemize @bullet

@item The end-of-list / boolean-false object is no longer the symbol
@code{nil}. Instead there is a special object @code{()} fulfulling
these two roles. For modules importing the @code{rep} module, the
symbol @code{nil} evaluates to @code{()}. This allows the @code{scheme}
module to be more compliant with the Scheme standard

@item Parameter list changes:

@itemize @minus
@item Deprecated @code{&optional} and @code{&rest}, in favour of
@code{#!optional} and @code{#!rest}.

@item Added keyword parameters. Use @code{#!key} to declare them.
Keyword syntax is @samp{#:@var{param}}. For example:

@lisp
((lambda (#!key a b) (list a b)) #:b 2 #:a 1) @result{} (1 2)
@end lisp

@item @code{#!optional} and @code{#!key} parameters may now have
default values, syntax is @code{(@var{var} @var{default})}. For
example:

@lisp
((lambda (#!optional (a 1)) a)) @result{} 1
@end lisp
@end itemize

@item The module namespace is now hierarchical. @samp{.} characters in
module names denote directory separators, e.g. @samp{foo.bar}
translates to the file @file{foo/bar}

All module names prefixed with @samp{rep.} are reserved for librep,
other top-level names should be picked to be as unique as possible

The existing modules have been renamed to fit this scheme (see the file
@file{TREE} in the distribution for the hierarchy details). However,
old module names will still work for the time being

@item The @code{rep} module no longer includes the @code{rep.regexp},
@code{rep.system}, @code{rep.io.files}, @code{rep.io.processes} or
@code{rep.io.file-handlers} modules. These need to be imported
explicitly

@item Doc strings are now indexed by module name as well as symbol
name. The @code{define} macro now takes a doc string as its optional
third parameter

@item Record constructors may include all lambda-list keywords (e.g.
keywords and/or default values)

@item Incompatible virtual machine changes, hence bytecode files will
need to be recompiled. Improvements include:

@itemize @minus
@item Only heap-allocate variables when absolutely necessary

@item Closure analysis to allow inlining of some types of @code{letrec}
expressions

@item Added a `safe' virtual machine, which makes no assumptions
regarding validity of bytecode, so is safe for untrusted code
@end itemize

@item Added an @code{unscheme} module. Another Scheme implementation,
but the goal of this one is to integrate cleanly with the librep
runtime environment, even if this is at the expense of R4RS compliance

For example, in @code{unscheme} code, @code{#f @result{} ()} and
@code{#t @result{} t}. This allows rep and unscheme functions to call
each other without needing to convert any data

@item By default, it is now illegal to modify top-level variables that
have not previously been defined

@item New macro @code{define-structures} to export multiple views of a
single underlying environment

@item The librep runtime no longer handles the @samp{--help} option
itself, this should be done by scripts

@item Don't search @code{$LD_LIBRARY_PATH} for plugins, but prepend all
directories in colon-separated @code{$REP_DL_LOAD_PATH} to
@code{dl-load-path}. Similarly, the contents of @code{$REP_LOAD_PATH}
is prepended to @code{rep-load-path}

@item @code{(/ @var{x}) @result{} (/ 1 @var{x})}

@item Extra string-manipulation functions: @code{string-replace},
@code{string-split} (in the @code{rep.regexp} module)

@item @code{#f} and @code{#t} are now primitive symbols, not special
objects

@item Special case tail-recursive calls to @code{apply}, to ensure they
get eliminated

@item The @samp{0x123} and @samp{0123} read syntaxes have been
deprecated, use @samp{#x123} and @samp{#o123} instead

@item @samp{#| @dots{} |#} comments now nest correctly

@item New modules: @code{rep.i18n.gettext},
@code{rep.vm.safe-interpreter}, @code{rep.vm.assembler},
@code{unscheme}, @code{rep.data.objects}, @code{rep.www.quote-url},
@code{rep.www.fetch-url}, @code{rep.util.ispell},
@code{rep.util.base64}, @code{rep.util.autoloader},
@code{rep.io.sockets}, @code{rep.util.time}, @code{rep.net.domain-name}

