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ed7658fe 1GNU Bison NEWS
3af4feb2 2
52718713 3* Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?]
74553c98 4
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5** Incompatible changes
6
7*** Obsolete features
8
de62ae86 9 Support for YYFAIL is removed (deprecated in Bison 2.4.2).
5f819b2f 10 Support for yystype and yyltype (instead of YYSTYPE and YYLTYPE)
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11 is removed (deprecated in Bison 1.875).
12 Support for YYPARSE_PARAM is removed (deprecated in Bison 1.875).
47db7ed1 13
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14** Warnings
15
1048a1c9 16*** Enhancements of the -Werror option
518e8830 17
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18 The -Werror=CATEGORY option is now recognized, and will treat specified
19 warnings as errors. The warnings need not have been explictly activated
20 using the -W option, this is similar to what gcc 4.7 does.
21
22 For example, given the following command line, Bison will treat both
23 warnings related to POSIX Yacc incompatiblities and S/R conflicts as
24 errors (and only those):
25
26 $ bison -Werror=yacc,error=conflicts-sr input.y
27
28 If no categories are specified, -Werror will make all active warnings into
29 errors. For example, the following line does the same the previous example:
30
31 $ bison -Werror -Wnone -Wyacc -Wconflicts-sr input.y
32
33 (By default -Wconflicts-sr,conflicts-rr,deprecated,other is enabled.)
34
35 Note that the categories in this -Werror option may not be prefixed with
36 "no-". However, -Wno-error[=CATEGORY] is valid.
37
38 Note that -y enables -Werror=yacc. Therefore it is now possible to require
39 Yacc-like behavior (e.g., always generate y.tab.c), but to report
40 incompatibilities as warnings: "-y -Wno-error=yacc".
518e8830 41
1048a1c9 42*** Warning categories are now displayed and prefix changes
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43
44 For instance:
45
46 foo.y:4.6: warning: type clash on default action: <foo> != <bar> [-Wother]
47
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48 In the case of warnings treated as errors, the suffix is displayed, in a
49 manner similar to gcc, as [-Werror=CATEGORY]. Also, the prefix is changed
50 from "warning: " to "error: ".
51
52 For instance, considering the above change, an output for -Werror=other
53 would have been:
54
55 bison: warnings being treated as errors
56 input.y:1.1: warning: stray ',' treated as white space [-Wother]
57
58 But it is actually:
59
60 bison: warnings being treated as errors
61 input.y:1.1: error: stray ',' treated as white space [-Werror=other]
62
63*** Deprecated constructs
64
65 The new 'deprecated' warning category flags obsolete constructs whose
66 support will be discontinued. It is enabled by default. These warnings
67 used to be reported as 'other' warnings.
68
73370a9d 69*** Useless semantic types
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70
71 Bison now warns about useless (uninhabited) semantic types. Since
72 semantic types are not declared to Bison (they are defined in the opaque
73 %union structure), it is %printer/%destructor directives about useless
74 types that trigger the warning:
75
76 %token <type1> term
77 %type <type2> nterm
78 %printer {} <type1> <type3>
79 %destructor {} <type2> <type4>
80 %%
81 nterm: term { $$ = $1; };
82
83 3.28-34: warning: type <type3> is used, but is not associated to any symbol
84 4.28-34: warning: type <type4> is used, but is not associated to any symbol
85
31557b9e 86*** Undefined but unused symbols
b921d92f 87
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88 Bison used to raise an error for undefined symbols that are not used in
89 the grammar. This is now only a warning.
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90
91 %printer {} symbol1
92 %destructor {} symbol2
31557b9e 93 %type <type> symbol3
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94 %%
95 exp: "a";
96
73370a9d 97*** Useless destructors or printers
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98
99 Bison now warns about useless destructors or printers. In the following
100 example, the printer for <type1>, and the destructor for <type2> are
101 useless: all symbols of <type1> (token1) already have a printer, and all
102 symbols of type <type2> (token2) already have a destructor.
103
104 %token <type1> token1
105 <type2> token2
106 <type3> token3
107 <type4> token4
108 %printer {} token1 <type1> <type3>
109 %destructor {} token2 <type2> <type4>
110
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111*** Conflicts
112
113 The warnings and error messages about shift/reduce and reduce/reduce
114 conflicts have been normalized. For instance on the following foo.y file:
115
116 %glr-parser
117 %%
118 exp: exp '+' exp | '0' | '0';
119
120 compare the previous version of bison:
121
122 $ bison foo.y
123 foo.y: conflicts: 1 shift/reduce, 2 reduce/reduce
124 $ bison -Werror foo.y
125 bison: warnings being treated as errors
126 foo.y: conflicts: 1 shift/reduce, 2 reduce/reduce
127
128 with the new behavior:
129
130 $ bison foo.y
131 foo.y: warning: 1 shift/reduce conflict [-Wconflicts-sr]
132 foo.y: warning: 2 reduce/reduce conflicts [-Wconflicts-rr]
133 $ bison -Werror foo.y
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134 foo.y: error: 1 shift/reduce conflict [-Werror=conflicts-sr]
135 foo.y: error: 2 reduce/reduce conflicts [-Werror=conflicts-rr]
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136
137 When %expect or %expect-rr is used, such as with bar.y:
138
139 %expect 0
140 %glr-parser
141 %%
142 exp: exp '+' exp | '0' | '0';
143
144 Former behavior:
145
146 $ bison bar.y
147 bar.y: conflicts: 1 shift/reduce, 2 reduce/reduce
148 bar.y: expected 0 shift/reduce conflicts
149 bar.y: expected 0 reduce/reduce conflicts
150
151 New one:
152
153 $ bison bar.y
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154 bar.y: error: shift/reduce conflicts: 1 found, 0 expected
155 bar.y: error: reduce/reduce conflicts: 2 found, 0 expected
d87ea54c 156
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157** Additional yylex/yyparse arguments
158
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159 The new directive %param declares additional arguments to both yylex and
160 yyparse. The %lex-param, %parse-param, and %param directives support one
161 or more arguments. Instead of
2055a44e 162
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163 %lex-param {arg1_type *arg1}
164 %lex-param {arg2_type *arg2}
165 %parse-param {arg1_type *arg1}
166 %parse-param {arg2_type *arg2}
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167
168 one may now declare
169
e436fa67 170 %param {arg1_type *arg1} {arg2_type *arg2}
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171
172** Java skeleton improvements
0ea583d2 173
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174 The constants for token names were moved to the Lexer interface. Also, it
175 is possible to add code to the parser's constructors using "%code init"
176 and "%define init_throws".
0ea583d2 177
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178** C++ skeletons improvements
179
e4c0985b 180*** The parser header is no longer mandatory (lalr1.cc, glr.cc)
93549bcd 181
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182 Using %defines is now optional. Without it, the needed support classes
183 are defined in the generated parser, instead of additional files (such as
184 location.hh, position.hh and stack.hh).
93549bcd 185
e4c0985b 186*** Locations are no longer mandatory (lalr1.cc, glr.cc)
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187
188 Both lalr1.cc and glr.cc no longer require %location.
189
190*** syntax_error exception (lalr1.cc)
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191
192 The C++ parser features a syntax_error exception, which can be
193 thrown from the scanner or from user rules to raise syntax errors.
194 This facilitates reporting errors caught in sub-functions (e.g.,
195 rejecting too large integral literals from a conversion function
196 used by the scanner, or rejecting invalid combinations from a
197 factory invoked by the user actions).
198
4c6622c2 199** Variable api.tokens.prefix
99c08fb6 200
4c6622c2 201 The variable api.tokens.prefix changes the way tokens are identified in
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202 the generated files. This is especially useful to avoid collisions
203 with identifiers in the target language. For instance
204
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205 %token FILE for ERROR
206 %define api.tokens.prefix "TOK_"
207 %%
208 start: FILE for ERROR;
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209
210 will generate the definition of the symbols TOK_FILE, TOK_for, and
211 TOK_ERROR in the generated sources. In particular, the scanner must
212 use these prefixed token names, although the grammar itself still
213 uses the short names (as in the sample rule given above).
