From: Matthew Flatt <mflatt@cs.utah.edu>
To: plt-scheme@fast.cs.utah.edu
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 18:31:47 -0800
Subject: 102/10

Changes:

 * Switched to `configure’-based Makefiles (autoconf). See
   plt/src/README, and use plt/src/configure.

 * Added `process[*]/ports’, which is like `process[*]’, but it takes
   three file-stream ports to use for the subprocess’s stdio streams:
   an input port for the process’s stdin, and output ports for the
   process’s stdout and stderr.

   If #f is provided for one of the streams, then `process[*]/ports’
   makes a pipe and return the other end for the corresponding stream,
   as for `process[*]’. But when a port is provided for a particular
   stream, `process[*]/ports’ does not create the corresponding pipe,
   and instead use the given port, returning #f for that stream.

   If a provided port is not a file-stream port (created by
   `open-input-file’ or `process[*][/file-ports]’, or one of the
   original stdio ports), then an exception would be raised.

 * Added `file-stream-port?’, useful with `process[*]/ports’ and
   `file-position’ (which requires a file-stream port for changing the
   position).

 * Changed `read-string!’ to `read-string-avail!’, which reads only as
   many characters as are immediately ready, blocking only if no chars
   are available. (The old `read-string!’ can be efficiently
   implemented with the new one.)

   In the current `read-string!’ (and `read-string’), characters can
   be lost if the read gets a few and then encounters a read
   error. The `read-string-avail!’ procedure does not have this
   problem, because an error after reading at least one character is
   treated like blocking. (The error will be ignored, to be triggered
   on the next read.)

 * Added `read-string-avail!/enable-break’, to be used in a context
   where breaks are disabled. The guarantee is that either the read
   gets all the characters it can and returns, or it raises an
   exception (possibly a break exception) without reading any
   characters.

 * Added `write-string-avail’ and `write-string-avail/enable-break’,
   which are analogous to `read-string-avail!’ and
   `read-string-avail!/enable-break’.

   The return value in the non-exception case is the number of chars
   that could be written (and flushed) immediately. If no characters
   can be written, it blocks until at least one can be.

   As with `read-string-avail!’, an error after writing at least one
   character is treated like blocking. (Output mechanisms like `write’
   and `display’ can still fumble characters.)

   The `write-string-avail’ procedure works on all output port types,
   but it is not especially effective for FILE*-based ports (like most
   ports in Windows and MacOS); to guarantee succesful flushing, only
   one character can be writte. The procedure is especially effective
   for TCP and fd-based ports (like most ports in Unix, now).

 * Unix: changed MzScheme’s `open-input-file’ and `open-output-file’
   (etc.) to use fd-based ports instead of FILE*-based ports. This
   change gives MzScheme finer control over input and output; it makes
   sense now that fd-based ports have been tested for a few months.
   (PR 1393, indirectly)

 * Fixed regexp to work with `-’ as the last character in a `[...]’
   pattern. (The bug was introduced in 102/8.) (PR 1381)

 * Fixed a bug in `open-output-file’ that could cause a file-exists
   failure even when the ’truncate or ’replace flag is spcified. (PR
   1309)

 * Fixed the error-handling subsystem to properly handle error
   messages containing a non-terminating nul character (e.g., due to
   including in an error message a string argument that contained a
   nul).

 * Inside MzScheme:

    - Added scheme_register_static(), which is like
      scheme_register_extension_global(), but it only registers the
      given location if the collector does not know how to find static
      variables anyway. (This is true for precise GC, Senora GC on
      many platforms, and the regular GC under Windows when a flag is
      set as described below).

    - Provided a way to fix the GC--thread problems under Windows.  If
      an embedding application is willing to explicitly register its
      static variables with scheme_register_static(), then set the
      GC_use_registered_statics variable to 1 before calling a
      MzScheme or GC function. Then, then collector will not try to
      scan all active pages to find globals (which can crash if a
      separate Windows thread unmaps a page while the collector is
      running), and instead only collect from the registered static
      variable locations.

      The standalone versions of MzScheme and MrEd for Windows both
      use this new GC mechanism.

    - Changed scheme_get_chars to include a new last argument: an
      offset into the string.

    - Added embedding-settable function scheme_console_output, which
      is used to report errors that were not handled correctly by the
      normal mechanisms.

    - Restricted the format string accepted by scheme_signal_error,
      scheme_raise_exn, and scheme_warning, but also added format
      directives to handle non-terminating nul characters in strings.

 * Added `mergesort’ to MzLib’s function.ss.

 * X: Changed dialogs to use the icon of the dialog’s parent (if any).

The MzScheme, MrEd, and Inside MzScheme docs have been updated.

Matthew