@item Bug fixes, including:

@itemize @minus

@item Find size of @code{long long} type on AIX, IRIX and Solaris (Dan
McNichol, Albert Chin-A-Young)

@item Never allow macros to be called as functions

@item Make bitfields unsigned (Albert Chin-A-Young)

@item Fixed bounds-checking when parsing non-base-10 fixnums

@item Thread fixes (and much lower thread-switch latency in many cases)

@item Fixed @code{DEFUN} macro for C++ (Matt Tucker); also fixed header
files to avoid C++ keywords

@item Make error message for bytecode version mismatches more
meaningful

@item Fixed: @code{default-boundp}, @code{continuation-callable-p}

@item Only the evaluate the value of @code{defvar} forms if the symbol
isn't already bound

@item Compile else-less @code{case} expressions correctly; eliminate
tail-recursion in @code{cond} forms when possible

@item Various fixes in @code{scheme} module
@end itemize
@end itemize


@heading 0.12.4

@itemize @bullet

@item Support building without GNU MP, @samp{--without-gmp} option to
configure. Use @code{long long} for non-fixnum integers (promote to
floats when out of range); no exact rationals. There's also an option
to disable continuations/threading (@samp{--disable-continuations})

@item Sanitized function inlining:

@itemize @minus
@item Use @code{(declare (inline @var{names}@dots{}))} to tell the
compiler that it might be useful to inline the named functions

@item Don't even think about inlining across module/file boundaries
(for now anyway)
@end itemize

@item Cleaned up the @code{gaol} module. Interface is essentially:
@code{gaol-define}, @code{gaol-define-special},
@code{gaol-define-file-handler}. Added @code{gaol-open} to import
complete modules. Still supports old interface

@item Be a lot more efficient when printing quoted strings and symbol
names (for some streams there used to be a system-call per character!)
Also, when quoting weird symbol names, be more intelligent

@item Removed code to autoload from modules (which didn't really work
anyway)

@item Be more intelligent about deciding when to flush the module cache

@item Build fixes for IRIX (David Kaelbling)

@item Other miscellaneous bug-fixes and performance tweaks

@end itemize


@heading 0.12.3

@itemize @bullet

@item New function @code{thread-join}, waits for a specified thread to
exit, then returns the value of the last form it evaluated

@item Added a rudimentary profiler (@samp{,profile @var{form}} command
in repl)

@item Reorganized @code{ring} module, sanitized the interface
(preserving compatibility with old functions), also added a
@code{ring->list} function

@item @code{rplaca} and @code{rplacd} (but not @code{setcar} and
@code{setcdr}) functions now return the cell being modified, not the
value being stored into it, for compatibility with CL (Karl Hegbloom)

@item @code{unwind-protect}, @code{catch}, @code{condition-case}: these
special forms are now macros

@item When signalling @code{bad-arg} or @code{missing-arg} errors,
try to include the function as the first element of the error data

@item @code{load} function now @emph{only} loads files without suffixes
if @var{no-suffix} arg is non-@code{nil} (prevents picking up
un-suffixed files by mistake, e.g. from the current directory)

@item Fixed some bugs when reading rationals

@item Fixed bug of @code{gettext} module not redefining @code{_}
binding in @code{rep} module

@item Fixed bug when building @code{rep-config} script (Mark Hewitt,
Dan Winship)

@item Fixed bug of @code{rep_INTERN_SPECIAL} macro not looking for
default values of special variables

@item Fixed interpreted versions of @code{min} and @code{max} when
operating on non-numeric values

@item If unable to allocate heap space, just print an error and
terminate the program (the low-memory handling doesn't currently work
properly)

@item Fixed bug when extracting doc strings from @code{define} forms

@item Fixed bug when compiling structure definitions in non-top-level
environments

@item Fixed bug of being unable to @code{load} empty files

@item When recursively macro-expanding, dereference identifiers in the
correct module

@end itemize


@heading 0.12.2

@itemize @bullet

@item The tar file-handler now caches the unpacked archive (wins big
when loading sawfish themes)