214
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215** Variable api.namespace
216
1f77b2e0 217 The 'namespace' variable is renamed 'api.namespace'. Backward
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218 compatibility is ensured, but upgrading is recommended.
219
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220** Variable parse.error
221
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222 This variable controls the verbosity of error messages. The use of the
223 %error-verbose directive is deprecated in favor of "%define parse.error
224 verbose".
31b850d2 225
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226** Semantic predicates
227
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228 The new, experimental, semantic-predicate feature allows actions of the
229 form "%?{ BOOLEAN-EXPRESSION }", which cause syntax errors (as for
ca2a6d15 230 YYERROR) if the expression evaluates to 0, and are evaluated immediately
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231 in GLR parsers, rather than being deferred. The result is that they allow
232 the programmer to prune possible parses based on the values of run-time
233 expressions.
ca2a6d15 234
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235** The directive %expect-rr is now an error in non GLR mode
236
237 It used to be an error only if used in non GLR mode, _and_ if there are
238 reduce/reduce conflicts.
239
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240* Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?]
241
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242** Bug fixes
243
244 Bugs in the test suite have been fixed.
245
246 Some errors in translations have been addressed, and --help now directs
247 users to the appropriate place to report them.
248
249 Stray Info files shipped by accident are removed.
250
251 Incorrect definitions of YY_, issued by yacc.c when no parser header is
252 generated, are removed.
9c26b8fc 253
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254** Changes in the format of errors and exceptions output
255
256 This used to be the format of many error reports:
257
258 foo.y:5.10-24: result type clash on merge function 'merge': <t3> != <t2>
259 foo.y:4.13-27: previous declaration
260
261 It is now:
262
263 foo.y:5.10-25: result type clash on merge function 'merge': <t3> != <t2>
264 foo.y:4.13-27: previous declaration
265
e1eeecd3 266* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.2 (2012-08-03) [stable]
9c26b8fc 267
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268** Bug fixes
269
270 Buffer overruns, complaints from Flex, and portability issues in the test
271 suite have been fixed.
272
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273** Spaces in %lex- and %parse-param (lalr1.cc, glr.cc)
274
275 Trailing end-of-lines in %parse-param or %lex-param would result in
276 invalid C++. This is fixed.
9c26b8fc 277
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278** Spurious spaces and end-of-lines
279
280 The generated files no longer end (nor start) with empty lines.
281
77b214ef 282* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.1 (2012-07-30) [stable]
a4107f24 283
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284 Bison no longer executes user-specified M4 code when processing a grammar.
285
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286** Future Changes
287
288 In addition to the removal of the features announced in Bison 2.6, the
289 next major release will remove the "Temporary hack for adding a semicolon
290 to the user action", as announced in the release 2.5. Instead of:
291
292 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
293
294 write:
295
296 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
297
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298** Bug fixes
299
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300*** Type names are now properly escaped.
301
302*** glr.cc: set_debug_level and debug_level work as expected.
a4107f24 303
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304*** Stray @ or $ in actions
305
306 While Bison used to warn about stray $ or @ in action rules, it did not
307 for other actions such as printers, destructors, or initial actions. It
308 now does.
309
cd735a8c 310** Type names in actions
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311
312 For consistency with rule actions, it is now possible to qualify $$ by a
cd735a8c 313 type-name in destructors, printers, and initial actions. For instance:
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314
315 %printer { fprintf (yyo, "(%d, %f)", $<ival>$, $<fval>$); } <*> <>;
316
317 will display two values for each typed and untyped symbol (provided
cd735a8c 318 that YYSTYPE has both "ival" and "fval" fields).
60aa04a2 319
1505e8bb 320* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6 (2012-07-19) [stable]
0f11eec2 321
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322** Future changes:
323
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324 The next major release of Bison will drop support for the following
325 deprecated features. Please report disagreements to bug-bison@gnu.org.
0f11eec2 326
aaf61036 327*** K&R C parsers
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328
329 Support for generating parsers in K&R C will be removed. Parsers
242cc08e 330 generated for C support ISO C90, and are tested with ISO C99 and ISO C11
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331 compilers.
332
258cddbc 333*** Features deprecated since Bison 1.875
0f11eec2 334
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335 The definitions of yystype and yyltype will be removed; use YYSTYPE and
336 YYLTYPE.
0f11eec2 337
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338 YYPARSE_PARAM and YYLEX_PARAM, deprecated in favor of %parse-param and
339 %lex-param, will no longer be supported.
340
341 Support for the preprocessor symbol YYERROR_VERBOSE will be removed, use
342 %error-verbose.
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343
344*** The generated header will be included (yacc.c)
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345
346 Instead of duplicating the content of the generated header (definition of
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347 YYSTYPE, yyparse declaration etc.), the generated parser will include it,
348 as is already the case for GLR or C++ parsers. This change is deferred
349 because existing versions of ylwrap (e.g., Automake 1.12.1) do not support
350 it.
0f11eec2 351
c2425191 352** Generated Parser Headers
56ca3d8f 353
258cddbc 354*** Guards (yacc.c, glr.c, glr.cc)
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355
356 The generated headers are now guarded, as is already the case for C++
242cc08e 357 parsers (lalr1.cc). For instance, with --defines=foo.h:
c3e9f08f 358
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359 #ifndef YY_FOO_H
360 # define YY_FOO_H
361 ...
362 #endif /* !YY_FOO_H */
c3e9f08f 363
258cddbc 364*** New declarations (yacc.c, glr.c)
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365
366 The generated header now declares yydebug and yyparse. Both honor
367 --name-prefix=bar_, and yield
368
e29f0771 369 int bar_parse (void);
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370
371 rather than
372
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373 #define yyparse bar_parse
374 int yyparse (void);
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375
376 in order to facilitate the inclusion of several parser headers inside a
377 single compilation unit.
c3e9f08f 378
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379*** Exported symbols in C++
380
381 The symbols YYTOKEN_TABLE and YYERROR_VERBOSE, which were defined in the
382 header, are removed, as they prevent the possibility of including several
383 generated headers from a single compilation unit.
384
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385*** YYLSP_NEEDED
386
387 For the same reasons, the undocumented and unused macro YYLSP_NEEDED is no
388 longer defined.
389
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390** New %define variable: api.prefix
391
392 Now that the generated headers are more complete and properly protected
393 against multiple inclusions, constant names, such as YYSTYPE are a
394 problem. While yyparse and others are properly renamed by %name-prefix,
395 YYSTYPE, YYDEBUG and others have never been affected by it. Because it
396 would introduce backward compatibility issues in projects not expecting
397 YYSTYPE to be renamed, instead of changing the behavior of %name-prefix,
398 it is deprecated in favor of a new %define variable: api.prefix.
