loading a module via an absolute path

[Paul Jarc]

use-modules is good for avoiding name clashes.  However, I'd like to
avoid searching %load-path in some cases, and load a module (not
necessarily in the Guile sense, exactly - just a library) via a
literal path.  use-modules can also only be used at the top level,
which isn't always convenient.  I think I ought to be able to
duplicate what I like about use-modules with something like this:
(eval '(load "/path/to/foo.scm") new-environment)
But I have some questions:
- The manual says (load) will evaluate the file's contents in the
  top-level environment.  Is that still true inside eval, or will it
  load into the specified environment?
- What's the difference between load and primitive-load?
- Is there a way to load from an already-open port rather than a
  filename?  Could I just loop with read and eval?  Would that handle,
  e.g., read-hash-extend properly?  I don't see any reason it
  wouldn't.
- How do I create a new environment?  The documented procedures don't
  seem to exist:
guile> (null-environment 5)
<unnamed port>:29:1: In expression (null-environment 5):
<unnamed port>:29:1: Unbound variable: null-environment
ABORT: (unbound-variable)
guile> (scheme-report-environment 5)
<unnamed port>:30:1: In expression (scheme-report-environment 5):
<unnamed port>:30:1: Unbound variable: scheme-report-environment
ABORT: (unbound-variable)
guile> (assv-ref %guile-build-info 'guileversion)
"1.6.0"

(interaction-environment) does what it's supposed to do, but that
isn't what I need.


paul