@item The @code{gaol} module can now create multiple gaols, each with
it's own namespace

@item More performance tweaks

@item Miscellaneous bug-fixes (more vm stack smashing, @code{defconst}
never evaluates its constant)

@end itemize


@heading 0.12.1

@itemize @bullet

@item Some virtual machine performance tweaks

@item Fixed nasty stack smashing bug (when using compiler declarations)

@item Some 64-bit cleanups (George Lebl)

@item Fixed non-ANSI C syntax (Sam Falkner)

@end itemize


@heading 0.12

@itemize @bullet

@item Added a basic module system.

Modelled after the Scheme48 system, but simpler. At its simplest,
include a @code{define-structure} form in each file representing a
module:

@lisp
(define-structure @var{name} @var{interface} @var{config} @var{body}@dots{})
@end lisp

@noindent
The external definitions of this module can then be imported by other
modules through their @var{config} statements, e.g. @code{(open
@var{NAMES}@dots{})}. Most modules will open @code{rep} to get the
standard language definitions.

@code{foo#bar} reads as @code{(structure-ref foo bar)}

The @code{timers}, @code{tables}, @code{sdbm}, @code{gdbm},
@code{readline}, @code{gettext}, @code{ring}, @code{mutex},
@code{memoize}, @code{lisp-doc}, @code{disassembler}, @code{compiler},
@code{date}, @code{cgi-get}, @code{gaol} features are all now modules
(this is backwards compatible, since modules may be imported using
@code{require})

See the ``Modules'' section of the manual for more details.

@item The repl now contains meta-commands for inspecting and
configuring the module system (amongst other things)

@item Added a facility for creating new primitive types:
@code{make-datum}, @code{datum-ref}, @code{datum-set},
@code{has-type-p}, @code{define-datum-printer}

@item Added an SRFI 9 compatible @code{define-record-type} macro for
defining data structures (the @code{records} module)

@item Added fluid variables---a method of creating dynamically scoped
bindings that fit well with lexically scoped definitions
(@code{make-fluid}, @code{fluid}, @code{fluid-set}, @code{with-fluids},
@code{let-fluids})

@item Added a @code{queues} module providing a basic queue type

@item Added stream functions: @code{peek-char}, @code{input-stream-p},
@code{output-stream-p}

@item Interpreter now also eliminates tail-calls

@item Changed handling of inexact numbers to be compatible with the
Scheme standard:

@itemize @minus
@item Many operations now produce inexact outputs if any of their
inputs are inexact (e.g. @code{min}, @code{max}, @code{floor},
@code{ceiling}, @code{round}, @code{truncate})

@item @code{eql} and @code{equal} no longer ignore exactness when
comparing numbers. @code{=}, @code{/=}, @code{<}, @code{>}, @code{<=}
and @code{>=} @emph{do} ignore inexactness. E.g.

@lisp
(eql 2 2.) @result{} nil
(= 2 2.) @result{} t
@end lisp
@end itemize

@item Support most of Scheme's read-syntax for numbers (i.e. @samp{#b},
@samp{#o}, @samp{#d}, @samp{#x} radix prefixes, and @samp{#e},
@samp{#i} exactness prefixes).

@item Implemented Scheme's @code{string->number} and
@code{number->string} functions

@item Included a basic R4RS Scheme implementation (module:
@code{scheme}). Do @kbd{,new foo @key{RET} ,open scheme} to test it in
the repl, use @code{(open scheme)} instead of @code{(open rep)} to use
it within modules.

The compiler also knows enough about Scheme to be able to compile it.
Also, use the @samp{-s} or @samp{--scheme} options to load a file of
Scheme code.

@item The debugger works better (and can be used to walk the stack
history somewhat)

@item Last arg of @code{append} and @code{nconc} may be a
non-proper-list now

@item Implemented the Scheme @code{do} macro for iteration

@item @code{define} supports curried functions. E.g. @code{(define
((plus a) b) (+ a b))}, then @code{(plus 1)} evaluates to the function
that adds one to its argument.