399
400 The following examples compares both:
401
402 %name-prefix "bar_" | %define api.prefix "bar_"
403 %token <ival> FOO %token <ival> FOO
404 %union { int ival; } %union { int ival; }
405 %% %%
406 exp: 'a'; exp: 'a';
407
408 bison generates:
409
410 #ifndef BAR_FOO_H #ifndef BAR_FOO_H
411 # define BAR_FOO_H # define BAR_FOO_H
412
413 /* Enabling traces. */ /* Enabling traces. */
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414 # ifndef YYDEBUG | # ifndef BAR_DEBUG
415 > # if defined YYDEBUG
416 > # if YYDEBUG
417 > # define BAR_DEBUG 1
418 > # else
419 > # define BAR_DEBUG 0
420 > # endif
421 > # else
422 # define YYDEBUG 0 | # define BAR_DEBUG 0
423 > # endif
424 # endif | # endif
425
426 # if YYDEBUG | # if BAR_DEBUG
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427 extern int bar_debug; extern int bar_debug;
428 # endif # endif
429
430 /* Tokens. */ /* Tokens. */
431 # ifndef YYTOKENTYPE | # ifndef BAR_TOKENTYPE
432 # define YYTOKENTYPE | # define BAR_TOKENTYPE
433 enum yytokentype { | enum bar_tokentype {
434 FOO = 258 FOO = 258
435 }; };
436 # endif # endif
437
438 #if ! defined YYSTYPE \ | #if ! defined BAR_STYPE \
439 && ! defined YYSTYPE_IS_DECLARED | && ! defined BAR_STYPE_IS_DECLARED
440 typedef union YYSTYPE | typedef union BAR_STYPE
441 { {
442 int ival; int ival;
443 } YYSTYPE; | } BAR_STYPE;
444 # define YYSTYPE_IS_DECLARED 1 | # define BAR_STYPE_IS_DECLARED 1
445 #endif #endif
446
447 extern YYSTYPE bar_lval; | extern BAR_STYPE bar_lval;
448
449 int bar_parse (void); int bar_parse (void);
450
451 #endif /* !BAR_FOO_H */ #endif /* !BAR_FOO_H */
452
dfaac272 453* Noteworthy changes in release 2.5.1 (2012-06-05) [stable]
df6e3db0 454
debe2c03 455** Future changes:
765e1bd4 456
e4ab1254 457 The next major release will drop support for generating parsers in K&R C.
041308d0 458
466b4cf2 459** yacc.c: YYBACKUP works as expected.
ef51bfa7 460
d834eca0 461** glr.c improvements:
041308d0 462
d834eca0 463*** Location support is eliminated when not requested:
041308d0 464
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465 GLR parsers used to include location-related code even when locations were
466 not requested, and therefore not even usable.
378e917c 467
d834eca0 468*** __attribute__ is preserved:
d115aad9 469
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470 __attribute__ is no longer disabled when __STRICT_ANSI__ is defined (i.e.,
471 when -std is passed to GCC).
041308d0 472
466b4cf2 473** lalr1.java: several fixes:
041308d0 474
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475 The Java parser no longer throws ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException if the
476 first token leads to a syntax error. Some minor clean ups.
041308d0 477
22172d47 478** Changes for C++:
ef51bfa7 479
22172d47 480*** C++11 compatibility:
ef51bfa7 481
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482 C and C++ parsers use "nullptr" instead of "0" when __cplusplus is 201103L
483 or higher.
936c88d1 484
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485*** Header guards
486
487 The header files such as "parser.hh", "location.hh", etc. used a constant
488 name for preprocessor guards, for instance:
489
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490 #ifndef BISON_LOCATION_HH
491 # define BISON_LOCATION_HH
492 ...
493 #endif // !BISON_LOCATION_HH
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494
495 The inclusion guard is now computed from "PREFIX/FILE-NAME", where lower
496 case characters are converted to upper case, and series of
497 non-alphanumerical characters are converted to an underscore.
498
499 With "bison -o lang++/parser.cc", "location.hh" would now include:
500
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501 #ifndef YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
502 # define YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
503 ...
504 #endif // !YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
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505
506*** C++ locations:
936c88d1 507
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508 The position and location constructors (and their initialize methods)
509 accept new arguments for line and column. Several issues in the
510 documentation were fixed.
936c88d1 511
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512** liby is no longer asking for "rpl_fprintf" on some platforms.
513
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514** Changes in the manual:
515
516*** %printer is documented
517
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518 The "%printer" directive, supported since at least Bison 1.50, is finally
519 documented. The "mfcalc" example is extended to demonstrate it.
7e508a2b 520
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521 For consistency with the C skeletons, the C++ parsers now also support
522 "yyoutput" (as an alias to "debug_stream ()").
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523
524*** Several improvements have been made:
466b4cf2 525
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526 The layout for grammar excerpts was changed to a more compact scheme.
527 Named references are motivated. The description of the automaton
528 description file (*.output) is updated to the current format. Incorrect
529 index entries were fixed. Some other errors were fixed.
466b4cf2 530
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531** Building bison:
532
533*** Conflicting prototypes with recent/modified Flex.
466b4cf2 534
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535 Fixed build problems with the current, unreleased, version of Flex, and
536 some modified versions of 2.5.35, which have modified function prototypes.
466b4cf2 537
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538*** Warnings during the build procedure have been eliminated.
539
540*** Several portability problems in the test suite have been fixed:
466b4cf2 541
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542 This includes warnings with some compilers, unexpected behavior of tools
543 such as diff, warning messages from the test suite itself, etc.
466b4cf2 544
91aadcc7 545*** The install-pdf target works properly:
8ef26c2a 546
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547 Running "make install-pdf" (or -dvi, -html, -info, and -ps) no longer
548 halts in the middle of its course.
8ef26c2a 549
28801043 550* Changes in version 2.5 (2011-05-14):
50cca368 551
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552** Grammar symbol names can now contain non-initial dashes:
553
554 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and with
555 %define variables (e.g. push-pull), grammar symbol names may contain
556 dashes in any position except the beginning. This is a GNU
557 extension over POSIX Yacc. Thus, use of this extension is reported
558 by -Wyacc and rejected in Yacc mode (--yacc).
559
f1b238df 560** Named references:
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561
562 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
563 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
564 actions code.
565
566 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
567 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
568 as named references:
569
4b568fc0 570 if_stmt : "if" cond_expr "then" then_stmt ';'
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571 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
572
573 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
574
4b568fc0 575 stmt[res] : "if" expr[cond] "then" stmt[then] "else" stmt[else] ';'
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576 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
577
5b1ff423 578 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
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579 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
580 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
581
5b1ff423 582 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
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583 will help to stabilize them.
584
f1b238df 585** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
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586
587 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
588 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
7262f54f 589 with the full language-recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
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590 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction
591 in parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
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592 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
593 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
594 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
595 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
596
597 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
598 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
599 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
600 file with these directives:
601
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602 %define lr.type lalr
603 %define lr.type ielr
604 %define lr.type canonical-lr
eb45ef3b 605
7fceb615 606 The default-reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
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607 adjusted using "%define lr.default-reductions". For details on both
608 of these features, see the new section "Tuning LR" in the Bison
7fceb615 609 manual.
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610
611 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
612 stabilize them.
613
7fceb615 614** LAC (Lookahead Correction) for syntax error handling:
fcf834f9
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615
616 Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
617 upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
618 additional parser stack reductions before discovering the syntax
7fceb615 619 error. Such reductions can perform user semantic actions that are
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620 unexpected because they are based on an invalid token, and they
621 cause error recovery to begin in a different syntactic context than
622 the one in which the invalid token was encountered. Second, when
7fceb615 623 verbose error messages are enabled (with %error-verbose or the
e4ab1254 624 obsolete "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE"), the expected token list in the
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625 syntax error message can both contain invalid tokens and omit valid
626 tokens.
fcf834f9
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627
628 The culprits for the above problems are %nonassoc, default
629 reductions in inconsistent states, and parser state merging. Thus,
630 IELR and LALR suffer the most. Canonical LR can suffer only if
631 %nonassoc is used or if default reductions are enabled for
632 inconsistent states.
633
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634 LAC is a new mechanism within the parsing algorithm that solves
635 these problems for canonical LR, IELR, and LALR without sacrificing
636 %nonassoc, default reductions, or state merging. When LAC is in
637 use, canonical LR and IELR behave almost exactly the same for both
638 syntactically acceptable and syntactically unacceptable input.
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639 While LALR still does not support the full language-recognition
640 power of canonical LR and IELR, LAC at least enables LALR's syntax
641 error handling to correctly reflect LALR's language-recognition
642 power.
