chicken - Man Page

A Scheme-to-C translator

Synopsis

chicken

[OPTION ...] [FILENAME ...]

chicken is a compiler and interpreter for the programming language Scheme supporting most of the features as described in the Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme. The chicken program is the basic Scheme-to-C translator used in this system. For a more convenient interface, see csc(1).

FILENAME should be a complete source file name with extension, or “-” for standard input. OPTION may be one of the following:

General options:

-help: Display usage and exit.
-version: Display compiler version and exit.
-release: Print release number and exit.
-verbose: Display information on compilation progress.

File and pathname options:

-output-file FILENAME: Specifies output-filename, default is “out.c”.
-include-path PATHNAME: Specifies alternative path for included files.
-to-stdout: Write compiled file to stdout instead of file.

Language options:

-feature SYMBOL: Register feature identifier.
-no-feature SYMBOL: Disable built-in feature identifier.

Syntax related options:

-case-insensitive: Don't preserve case of read symbols.
-keyword-style STYLE: Allow alternative keyword syntax (prefix, suffix or none).
-no-parentheses-synonyms: Disables list delimiter synonyms.
-no-symbol-escape: Disables support for escaped symbols.
-r5rs-syntax: Disables the CHICKEN extensions to R5RS syntax.
-compile-syntax: Macros are made available at run-time.
-emit-import-library MODULE: Write compile-time module information into separate file.
-emit-all-import-libraries: Emit import-libraries for all defined modules.
-no-compiler-syntax: Disable expansion of compiler-macros.
-module NAME: Wrap compiled code in module of the given name.
-module-registration: Always generate module registration code, even when import libraries are emitted.
-no-module-registration: Do not generate module registration code. Overrides -module-registration.

Translation options:

-explicit-use: Do not use units ‘library’ and ‘eval’ by default.
-static: Link extensions statically.
-check-syntax: Stop compilation after macro-expansion.
-analyze-only: Stop compilation after first analysis pass.

Debugging options:

-no-warnings: Disable warnings.
-debug-level NUMBER: Set level of available debugging information.
-no-trace: Disable tracing information.
-profile: Executable emits profiling information.
-profile-name FILENAME: Name of the generated profile information file.
-accumulate-profile: Executable emits profiling information in append mode.
-no-lambda-info: Omit additional procedure-information.
-types FILENAME: Load additional type database.
-emit-types-file FILENAME: Write type-declaration information into file.

Optimization options:

-optimize-level NUMBER: Enable certain sets of optimization options.
-optimize-leaf-routines: Enable leaf routine optimization.
-no-usual-integrations: Standard procedures may be redefined.
-unsafe: Disable all safety checks.
-local: Assume globals are only modified in current file.
-block: Enable block-compilation.
-disable-interrupts: Disable interrupts in compiled code.
-fixnum-arithmetic: Assume all numbers are fixnums.
-disable-stack-overflow-checks: Disables detection of stack-overflows.
-inline: Enable inlining.
-inline-limit LIMIT: Set inlining threshold.
-inline-global: Enable cross-module inlining.
-specialize: Perform type-based specialization of primitive calls.
-emit-inline-file FILENAME: Generate file with globally inlinable procedures (implies -inline -local).
-consult-inline-file FILENAME: Explicitly load inline file.
-no-argc-checks: Disable argument count checks.
-no-bound-checks: Disable bound variable checks.
-no-procedure-checks: Disable procedure call checks.
-no-procedure-checks-for-usual-bindings: Disable procedure call checks only for usual bindings.
-no-procedure-checks-for-toplevel-bindings: Disable procedure call checks for toplevel bindings.
-strict-types: Assume variable do not change their type.
-clustering: Combine groups of local procedures into dispatch loop.
-lfa2: Perform additional lightweight flow-analysis pass.
-unroll-limit LIMIT: Specifies inlining limit for self-recursive calls.

Configuration options:

-unit NAME: Compile file as a library unit.
-uses NAME: Declare library unit as used.
-heap-size NUMBER: Specifies heap-size of compiled executable.
-nursery NUMBER -stack-size NUMBER: Specifies nursery size of compiled executable.
-extend FILENAME: Load file before compilation commences.
-prelude EXPRESSION: Add expression to front of source file.
-postlude EXPRESSION: Add expression to end of source file.
-prologue FILENAME: Include file before main source file.
-epilogue FILENAME: Include file after main source file.
-dynamic: Compile as dynamically loadable code.
-require-extension NAME: Require and import extension NAME.
-emit-link-file FILENAME: Write a list of statically linked extensions to FILENAME, used for identifying the static objects that need to be linked to an executable.

Obscure options:

-debug MODES: Display debugging output for the given modes.
-raw: Do not generate implicit init- and exit code.
-emit-external-prototypes-first: Emit prototypes for callbacks before foreign declarations.
-regenerate-import-libraries: Always emit import libraries, even when their contents haven't changed. The default behaviour is to preserve existing import libraries.
-ignore-repository: Do not refer to repository for extensions.
-setup-mode: Prefer the current directory when locating extensions.

Environment

The following environment variables change the behaviour of chicken:

CHICKEN_INCLUDE_PATH: Contains one or more pathnames where the compiler should additionally look for include-files, separated by ‘;’ characters.
CHICKEN_OPTIONS: Holds a string of default compiler options that should apply to every invocation of chicken.