@item Many performance improvements:

@itemize @minus
@item Allocates less memory (so garbage collects less often)

@item Much faster at bytecode-to-bytecode function calling

@item Much reduced VM overhead (when compiled with GCC)
@end itemize

@item Compiler improvements:

@itemize @minus
@item Supports the @code{(declare @var{clauses}@dots{})} form. See the
``Compiler Declarations'' section of the manual for details on the
actual declarations supported.

@item Is cleverer about detecting when to create new bindings when tail
recursing, and when the old bindings can just be overwritten

@item Groks the module system, and the language of the module being
compiled (so that it can compile both rep and Scheme code)

@item Splices bodies of top-level @code{progn} and @code{begin} forms
themselves into the top-level (for when macros expand into multiple
definitions)

@item Compiling already defined functions (or whole modules of
functions) now (mostly) works

@item Coalesce and compile non-defining top-level forms
@end itemize

@item Many bug fixes (see ChangeLog files for details)

@end itemize


@heading 0.11.3

@itemize @bullet
@item Fixed bug of throwing uninitialized errors when autoloading

@item Fixed bug of interpreting @code{(let () @dots{})} as a named let
@end itemize


@heading 0.11.2

@itemize @bullet

@item Replaced many special forms by macros---@code{let}, @code{let*},
@code{function}, @code{if}, @code{and}, @code{or}, @code{prog2},
@code{defmacro}, @code{defun}, @code{defconst}, @code{define-value},
@code{setq-default}

@item @code{let} now supports Scheme's named-let construct for
iteration via tail recursion

@item Parse some standard Common Lisp and Scheme syntax: @samp{#|
@dots{} |#} block comments, @samp{#\@var{c}} or @samp{#\@var{name}}
characters (where @var{name} may be one of: @code{space},
@code{newline}, @code{backspace}, @code{tab}, @code{linefeed},
@code{return}, @code{page}, @code{rubout}), and @samp{#(@dots{})}
vectors

@item When comparing symbols, compare their names as strings

@item Implemented Scheme's @code{dynamic-wind} function

@item Fixed bug of sometimes evaluating function arguments in the
environment of the callee not the caller

@item Fixed bug when calculating how long to sleep for when no threads
are available

@item Fixed bugs in mutex implementation (Damon Anderson)

@item Work around bugs in Tru64 @code{RTLD_GLOBAL}; everything should
work on Tru64 now (Aron Griffis)

@item Fixed bug of not saving current regexp state across continuations

@end itemize


@heading 0.11.1

@itemize @bullet
@item The compiler now eliminates single-function tail calls (instead
of leaving it to the virtual machine)

@item Updated to use libtool-1.3.4

@item Miscellaneous bug fixes and minor changes
@end itemize


@heading 0.11

@itemize @bullet

@item Better support for numerical computing. Now supports bignums,
rational numbers (numerator and denominator are bignums), and floating
point values as well as the original fixnums. Many new numerical
functions supporting these types. Promotes and demotes hopefully as
you'd expect (never demotes an inexact number to an exact number).
Tries to follow the Scheme numeric system as much as possible

@item Supports @dfn{guardian} objects through the @code{make-guardian}
function (as described in Dybvig's paper). These are a clean mechanism
for allowing the programmer to control when arbitrary lisp objects are
finally deallocated. Also added a new hook: @code{after-gc-hook}

@item The default error handler can now be redefined. If the variable
@code{error-handler-function} contains a function then it will be
called to handle the error, with arguments @code{(@var{error}
@var{data})}.