643
644 Currently, LAC is only supported for deterministic parsers in C.
645 You can enable LAC with the following directive:
646
647 %define parse.lac full
648
e4ab1254 649 See the new section "LAC" in the Bison manual for additional
7fceb615 650 details including a few caveats.
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651
652 LAC is an experimental feature. More user feedback will help to
653 stabilize it.
654
d397d9f0 655** %define improvements:
cf499cff 656
f1b238df 657*** Can now be invoked via the command line:
50cca368 658
de5ab940 659 Each of these command-line options
50cca368 660
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661 -D NAME[=VALUE]
662 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
663
664 -F NAME[=VALUE]
665 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
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666
667 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
668
de5ab940 669 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
50cca368 670
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671 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
672 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
673 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
e4ab1254 674 details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
50cca368 675
f1b238df 676*** Variables renamed:
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677
678 The following %define variables
679
680 api.push_pull
681 lr.keep_unreachable_states
682
683 have been renamed to
684
685 api.push-pull
686 lr.keep-unreachable-states
687
688 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
689 for backward compatibility.
690
7262f54f 691*** Values no longer need to be quoted in the grammar file:
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692
693 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
694 within quotations marks. For example,
695
696 %define api.push-pull "push"
697
698 can be rewritten as
699
700 %define api.push-pull push
701
d397d9f0 702*** Unrecognized variables are now errors not warnings.
cdf3f113 703
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704*** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
705
706** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now errors not warnings.
707
708** Character literals not of length one:
709
710 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
711 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
712 the following grammar to be the same token:
713
714 exp: exp '++'
715 | exp '+' exp
716 ;
717
718 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
719 some future release, Bison will start reporting an error instead.
720
721** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions:
722
723 Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
724 altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
725 determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
726 error or upon parser return. This bug has been fixed.
727
728** C++ parsers use YYRHSLOC:
729
730 Similarly to the C parsers, the C++ parsers now define the YYRHSLOC
731 macro and use it in the default YYLLOC_DEFAULT. You are encouraged
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732 to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has "first"
733 and "last" members, instead of
d397d9f0 734
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735 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
736 do \
737 if (N) \
738 { \
739 (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
740 (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
741 } \
742 else \
743 { \
744 (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
745 } \
746 while (false)
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JD
747
748 use:
749
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AD
750 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
751 do \
752 if (N) \
753 { \
754 (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
755 (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
756 } \
757 else \
758 { \
759 (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
760 } \
761 while (false)
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762
763** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
764
765 The default implementation of YYLLOC_DEFAULT used to be issued in
766 the header file. It is now output in the implementation file, after
767 the user %code sections so that its #ifndef guard does not try to
768 override the user's YYLLOC_DEFAULT if provided.
cdf3f113 769
f1b238df 770** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it:
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771
772 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
773 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. More recently, it was
774 a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers. As
775 promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
776 semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
777 no longer implement YYFAIL at all. For further details, including a
778 discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
779 being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
780
f1b238df 781** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action:
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782
783 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
784 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
785 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
786 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
787
788 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
789
790 instead of
791
792 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
793
794 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
795 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
796 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
797 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
798 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
799 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
800 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
801
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802** Verbose syntax error message fixes:
803
e4ab1254 804 When %error-verbose or the obsolete "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE" is
7fceb615
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805 specified, syntax error messages produced by the generated parser
806 include the unexpected token as well as a list of expected tokens.
807 The effect of %nonassoc on these verbose messages has been corrected
808 in two ways, but a more complete fix requires LAC, described above:
d2060f06
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809
810*** When %nonassoc is used, there can exist parser states that accept no
811 tokens, and so the parser does not always require a lookahead token
812 in order to detect a syntax error. Because no unexpected token or
813 expected tokens can then be reported, the verbose syntax error
814 message described above is suppressed, and the parser instead
e4ab1254 815 reports the simpler message, "syntax error". Previously, this
d2060f06
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816 suppression was sometimes erroneously triggered by %nonassoc when a
817 lookahead was actually required. Now verbose messages are
818 suppressed only when all previous lookaheads have already been
819 shifted or discarded.
820
821*** Previously, the list of expected tokens erroneously included tokens
822 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
823 were resolved with %nonassoc in the current parser state. Such
824 tokens are now properly omitted from the list.
825
826*** Expected token lists are still often wrong due to state merging
fcf834f9
JD
827 (from LALR or IELR) and default reductions, which can both add
828 invalid tokens and subtract valid tokens. Canonical LR almost
829 completely fixes this problem by eliminating state merging and
830 default reductions. However, there is one minor problem left even
831 when using canonical LR and even after the fixes above. That is,
832 if the resolution of a conflict with %nonassoc appears in a later
833 parser state than the one at which some syntax error is
834 discovered, the conflicted token is still erroneously included in
835 the expected token list. Bison's new LAC implementation,
836 described above, eliminates this problem and the need for
837 canonical LR. However, LAC is still experimental and is disabled
838 by default.
53f036ce 839
1a33f4f6
JD
840** Java skeleton fixes:
841
842*** A location handling bug has been fixed.
843
844*** The top element of each of the value stack and location stack is now
845 cleared when popped so that it can be garbage collected.
6771a463 846
02803d55
JD
847*** Parser traces now print the top element of the stack.
848
86408959
JD
849** -W/--warnings fixes:
850
e4ab1254 851*** Bison now properly recognizes the "no-" versions of categories:
86408959
JD
852
853 For example, given the following command line, Bison now enables all
854 warnings except warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
855
856 bison -Wall,no-yacc gram.y
857
786743d5
JD
858*** Bison now treats S/R and R/R conflicts like other warnings:
859
860 Previously, conflict reports were independent of Bison's normal
861 warning system. Now, Bison recognizes the warning categories
e4ab1254 862 "conflicts-sr" and "conflicts-rr". This change has important
786743d5
JD
863 consequences for the -W and --warnings command-line options. For
864 example:
865
866 bison -Wno-conflicts-sr gram.y # S/R conflicts not reported
867 bison -Wno-conflicts-rr gram.y # R/R conflicts not reported
868 bison -Wnone gram.y # no conflicts are reported
869 bison -Werror gram.y # any conflict is an error
870
871 However, as before, if the %expect or %expect-rr directive is
872 specified, an unexpected number of conflicts is an error, and an
873 expected number of conflicts is not reported, so -W and --warning
874 then have no effect on the conflict report.
875
e4ab1254 876*** The "none" category no longer disables a preceding "error":
bf0e44e8
JD
877
878 For example, for the following command line, Bison now reports
879 errors instead of warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
880
881 bison -Werror,none,yacc gram.y
882
e4ab1254 883*** The "none" category now disables all Bison warnings:
c39014ae 884
e4ab1254 885 Previously, the "none" category disabled only Bison warnings for
c39014ae
JD
886 which there existed a specific -W/--warning category. However,
887 given the following command line, Bison is now guaranteed to
888 suppress all warnings:
889
890 bison -Wnone gram.y
891
1f36f544
JD
892** Precedence directives can now assign token number 0:
893
894 Since Bison 2.3b, which restored the ability of precedence
895 directives to assign token numbers, doing so for token number 0 has
896 produced an assertion failure. For example:
897
898 %left END 0
899
900 This bug has been fixed.
901
64877e5e 902* Changes in version 2.4.3 (2010-08-05):
8b9e021f 903
2bfcac9a
JD
904** Bison now obeys -Werror and --warnings=error for warnings about
905 grammar rules that are useless in the parser due to conflicts.
906
8b9e021f
JD
907** Problems with spawning M4 on at least FreeBSD 8 and FreeBSD 9 have
908 been fixed.
909
4ad3921d
JD
910** Failures in the test suite for GCC 4.5 have been fixed.
