5.16.3 The Guile module system

The Guile module system extends the concept of environments, discussed in the previous section, with mechanisms to define, use and customise sets of bindings.

In 1996 Tom Lord implemented a full-featured module system for Guile which allows loading Scheme source files into a private name space. This system has been in available since at least Guile version 1.1.

For Guile version 1.5.0 and later, the system has been improved to have better integration from C code, more fine-grained user control over interfaces, and documentation.

Although it is anticipated that the module system implementation will change in the future, the Scheme programming interface described in this manual should be considered stable. The C programming interface is considered relatively stable, although at the time of this writing, there is still some flux.

• General Information about Modules: Guile module basics.
• Using Guile Modules: How to use existing modules.
• Creating Guile Modules: How to package your code into modules.
• Module System Reflection: Accessing module objects at run-time.
• Module System Quirks: Strange things to be aware of.
• Included Guile Modules: Which modules come with Guile?
• Accessing Modules from C: How to work with modules with C code.