@item New special form @code{case}, switches on a key value and sets of
constants

@item New function @code{call/cc} (also available through the alias
@code{call-with-current-continuation}). Provides scheme-like
continuation functions. Special variables are now deep-bound to support
this correctly

@item Supports ``soft'' preemptive threads using continuations and a
general ``barrier'' mechanism (used either for restricting control
flow, or for receiving notification when control passes across a
barrier)

@item Parameter lists in lambda expressions now support improper lists,
as in scheme. E.g. @code{(lambda (x . y) @dots{})}

@item Implements the scheme @code{define} syntax, with support for
inner definitions

@item The @code{tables} plugin implements hash tables, with extensible
hashing and comparison methods; supports both strongly and weakly keyed
tables

@item Included a GDBM binding; DOC files are now stored in GDBM files
(SDBM has limits on datum sizes)

@item @code{put} and @code{get} functions now use @code{equal} to
compare property names

@item Virtual machine / compiler improvements:

@itemize @minus
@item Variable references and mutations are classified by type: lexical
bindings use (one-dimensional) lexically addressed instructions, global
non-special bindings have their own instructions, everything else uses
the original instructions. Similar classification when creating new
bindings

@item Eliminate tail-recursive function calls wherever possible in
compiled code (when the calling function has no dynamic state)
@end itemize

@noindent
Compiled lisp code will need to be rebuilt to run on the modified
virtual machine.

@item When expanding macros, bind @code{macro-environment} to the
macro environment it was called with. This allows macros to reliably
expand inner macro uses

@item New hook @code{before-exit-hook}. Called immediately before
exiting

@item @code{rep-xgettext} now has an option @samp{--c}. This makes it
output pseudo C code containing the string constants found

@item Fixed misfeature of interpreting filenames
@file{@var{foo}//@var{bar}} as @file{/@var{bar}}. Contiguous path
separators are now merged (i.e. @file{@var{foo}/@var{bar}})

@end itemize


@heading 0.10

@itemize @bullet

@item Updated support for dumping (freezing) lisp definitions to handle
lisp-1 nature with closures. Also now generates C code instead of
assembler for portability; creates a plugin that may be loaded through
the REP_DUMP_FILE environment variable

@item Plugin @file{.la} files may now contain rep-specific settings:
@samp{rep_open_globally=yes} and
@samp{rep_requires='@var{FEATURES}@dots{}'}

@item New function @code{define-value}. A combination of @code{set} and
@code{defvar}, but without implying dynamic scope

@item @code{load} scans @var{after-load-alist} for plugins as well as
lisp libraries

@item @code{(if t)} now evaluates to @code{nil} not @code{t}

@item Fix regexp bug in matching simple non-greedy operators (Matt
Krai)

@item Borrowed guile's bouncing parentheses for readline (Ceri Storey)

@item New C functions @code{rep_load_environment} and
@code{rep_top_level_exit}

@item @code{defvar} allows symbols to be redefined in protected
environments if they haven't also been defined by unprotected
environments

@item Detect GCC's with broken @code{__builtin_return_address}
functions (George Lebl)

@item Try to use libc @code{gettext} implementation, but only if it
looks like it's the GNU implementation

@end itemize


@heading 0.9

@itemize @bullet

@item Support for using GNU readline (give configure the
@samp{--with-readline} option)

@item New functions: @code{letrec}, @code{caar}, @dots{}, @code{cddr},
@code{caaar}, @dots{}, @code{cdddr}, @code{in-hook-p},
@code{make-variable-special}

@item Changed @code{unless} to have the Common Lisp semantics---return
@code{nil} when the condition evaluates true, not the value of the
condition

@item Fixed/added some compiler optimisations

@item Fixed @code{rep-xgettext} script to remove duplicated strings and
to search exhaustively

@item @code{add-hook} forces the hook variable to be special (in case
it wasn't declared using @code{defvar})

@end itemize


@heading 0.8.1

Fixed some documentation bugs; fixed some build problems


@heading 0.8

@itemize @bullet

@item Default scoping is now lexical, only variables declared using
@code{defvar} are dynamically scoped.

@item There is now only a single namespace for symbols (excepting
property lists), this means that the @code{fset},
@code{symbol-function} and @code{fboundp} functions have been removed

This allows all elements in procedure-call forms to be evaluated
equally (as in scheme), so things like:

@lisp
((if t + -) 1 2)
@end lisp

@noindent
now work. Related to this, function names (i.e. symbols and lambda
expressions) are no longer dereferenced by any operations taking
functions as arguments. Only built-in subroutines and closures are
considered functions.