911
06cb07d5
JD
912** Failures in the test suite for some versions of Sun Studio C++ have
913 been fixed.
914
9b5049bd
JD
915** Contrary to Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, it has been decided that
916 warnings about undefined %prec identifiers will not be converted to
917 errors in Bison 2.5. They will remain warnings, which should be
918 sufficient for POSIX while avoiding backward compatibility issues.
919
93d7dde9
JD
920** Minor documentation fixes.
921
e19a049c 922* Changes in version 2.4.2 (2010-03-20):
74553c98 923
f39ab286
JD
924** Some portability problems that resulted in failures and livelocks
925 in the test suite on some versions of at least Solaris, AIX, HP-UX,
e19a049c
JD
926 RHEL4, and Tru64 have been addressed. As a result, fatal Bison
927 errors should no longer cause M4 to report a broken pipe on the
f39ab286
JD
928 affected platforms.
929
e4ab1254 930** "%prec IDENTIFIER" requires IDENTIFIER to be defined separately.
8bb3a2e7
JD
931
932 POSIX specifies that an error be reported for any identifier that does
933 not appear on the LHS of a grammar rule and that is not defined by
934 %token, %left, %right, or %nonassoc. Bison 2.3b and later lost this
935 error report for the case when an identifier appears only after a
936 %prec directive. It is now restored. However, for backward
937 compatibility with recent Bison releases, it is only a warning for
938 now. In Bison 2.5 and later, it will return to being an error.
9b5049bd
JD
939 [Between the 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 releases, it was decided that this
940 warning will not be converted to an error in Bison 2.5.]
8bb3a2e7 941
d8911864
EB
942** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
943
a603c6e0
JD
944** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
945 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
946 avoided.
c938d650 947
98a345a2
JD
948** %code is now a permanent feature.
949
950 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
951
952 %{CODE%}
953
954 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
955 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
956
957 %code {CODE}
958 %code requires {CODE}
959 %code provides {CODE}
960 %code top {CODE}
961
962 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
963 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
964 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
965 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
966 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
967
968 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
969 is still considered experimental.
970
1625df5b
JD
971** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
972
973 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
974 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. Previously, it was
975 documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers. YYFAIL is no longer
976 documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
977 Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
978 specified by POSIX.
979
980 Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
981 induce a syntax error. The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
982 that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
983 error so that you don't have to. However, there are several other
984 subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
e4ab1254 985 inherent flaws when %error-verbose or "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE" is
1625df5b
JD
986 used. For a more detailed discussion, see:
987
988 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
989
990 The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
991 deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it. However,
992 because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
993 Bison features compatible with it. Thus, during parser generation,
994 Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
995 rule action. In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
e4ab1254 996 %error-verbose and "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE". Eventually, YYFAIL will
1625df5b
JD
997 be removed altogether.
998
999 There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
1000 be a false positive. Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
1001 Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
1002 preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
1003 To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
e4ab1254 1004 epilogue (that is, after the second "%%") in the Bison input file. In
1625df5b
JD
1005 this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
1006 C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
1007 phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
1008 2.4.2 is not necessary.
1009
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1010** Internationalization.
1011
1012 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
1013 message translations were not installed although supported by the
1014 host system.
1015
74553c98 1016* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
c9ba9e59 1017
0ea583d2
AD
1018** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
1019 declarations have been fixed.
1979121c 1020
0ea583d2
AD
1021** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
1022
1023 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
1024 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
1025
1026 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
1027
1028 instead of
1029
1030 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
1031
e4ab1254 1032 Some grammars still depend on this "feature". Bison 2.4.1 restores
0ea583d2
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1033 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
1034 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
1035 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
1036 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
1037 feature.
1038
1039** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 1040
402b123d 1041* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 1042
402b123d 1043** %language is an experimental feature.
ed4d67dc
JD
1044
1045 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
1046 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
1047 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
1048 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
1049 in future releases.
7bd1665a 1050
402b123d 1051** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 1052
402b123d 1053** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
241fda7a
JD
1054 fixed.
1055
402b123d 1056* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 1057
402b123d 1058** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
d9df47b6
JD
1059 are now deprecated:
1060
1061 %define NAME "VALUE"
1062
e4ab1254 1063** The directive "%pure-parser" is now deprecated in favor of:
d9df47b6
JD
1064
1065 %define api.pure
1066
1067 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
1068 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
1069
402b123d 1070** Push Parsing
c373bf8b
JD
1071
1072 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
e4ab1254
AD
1073 is, instead of invoking "yyparse", which pulls tokens from "yylex", you can
1074 push one token at a time to the parser using "yypush_parse", which will
c373bf8b
JD
1075 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
1076 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
1077
1078 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
1079 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
1080
e4ab1254 1081 See the new section "A Push Parser" in the Bison manual for details.
c373bf8b 1082
59da312b
JD
1083 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
1084 feedback will help to stabilize it.
1085
402b123d 1086** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
8e55b3aa
JD
1087 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
1088 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 1089
402b123d 1090** Java
59da312b
JD
1091
1092 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
e4ab1254 1093 "data/lalr1.java". Consider using the new %language directive instead of
59da312b
JD
1094 %skeleton to select it.
1095
e4ab1254 1096 See the new section "Java Parsers" in the Bison manual for details.
59da312b
JD
1097
1098 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
1099 feedback will help to stabilize it.
1100
402b123d 1101** %language
59da312b
JD
1102
1103 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
d43f77e7
PB
1104 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
1105 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
1106 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 1107
402b123d 1108** XML Automaton Report
59da312b
JD
1109
1110 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
e4ab1254 1111 "--xml" option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
59da312b 1112 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
c373bf8b 1113
402b123d 1114** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
c373bf8b
JD
1115 %defines. For example:
1116
1117 %defines "parser.h"
1118
402b123d 1119** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
d80fb37a
JD
1120 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
1121 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
1122 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 1123
402b123d 1124** Unreachable State Removal
c373bf8b
JD
1125
1126 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
31984206
JD
1127 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
1128 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
75ad86ee
JD
1129
1130 1. Removes unreachable states.
1131
1132 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
1133 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
1134 directives in existing grammar files.
1135
1136 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 1137 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 1138
31984206
JD
1139 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
1140
1141 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
1142
e4ab1254 1143 See the %define entry in the "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison manual
31984206
JD
1144 for further discussion.
1145
e4ab1254 1146** Lookahead Set Correction in the ".output" Report
b1cc23c4 1147
e4ab1254
AD
1148 When instructed to generate a ".output" file including lookahead sets
1149 (using "--report=lookahead", for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
88c78747
JD
1150 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
1151 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
1152 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
1153 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
e4ab1254 1154 bug affected only the ".output" file and not the generated parser source
88c78747
JD
1155 code.
1156
e4ab1254 1157** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default ".output" file
59da312b 1158 name.
1bb2bd75 1159
e4ab1254 1160** The "=" that used to be required in the following directives is now
02975b9a
JD
1161 deprecated:
1162
1163 %file-prefix "parser"
1164 %name-prefix "c_"
1165 %output "parser.c"
1166
e4ab1254 1167** An Alternative to "%{...%}" -- "%code QUALIFIER {CODE}"
c373bf8b
JD
1168
1169 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
8e0a5e9e
JD
1170 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
1171 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
1172 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
1173 it:
1174
e4ab1254
AD
1175 1. "%code {CODE}" replaces "%after-header {CODE}"
1176 2. "%code requires {CODE}" replaces "%start-header {CODE}"
1177 3. "%code provides {CODE}" replaces "%end-header {CODE}"
1178 4. "%code top {CODE}" replaces "%before-header {CODE}"
8e0a5e9e 1179
e4ab1254
AD
1180 See the %code entries in section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
1181 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section "Prologue
1182 Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
8e0a5e9e
JD
1183 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
1184
1185 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
1186 determine whether they should become permanent features.
1187
402b123d 1188** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
17bd8a73
JD
1189
1190 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
1191 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
1192 about unused $2 in:
1193
1194 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
1195
1196 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
1197 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
1198
1199 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
1200
1201 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
1202 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
1203 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
1204
e4ab1254
AD
1205 To enable these warnings, specify the option "--warnings=midrule-values" or
1206 "-W", which is a synonym for "--warnings=all".
17bd8a73 1207
e4ab1254 1208** Default %destructor or %printer with "<*>" or "<>"
c373bf8b
JD
1209
1210 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
12e35840
JD
1211 %printer's:
1212
e4ab1254 1213 1. Place "<*>" in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
12e35840
JD
1214 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
1215 declared semantic type tags.
1216
e4ab1254 1217 2. Place "<>" in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
12e35840
JD
1218 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
1219 type tags.
1220
e4ab1254
AD
1221 Bison no longer supports the "%symbol-default" notation from Bison 2.3a.
1222 "<*>" and "<>" combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
12e35840
JD
1223 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
1224 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
1225
85894313
JD
1226 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
1227 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
1228 features.
1229
e4ab1254 1230 See the section "Freeing Discarded Symbols" in the Bison manual for further
12e35840
JD
1231 details.
1232
402b123d 1233** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
e4ab1254 1234 by POSIX. However, see the end of section "Operator Precedence" in the Bison
ab7f29f8
JD
1235 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
1236
402b123d 1237** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
b1cc23c4
JD
1238 completely removed from Bison.
1239
402b123d 1240* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 1241
402b123d 1242** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
ddc8ede1
PE
1243 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
1244 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
1245 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
1246 and is required by POSIX.
1247
402b123d 1248** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
cd48d21d
AD
1249 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
1250
402b123d 1251** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
ec5479ce
JD
1252
1253 For example:
1254
b2a0b7ca
JD
1255 %union { char *string; }
1256 %token <string> STRING1
1257 %token <string> STRING2
1258 %type <string> string1
1259 %type <string> string2
1260 %union { char character; }
1261 %token <character> CHR
1262 %type <character> chr
1263 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
1264 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
1265 %destructor { } <character>
1266
1267 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
e4ab1254
AD
1268 semantic type tag other than "<character>", it passes its semantic value to
1269 "free". However, when the parser discards a "STRING1" or a "string1", it
1270 also prints its line number to "stdout". It performs only the second
1271 "%destructor" in this case, so it invokes "free" only once.
ec5479ce 1272
85894313
JD
1273 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
1274 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
1275 future versions.]
1276
e4ab1254
AD
1277** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with "-y",
1278 "--yacc", or "%yacc"), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
b931235e
JD
1279 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
1280 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
1281 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
1282
402b123d 1283** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 1284 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
9bc0dd67
JD
1285
1286 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
e4ab1254 1287 "%{ ... %}" syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
34f98f46
JD
1288 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
1289 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 1290 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 1291
34f98f46 1292 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
9bc0dd67
JD
1293 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
1294 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
1295 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
1296 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
1297 after the token definitions.
1298
1299 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
1300 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
1301
402b123d 1302** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
34f98f46
JD
1303 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
1304 %after-header.
1305
1306 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
1307 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
1308 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
1309 convenient for you:
1310
1311 %before-header {
1312 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
1313 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
1314 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
1315 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
e4ab1254 1316 * example is '#include "system.h"'. */
34f98f46
JD
1317 }
1318 %start-header {
1319 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
1320 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
1321 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
1322 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
9bc0dd67
JD
1323 }
1324 %union {
34f98f46
JD
1325 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
1326 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
1327 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 1328 }
34f98f46
JD
1329 %end-header {
1330 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
1331 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
1332 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
1333 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
1334 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 1335 }
34f98f46
JD
1336 %after-header {
1337 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
1338 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
1339 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
1340 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
1341 * Bison-generated definitions. */
1342 }
1343
1344 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
1345 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 1346
85894313
JD
1347 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
1348 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
1349
e4ab1254 1350** The option "--report=look-ahead" has been changed to "--report=lookahead".
9e6e7ed2
PE
1351 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
1352 in a future release.
742e4900 1353
402b123d 1354* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 1355
e4ab1254 1356** GLR grammars should now use "YYRECOVERING ()" instead of "YYRECOVERING",
4ad3ed84
PE
1357 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
1358
402b123d 1359** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
4ad3ed84
PE
1360 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
1361
402b123d 1362* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 1363
402b123d 1364** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
193d7c70
PE
1365 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
1366 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 1367
402b123d 1368** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 1369
402b123d 1370** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 1371
402b123d 1372** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
d6ca7905
PE
1373 their contents together.
1374
402b123d 1375** New warning: unused values
4d7bc38c
PE
1376 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
1377 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 1378
8f3596a6 1379 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
e9690142
JD
1380 | exp "+" exp
1381 ;
affac613 1382
8f3596a6
AD
1383 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
1384 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 1385 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 1386
4e26c69e 1387 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
e9690142
JD
1388 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
1389 | exp "+" exp
1390 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
1391 ;
affac613 1392
4e26c69e
PE
1393 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
1394 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
1395 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 1396
8f3596a6 1397 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
e9690142
JD
1398 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
1399 ;
721be13c 1400
84866159
AD
1401 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
1402 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
1403
1404 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
1405
721be13c
PE
1406 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
1407 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 1408
402b123d 1409** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
9d9b8b70
PE
1410 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
1411 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
1412 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 1413
402b123d 1414** %expect, %expect-rr
035aa4a0
PE
1415 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
1416 instead of warnings.
1417
402b123d 1418** GLR, YACC parsers.
4e26c69e
PE
1419 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
1420 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 1421
e4ab1254 1422** Bison now warns if it finds a stray "$" or "@" in an action.
ad6a9b97 1423
402b123d 1424** %require "VERSION"
4e26c69e
PE
1425 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
1426 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 1427
402b123d 1428** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
e14d0ab6
AD
1429 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
1430 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
e4ab1254
AD
1431 tokens are enumerations of the "yy::parser::token" struct, and the
1432 semantic values have the "yy::parser::semantic_type" type.
fb9712a9
AD
1433
1434 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
e4ab1254 1435 '%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
b50d2359
AD
1436 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
1437 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 1438
b50d2359 1439 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
e4ab1254 1440 fail using '%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 1441
402b123d 1442** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 1443\f
402b123d 1444* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 1445
402b123d 1446** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 1447
402b123d 1448** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
baf785db
PE
1449 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
1450 language is still English. For details, please see the new
0410a6e0
PE
1451 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
1452 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
1453 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 1454
402b123d 1455** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
1a059451
PE
1456 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
1457 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
1458 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
1459
402b123d 1460** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
258b75ca
PE
1461 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
1462 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
1463
402b123d 1464** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
72f000b0
PE
1465 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
1466 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
1467 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
1468 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 1469\f
402b123d 1470* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 1471
402b123d 1472** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 1473
82de6b0d
PE
1474 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
1475 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
1476 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
1477 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
1478 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 1479
82de6b0d
PE
1480 - Error token location.
1481 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
1482 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
1483 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
1484 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 1485
82de6b0d
PE
1486 - Semicolon changes:
1487 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
1488 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 1489
82de6b0d
PE
1490 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
1491 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
1492 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
1493 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 1494
82de6b0d 1495 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 1496
402b123d 1497** New features
1452af69 1498
82de6b0d 1499 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 1500
82de6b0d
PE
1501 - New directive: %initial-action.
1502 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
1503 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 1504
82de6b0d
PE
1505 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
1506 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 1507
e4ab1254 1508 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., "%token FOO 0x12d".
82de6b0d 1509 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 1510
e4ab1254 1511 - The option "--report=lookahead" was changed to "--report=look-ahead".