This means that where before you'd write something like:

@lisp
(mapcar '+ '(1 2 3))
@end lisp

@noindent
this is now illegal; the @code{+} function must be evaluated:

@lisp
(mapcar + '(1 2 3))
@end lisp

@item @code{lambda} is now a special form evaluating to a closure (as
in scheme); this means that the following are exactly equivalent:

@lisp
(lambda (x) x) @equiv{} (function (lambda (x) x)) @equiv{} #'(lambda (x) x)
@end lisp

An alternative method of enclosing a lambda expression is to use the
@code{make-closure} function.

@item @code{gaol} module providing semi-safe environment for untrusted
code to evaluate in

@item Support for i18n through @code{gettext} module; also support for
@samp{%1$s} type format specifiers

@item New functions @code{string-equal} and @code{string-lessp}

@end itemize


@heading 0.7.1

@itemize @bullet

@item Added @samp{--with-rep-prefix} option to autoconf AM_PATH_REP
macro

@item Fixed bug when inserting a new timer before an existing timer

@item Fix the malloc tracking code

@item Fix dlmalloc for FreeBSD

@item Use install when installing, not cp

@item Some fixes for compiling with SUN's C compiler on Solaris

@end itemize


@heading 0.7

@itemize @bullet

@item Added file handler for read-only access to the contents of tar
archives, access files like @file{foo.tar.gz#tar/bar}

@item @code{process-id} function now returns pid of lisp interpreter
when called with zero arguments

@item Added (untested) support for loading dynamic objects via
@code{shl_load} (HP-UX)

@item Added (untested) support for systems that prefix symbol names in
dynamic objects with underscores

@item Fix bug when compiling @code{last} function

@item Fix bug of not closing files in the @code{load} function

@end itemize


@heading 0.6.2

@itemize @bullet

@item Added @code{autoload-verbose} variable; set it to @code{nil} to
turn off the messages when autoloading

@item Fix problems when @samp{--prefix} option has a trailing slash

@item Updated libtool files to version 1.3.3

@item Initial (incomplete) support for building under Tru64, from Aron
Griffis

@end itemize


@heading 0.6.1

No new features; minor portability tweaks and build changes. Fix bug of
trying to load directories as Lisp scripts


@heading 0.6

@itemize @bullet

@item Add @code{unsetenv} function

@item @code{system} now uses @code{process-environment}

@item Workaround compiler bug with GCC 2.95 on sparc

@item Fix build problem where libsdbm.la can't be located

@end itemize


@heading 0.5

@itemize @bullet

@item New function @code{set-input-handler}, registers an asynchronous
input handler for a local file

@item Don't abort on receipt of unexpected @code{SIGCHLD} signals

@item Upgrade libtool to version 1.2f

@item The @code{rep} binary by default always loads a script named
@file{rep}, not named by it's @code{argv[0]} (this breaks under the
newer libtool)

@end itemize


@heading 0.4

@itemize @bullet

@item Sending a rep process a @code{SIGUSR2} prints all debug buffers

@item Added @samp{--with-value-type}, and
@samp{--with-malloc-alignment} configure options. Also added code to
automatically detect the first of these options.

@item Fixed some 64-bit problems

@item Removed the difference between static and dynamic strings

@end itemize


@heading 0.3

@itemize @bullet

@item New compiler command line option @samp{--write-docs}

@end itemize


@heading 0.2

@itemize @bullet

@item The variables @code{error-mode} and @code{interrupt-mode} control
where errors and user-interrupts (i.e. @code{SIGINT} signals) are
handled. The three possible values are: @code{top-level}, @code{exit}
and @code{nil} (denotes the current event loop).

@item Fixed bug where all dynamic types were erroneously @code{symbolp}.

@item @code{SIGINT}, @code{SIGHUP} and @code{SIGTERM} signals should
now be caught more successfully.

@item Added a new directory to @code{dl-load-path}:
@samp{@var{libexecdir}/rep/@var{arch}} to contain third-party shared
libraries.

@end itemize


@heading 0.1

First public release.