9e6e7ed2 1512 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 1513
82de6b0d 1514 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 1515
82de6b0d
PE
1516 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
1517 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 1518
402b123d 1519** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 1520
82de6b0d
PE
1521 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
1522 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
1523 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
1524 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
1525 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
1526 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 1527
82de6b0d
PE
1528 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
1529 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 1530
82de6b0d 1531 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 1532\f
402b123d 1533* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 1534
402b123d 1535** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 1536 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 1537
402b123d 1538** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 1539
dc546b0f
PE
1540 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
1541 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 1542
dc546b0f
PE
1543 - %destructor
1544 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
1545 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 1546
dc546b0f
PE
1547 - %error-verbose
1548 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 1549
dc546b0f
PE
1550 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
1551 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 1552
402b123d 1553** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 1554
dc546b0f
PE
1555 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
1556 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
1557 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 1558
e4ab1254
AD
1559 - "parse error" -> "syntax error"
1560 Bison now uniformly uses the term "syntax error"; formerly, the code
1561 and manual sometimes used the term "parse error" instead. POSIX
1562 requires "syntax error" in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
dc546b0f 1563 be consistent.
74724a70 1564
dc546b0f
PE
1565 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
1566 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 1567
dc546b0f
PE
1568 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
1569 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 1570
dc546b0f
PE
1571 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
1572 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 1573
dc546b0f 1574 - Yacc command and library now available
e4ab1254 1575 The Bison distribution now installs a "yacc" command, as POSIX requires.
dc546b0f
PE
1576 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
1577 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
1578 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 1579
dc546b0f 1580 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 1581
dc546b0f
PE
1582 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
1583 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
1584 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 1585
402b123d 1586** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 1587
e4ab1254
AD
1588 - %union directives can now have a tag before the "{", e.g., the
1589 directive "%union foo {...}" now generates the C code
1590 "typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;"; this is for Yacc compatibility.
1591 The default union tag is "YYSTYPE", for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
1592 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now "YYLTYPE" not "yyltype".
dc546b0f 1593 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 1594
e4ab1254 1595 - ";" is output before the terminating "}" of an action, for
dc546b0f 1596 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 1597
dc546b0f 1598 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
e4ab1254 1599 "conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce".
437c2d80 1600
e4ab1254 1601 - "yystype" and "yyltype" are now obsolescent macros instead of being
dc546b0f
PE
1602 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
1603 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 1604
402b123d 1605** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 1606
dc546b0f
PE
1607 - GLR and inline
1608 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
e4ab1254 1609 C keyword "inline".
959e5f51 1610
e4ab1254
AD
1611 - "parsing stack overflow..." -> "parser stack overflow"
1612 GLR parsers now report "parser stack overflow" as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 1613
18ad57b3
AD
1614** %parse-param and %lex-param
1615 The macros YYPARSE_PARAM and YYLEX_PARAM provide a means to pass
1616 additional context to yyparse and yylex. They suffer from several
1617 shortcomings:
1618
1619 - a single argument only can be added,
1620 - their types are weak (void *),
242cc08e 1621 - this context is not passed to ancillary functions such as yyerror,
18ad57b3
AD
1622 - only yacc.c parsers support them.
1623
1624 The new %parse-param/%lex-param directives provide a more precise control.
1625 For instance:
1626
1627 %parse-param {int *nastiness}
1628 %lex-param {int *nastiness}
1629 %parse-param {int *randomness}
1630
1631 results in the following signatures:
1632
1633 int yylex (int *nastiness);
1634 int yyparse (int *nastiness, int *randomness);
1635
1636 or, if both %pure-parser and %locations are used:
1637
1638 int yylex (YYSTYPE *lvalp, YYLTYPE *llocp, int *nastiness);
1639 int yyparse (int *nastiness, int *randomness);
1640
402b123d 1641** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
e4ab1254 1642 e.g., it generates a warning for "bison -d -o foo.h foo.y" since
dc546b0f 1643 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 1644
402b123d 1645** #line in output files
dc546b0f 1646 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 1647
402b123d 1648** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
1649 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
1650 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
1651 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 1652\f
402b123d 1653* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 1654
402b123d 1655** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 1656
402b123d 1657** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 1658
402b123d 1659** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1660 Fix spurious parse errors.
1661
402b123d 1662** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1663 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
1664 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
1665
402b123d 1666** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
1667 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
1668 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
1669
e9690142 1670 untyped: ... typed;
d90c934c
AD
1671
1672 but the converse remains an error:
1673
e9690142 1674 typed: ... untyped;
d90c934c 1675
402b123d 1676** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
1677 The following code:
1678
e9690142 1679 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
d90c934c
AD
1680
1681 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
1682 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 1683\f
402b123d 1684* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 1685
402b123d 1686** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
1687 The declaration
1688 %glr-parser
1689 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
1690 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 1691 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
1692 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
1693
7933f2b5 1694 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
1695 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
1696
402b123d 1697** Output Directory
8c165d89 1698 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e4ab1254
AD
1699 specified, running "bison foo/bar.y" created "foo/bar.c". It
1700 now creates "bar.c".
8c165d89 1701
402b123d 1702** Undefined token
007a50a4 1703 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 1704 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 1705
402b123d 1706** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 1707 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
1708 no longer the case.
1709
402b123d 1710** Error token
e88dbdbf 1711 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
1712 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
1713 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
1714 will be mapped onto another number.
1715
402b123d 1716** Verbose error messages
e4ab1254 1717 They no longer report "..., expecting error or..." for states where
217598da
AD
1718 error recovery is possible.
1719
402b123d 1720** End token
e4ab1254 1721 Defaults to "$end" instead of "$".
217598da 1722
402b123d 1723** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
1724 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
1725 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
1726 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
1727 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
1728 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
1729 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
1730 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
1731 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 1732
402b123d 1733** Traces
5504898e
AD
1734 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
1735
402b123d 1736** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
1737 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
1738 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
1739 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
1740 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 1741
402b123d 1742** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
1743 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
1744 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
1745 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 1746
402b123d 1747** Useless rules
643a5994 1748 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 1749 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 1750
402b123d 1751** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
1752 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
1753
402b123d 1754** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
1755 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
1756 reported.
1757
e4ab1254 1758** Incorrect "Token not used"
11652ab3
AD
1759 On a grammar such as
1760
e29f0771
AD
1761 %token useless useful
1762 %%
1763 exp: '0' %prec useful;
11652ab3
AD
1764
1765 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
e4ab1254 1766 bison reported both "useful" and "useless" as useless tokens.
11652ab3 1767
402b123d 1768** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 1769 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 1770
402b123d 1771** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
1772 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
1773 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
1774 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
1775 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 1776
402b123d 1777** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
1778 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
1779 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
e4ab1254 1780 error messages instead of "$end", which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 1781 For instance
e29f0771 1782 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 1783 or
e29f0771 1784 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 1785
402b123d 1786** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
1787 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
1788
402b123d 1789** New translations
a861a339 1790 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
1791 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
1792
402b123d 1793** Incorrect token definitions
e4ab1254
AD
1794 When given
1795 %token 'a' "A"
1796 bison used to output
1797 #define 'a' 65
b87f8b21 1798
402b123d 1799** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
1800 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
1801 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 1802 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 1803
402b123d 1804** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
1805 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
1806 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
1807 - itemset
1808 complete the core item sets with their closure
e4ab1254 1809 - lookahead [changed to "look-ahead" in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
9e6e7ed2 1810 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
1811 - solved
1812 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
1813 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
1814 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 1815
402b123d 1816** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
1817 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
1818 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
1819
e29f0771
AD
1820 %type <foo> bar
1821 %%
1822 bar: '0' {} '0';
9af3fbce
AD
1823
1824 This is fixed.
a861a339 1825
402b123d 1826** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 1827\f
402b123d 1828* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 1829
402b123d 1830** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
1831 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
1832 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
1833 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
1834
1835 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
1836 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
1837 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
1838 kludge will be disabled.
1839
1840 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
1841 extended.
76551463 1842\f
402b123d 1843* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 1844
402b123d 1845** File name clashes are detected
76551463 1846 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
e4ab1254 1847 fatal error: header and parser would both be named "foo.x"
76551463 1848
e4ab1254 1849** A missing ";" at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
1850 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1851 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1852 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1853 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1854 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1855
402b123d 1856** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
1857 many portability hassles.
1858
402b123d 1859** DJGPP support added.
76551463 1860
402b123d 1861** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 1862\f
402b123d 1863* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 1864
402b123d 1865** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
1866 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1867 under some conditions.
1868
402b123d 1869** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
1870 As is done with $n.
1871\f
402b123d 1872* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 1873
402b123d 1874** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 1875
402b123d 1876** Portability fixes
76551463 1877
402b123d 1878** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 1879\f
402b123d 1880* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 1881
402b123d 1882** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 1883
402b123d 1884** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1885 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1886 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1887 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
e4ab1254 1888 does not trigger an error when the input file is named "plural.y".
52d1aeee 1889
402b123d 1890** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
1891 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1892 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1893
1894 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1895 problems as on AIX.
1896
402b123d 1897** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 1898
402b123d 1899** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
1900 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1901
402b123d 1902** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
1903 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1904 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1905 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1906
402b123d 1907** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 1908 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 1909 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 1910
402b123d 1911** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
1912 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1913
402b123d 1914** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
1915 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1916
402b123d 1917** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
1918 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1919
402b123d 1920** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1921 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1922 any warning.
1923
402b123d 1924** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 1925
402b123d 1926** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 1927
402b123d 1928** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 1929
402b123d 1930** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
1931 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1932 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1933 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1934
402b123d 1935** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
1936 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1937 previous allocations were not freed.
1938
402b123d 1939** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
1940 Some newlines were missing.
1941 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1942
402b123d 1943** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
1944 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1945
402b123d 1946** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1947 Was not used.
1948 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1949
402b123d 1950** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 1951
402b123d 1952** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 1953
402b123d 1954** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 1955
402b123d 1956** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
1957 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1958
402b123d 1959** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 1960
402b123d 1961** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
1962 New.
1963
402b123d 1964** --output
e4ab1254 1965 New, aliasing "--output-file".
52d1aeee 1966\f
402b123d 1967* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 1968
e4ab1254
AD
1969** "--defines" and "--graph" have now an optional argument which is the
1970 output file name. "-d" and "-g" do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
1971 argument.
1972
e4ab1254 1973** "%source_extension" and "%header_extension" are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
1974 experiment.
1975
402b123d 1976** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 1977\f
402b123d 1978* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 1979
402b123d 1980** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
1981 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1982 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
e4ab1254 1983 "-Dconst=". Autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
342b8b6e 1984
e4ab1254 1985** Added "-g" and "--graph".
f87a2205 1986
402b123d 1987** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 1988
402b123d 1989** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 1990
402b123d 1991** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 1992
402b123d 1993** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 1994
402b123d 1995** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 1996
e4ab1254 1997** Added "--locations" and "%locations".
6deb4447 1998
e4ab1254 1999** Added "-S" and "--skeleton".
cd5bd6ac 2000
e4ab1254 2001** "%raw", "-r", "--raw" is disabled.
62ab6972 2002
402b123d 2003** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
2004 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
2005
402b123d 2006** New directives.
e4ab1254
AD
2007 "%yacc", "%fixed_output_files", "%defines", "%no_parser", "%verbose",
2008 "%debug", "%source_extension" and "%header_extension".
f987e9d2 2009
402b123d 2010** @$
f987e9d2 2011 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 2012\f
402b123d 2013* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 2014
402b123d 2015** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 2016
402b123d 2017** Added NLS.
d2e00347 2018
402b123d 2019** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 2020
402b123d 2021** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 2022\f
402b123d 2023* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 2024
402b123d 2025** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
2026 some systems has been fixed.
2027\f
402b123d 2028* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 2029
7e508a2b 2030** Bison now uses Automake.
4be07551 2031
402b123d 2032** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 2033
402b123d 2034** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 2035
402b123d 2036** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 2037
402b123d 2038** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 2039
402b123d 2040** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 2041
402b123d 2042** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 2043 not provide alloca().
4be07551 2044\f
402b123d 2045* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 2046
402b123d 2047** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 2048the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 2049
402b123d 2050** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5 2051example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
7e508a2b 2052of choosing a name like LESSEQ.
df8878c5 2053
402b123d 2054** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
2055and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
2056table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
2057purposes.
2058
402b123d 2059** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
2060directives in the parser file.
2061
402b123d 2062** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
2063Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
2064
402b123d 2065** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
2066the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
2067The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
2068a switch statement body.
2069\f
402b123d 2070* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 2071
4d019228
DM
2072The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
2073passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
2074actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
2075by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 2076
6780ca7a 2077Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 2078\f
402b123d 2079* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
2080
2081--help option added.
6780ca7a 2082\f
402b123d 2083* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
2084
2085Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6 2086
76551463
AD
2087-----
2088
34136e65 2089Copyright (C) 1995-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 2090
74553c98 2091This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
76551463 2092
f16b0819 2093This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 2094it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
2095the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2096(at your option) any later version.
76551463 2097
f16b0819 2098This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
2099but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2100MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2101GNU General Public License for more details.
2102
2103You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 2104along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
7e508a2b
AD
2105
2106 LocalWords: yacc YYBACKUP glr GCC lalr ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException nullptr
2107 LocalWords: cplusplus liby rpl fprintf mfcalc Wyacc stmt cond expr mk sym lr
2108 LocalWords: IELR ielr Lookahead YYERROR nonassoc LALR's api lookaheads yychar
2109 LocalWords: destructor lookahead YYRHSLOC YYLLOC Rhs ifndef YYFAIL cpp sr rr
2110 LocalWords: preprocessor initializer Wno Wnone Werror FreeBSD prec livelocks
2111 LocalWords: Solaris AIX UX RHEL Tru LHS gcc's Wundef YYENABLE NLS YYLTYPE VCG
2112 LocalWords: yyerror cpp's Wunused yylval yylloc prepend yyparse yylex yypush
2113 LocalWords: Graphviz xml nonterminals midrule destructor's YYSTYPE typedef ly
2114 LocalWords: CHR chr printf stdout namespace preprocessing enum pre include's
2115 LocalWords: YYRECOVERING nonfree destructors YYABORT YYACCEPT params enums de
2116 LocalWords: struct yystype DJGPP lex param Haible NUM alloca YYSTACK NUL goto
2117 LocalWords: YYMAXDEPTH Unescaped UCNs YYLTYPE's yyltype typedefs inline Yaccs
2118 LocalWords: Heriyanto Reenable dprec Hilfinger Eggert MYEOF Folle Menezes EOF
242cc08e 2119 LocalWords: Lackovic define's itemset Groff Gettext malloc NEWS'ed YYDEBUG YY
7e508a2b 2120 LocalWords: namespaces strerror const autoconfiguration Dconst Autoconf's FDL
242cc08e
AD
2121 LocalWords: Automake TMPDIR LESSEQ ylwrap endif yydebug YYTOKEN YYLSP ival hh
2122 LocalWords: extern YYTOKENTYPE TOKENTYPE yytokentype tokentype STYPE lval pdf
dcb366b1
AD
2123 LocalWords: lang yyoutput dvi html ps POSIX lvalp llocp Wother nterm arg init
2124 LocalWords: TOK
7e508a2b
AD
2125
2126Local Variables:
2127mode: outline
e4ab1254 2128fill-column: 76
7e508a2b 2129End: