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4* Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
5
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6** Java skeleton improvements:
7
8 The constants for token names were moved to the Lexer interface.
9 Also, it is possible to add code to the parser's constructors using
10 "%code init" and "%define init_throws".
11
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12* Changes in version 2.5 (????-??-??):
13
14** %define can now be invoked via the command line.
15
16 Each of these bison command-line options
17
18 -D NAME=VALUE
19 --define=NAME=VALUE
20
21 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
22
23 %define NAME "VALUE"
24
25 for any NAME and VALUE. Omitting `=VALUE' on the command line is
26 equivalent to omitting `"VALUE"' in the declaration.
27
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28* Changes in version 2.4.2 (????-??-??):
29
30* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
c9ba9e59 31
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32** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
33 declarations have been fixed.
1979121c 34
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35** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
36
37 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
38 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
39
40 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
41
42 instead of
43
44 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
45
46 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
47 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
48 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
49 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
50 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
51 feature.
52
53** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 54
402b123d 55* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 56
402b123d 57** %language is an experimental feature.
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58
59 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
60 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
61 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
62 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
63 in future releases.
7bd1665a 64
402b123d 65** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 66
402b123d 67** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
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68 fixed.
69
402b123d 70* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 71
402b123d 72** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
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73 are now deprecated:
74
75 %define NAME "VALUE"
76
402b123d 77** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
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78
79 %define api.pure
80
81 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
82 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
83
402b123d 84** Push Parsing
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85
86 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
ef1b4273 87 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
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88 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
89 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
90 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
91
92 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
93 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
94
95 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
96
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97 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
98 feedback will help to stabilize it.
99
402b123d 100** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
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101 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
102 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 103
402b123d 104** Java
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105
106 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
107 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
108 %skeleton to select it.
109
110 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
111
112 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
113 feedback will help to stabilize it.
114
402b123d 115** %language
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116
117 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
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118 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
119 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
120 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 121
402b123d 122** XML Automaton Report
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123
124 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
125 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
126 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
c373bf8b 127
402b123d 128** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
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129 %defines. For example:
130
131 %defines "parser.h"
132
402b123d 133** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
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134 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
135 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
136 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 137
402b123d 138** Unreachable State Removal
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139
140 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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141 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
142 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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143
144 1. Removes unreachable states.
145
146 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
147 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
148 directives in existing grammar files.
149
150 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 151 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 152
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153 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
154
155 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
156
157 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
158 for further discussion.
159
402b123d 160** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
b1cc23c4 161
c373bf8b 162 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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163 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
164 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
165 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
166 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
167 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
168 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
169 code.
170
402b123d 171** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
59da312b 172 name.
1bb2bd75 173
402b123d 174** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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175 deprecated:
176
177 %file-prefix "parser"
178 %name-prefix "c_"
179 %output "parser.c"
180
402b123d 181** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
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182
183 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
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184 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
185 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
186 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
187 it:
188
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189 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
190 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
191 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
192 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 193
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194 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
195 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
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196 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
197 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
198
199 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
200 determine whether they should become permanent features.
201
402b123d 202** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
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203
204 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
205 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
206 about unused $2 in:
207
208 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
209
210 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
211 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
212
213 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
214
215 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
216 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
217 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
218
59da312b 219 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
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220 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
221
402b123d 222** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
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223
224 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
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225 %printer's:
226
227 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
228 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
229 declared semantic type tags.
230
3ebecc24 231 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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232 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
233 type tags.
234
235 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 236 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
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237 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
238 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
239
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240 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
241 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
242 features.
243
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244 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
245 details.
246
402b123d 247** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
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248 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
249 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
250
402b123d 251** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
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252 completely removed from Bison.
253
402b123d 254* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 255
402b123d 256** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
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257 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
258 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
259 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
260 and is required by POSIX.
261
402b123d 262** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
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263 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
264
402b123d 265** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
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266
267 For example:
268
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269 %union { char *string; }
270 %token <string> STRING1
271 %token <string> STRING2
272 %type <string> string1
273 %type <string> string2
274 %union { char character; }
275 %token <character> CHR
276 %type <character> chr
277 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
278 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
279 %destructor { } <character>
280
281 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
282 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
283 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
284 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
285 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 286
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287 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
288 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
289 future versions.]
290
402b123d 291** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
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292 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
293 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
294 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
295 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
296
402b123d 297** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 298 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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299
300 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
301 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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302 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
303 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 304 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 305
34f98f46 306 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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307 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
308 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
309 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
310 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
311 after the token definitions.
312
313 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
314 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
315
402b123d 316** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
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317 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
318 %after-header.
319
320 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
321 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
322 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
323 convenient for you:
324
325 %before-header {
326 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
327 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
328 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
329 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
330 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
331 }
332 %start-header {
333 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
334 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
335 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
336 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
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337 }
338 %union {
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339 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
340 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
341 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 342 }
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343 %end-header {
344 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
345 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
346 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
347 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
348 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 349 }
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350 %after-header {
351 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
352 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
353 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
354 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
355 * Bison-generated definitions. */
356 }
357
358 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
359 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 360
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361 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
362 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
363
402b123d 364** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
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365 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
366 in a future release.
742e4900 367
402b123d 368* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 369
402b123d 370** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
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371 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
372
402b123d 373** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
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374 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
375
402b123d 376* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 377
402b123d 378** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
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379 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
380 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 381
402b123d 382** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 383
402b123d 384** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 385
402b123d 386** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
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387 their contents together.
388
402b123d 389** New warning: unused values
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390 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
391 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 392
8f3596a6 393 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
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394 | exp "+" exp
395 ;
affac613 396
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397 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
398 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 399 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 400
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401 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
402 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
403 | exp "+" exp
404 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 405 ;
affac613 406
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407 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
408 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
409 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 410
8f3596a6 411 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
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412 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
413 ;
414
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415 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
416 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
417
418 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
419
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420 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
421 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 422
402b123d 423** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
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424 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
425 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
426 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 427
402b123d 428** %expect, %expect-rr
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429 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
430 instead of warnings.
431
402b123d 432** GLR, YACC parsers.
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433 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
434 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 435
402b123d 436** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 437
402b123d 438** %require "VERSION"
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439 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
440 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 441
402b123d 442** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
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443 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
444 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
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445 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
446 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
447
448 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
449 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
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450 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
451 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 452
b50d2359 453 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 454 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 455
402b123d 456** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 457\f
402b123d 458* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 459
402b123d 460** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 461
402b123d 462** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
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463 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
464 language is still English. For details, please see the new
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465 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
466 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
467 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 468
402b123d 469** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
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470 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
471 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
472 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
473
402b123d 474** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
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475 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
476 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
477
402b123d 478** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
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479 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
480 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
481 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
482 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 483\f
402b123d 484* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 485
402b123d 486** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 487
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488 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
489 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
490 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
491 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
492 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 493
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494 - Error token location.
495 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
496 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
497 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
498 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 499
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500 - Semicolon changes:
501 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
502 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 503
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504 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
505 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
506 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
507 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 508
82de6b0d 509 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 510
402b123d 511** New features
1452af69 512
82de6b0d 513 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 514
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515 - New directive: %initial-action.
516 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
517 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 518
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519 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
520 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 521
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522 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
523 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 524
82de6b0d 525 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 526 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 527
82de6b0d 528 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 529
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530 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
531 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 532
402b123d 533** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 534
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535 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
536 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
537 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
538 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
539 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
540 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 541
82de6b0d
PE
542 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
543 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 544
82de6b0d 545 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 546\f
402b123d 547* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 548
402b123d 549** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 550 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 551
402b123d 552** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 553
dc546b0f
PE
554 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
555 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 556
dc546b0f
PE
557 - %destructor
558 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
559 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 560
dc546b0f
PE
561 - %error-verbose
562 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 563
dc546b0f
PE
564 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
565 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 566
402b123d 567** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 568
dc546b0f
PE
569 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
570 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
571 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 572
dc546b0f
PE
573 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
574 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
575 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
576 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
577 be consistent.
74724a70 578
dc546b0f
PE
579 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
580 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 581
dc546b0f
PE
582 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
583 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 584
dc546b0f
PE
585 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
586 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 587
dc546b0f
PE
588 - Yacc command and library now available
589 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
590 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
591 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
592 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 593
dc546b0f 594 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 595
dc546b0f
PE
596 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
597 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
598 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 599
402b123d 600** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 601
dc546b0f
PE
602 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
603 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
604 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
605 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
606 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
607 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 608
dc546b0f
PE
609 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
610 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 611
dc546b0f
PE
612 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
613 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 614
dc546b0f
PE
615 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
616 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
617 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 618
402b123d 619** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 620
dc546b0f
PE
621 - GLR and inline
622 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
623 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 624
dc546b0f
PE
625 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
626 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 627
402b123d 628** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
dc546b0f
PE
629 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
630 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 631
402b123d 632** #line in output files
dc546b0f 633 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 634
402b123d 635** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
636 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
637 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
638 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 639\f
402b123d 640* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 641
402b123d 642** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 643
402b123d 644** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 645
402b123d 646** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
647 Fix spurious parse errors.
648
402b123d 649** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
650 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
651 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
652
402b123d 653** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
654 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
655 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
656
657 untyped: ... typed;
658
659 but the converse remains an error:
660
661 typed: ... untyped;
662
402b123d 663** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
664 The following code:
665
666 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
667
668 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
669 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 670\f
402b123d 671* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 672
402b123d 673** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
674 The declaration
675 %glr-parser
676 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
677 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 678 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
679 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
680
7933f2b5 681 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
682 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
683
402b123d 684** Output Directory
8c165d89 685 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 686 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
8c165d89
AD
687 now creates `bar.c'.
688
402b123d 689** Undefined token
007a50a4 690 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 691 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 692
402b123d 693** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 694 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
695 no longer the case.
696
402b123d 697** Error token
e88dbdbf 698 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
699 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
700 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
701 will be mapped onto another number.
702
402b123d 703** Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 704 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
217598da
AD
705 error recovery is possible.
706
402b123d 707** End token
217598da
AD
708 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
709
402b123d 710** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
711 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
712 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
713 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
714 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
715 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
716 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
717 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
718 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 719
402b123d 720** Traces
5504898e
AD
721 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
722
402b123d 723** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
724 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
725 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
726 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
727 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 728
402b123d 729** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
730 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
731 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
732 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 733
402b123d 734** Useless rules
643a5994 735 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 736 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 737
402b123d 738** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
739 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
740
402b123d 741** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
742 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
743 reported.
744
402b123d 745** Incorrect `Token not used'
11652ab3
AD
746 On a grammar such as
747
748 %token useless useful
749 %%
750 exp: '0' %prec useful;
751
752 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
753 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
754
402b123d 755** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 756 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 757
402b123d 758** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
759 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
760 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
761 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
762 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 763
402b123d 764** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
765 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
766 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 767 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 768 For instance
7bd6c77e 769 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 770 or
7bd6c77e 771 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 772
402b123d 773** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
774 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
775
402b123d 776** New translations
a861a339 777 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
778 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
779
402b123d 780** Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 781 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 782
402b123d 783** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
784 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
785 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 786 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 787
402b123d 788** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
789 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
790 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
791 - itemset
792 complete the core item sets with their closure
9e6e7ed2
PE
793 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
794 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
795 - solved
796 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
797 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
798 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 799
402b123d 800** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
801 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
802 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
803
804 %type <foo> bar
805 %%
806 bar: '0' {} '0';
807
808 This is fixed.
a861a339 809
402b123d 810** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 811\f
402b123d 812* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 813
402b123d 814** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
815 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
816 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
817 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
818
819 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
820 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
821 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
822 kludge will be disabled.
823
824 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
825 extended.
76551463 826\f
402b123d 827* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 828
402b123d 829** File name clashes are detected
76551463
AD
830 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
831 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
832
402b123d 833** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
834 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
835 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
836 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
837 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
838 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
839
402b123d 840** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
841 many portability hassles.
842
402b123d 843** DJGPP support added.
76551463 844
402b123d 845** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 846\f
402b123d 847* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 848
402b123d 849** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
850 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
851 under some conditions.
852
402b123d 853** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
854 As is done with $n.
855\f
402b123d 856* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 857
402b123d 858** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 859
402b123d 860** Portability fixes
76551463 861
402b123d 862** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 863\f
402b123d 864* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 865
402b123d 866** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 867
402b123d 868** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
869 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
870 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
871 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
872 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
873
402b123d 874** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
875 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
876 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
877
878 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
879 problems as on AIX.
880
402b123d 881** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 882
402b123d 883** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
884 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
885
402b123d 886** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
887 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
888 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
889 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
890
402b123d 891** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 892 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 893 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 894
402b123d 895** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
896 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
897
402b123d 898** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
899 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
900
402b123d 901** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
902 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
903
402b123d 904** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
905 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
906 any warning.
907
402b123d 908** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 909
402b123d 910** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 911
402b123d 912** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 913
402b123d 914** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
915 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
916 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
917 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
918
402b123d 919** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
920 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
921 previous allocations were not freed.
922
402b123d 923** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
924 Some newlines were missing.
925 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
926
402b123d 927** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
928 Option -v was needed to get the result.
929
402b123d 930** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
931 Was not used.
932 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
933
402b123d 934** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 935
402b123d 936** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 937
402b123d 938** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 939
402b123d 940** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
941 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
942
402b123d 943** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 944
402b123d 945** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
946 New.
947
402b123d 948** --output
52d1aeee
MA
949 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
950\f
402b123d 951* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 952
402b123d 953** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
fdac0091 954 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
955 argument.
956
402b123d 957** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
958 experiment.
959
402b123d 960** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 961\f
402b123d 962* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 963
402b123d 964** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
965 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
966 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
967 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
968
402b123d 969** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 970
402b123d 971** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 972
402b123d 973** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 974
402b123d 975** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 976
402b123d 977** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 978
402b123d 979** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 980
402b123d 981** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 982
402b123d 983** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
cd5bd6ac 984
402b123d 985** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
62ab6972 986
402b123d 987** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
988 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
989
402b123d 990** New directives.
4ecbf796
MA
991 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
992 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2 993
402b123d 994** @$
f987e9d2 995 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 996\f
402b123d 997* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 998
402b123d 999** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 1000
402b123d 1001** Added NLS.
d2e00347 1002
402b123d 1003** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 1004
402b123d 1005** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 1006\f
402b123d 1007* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 1008
402b123d 1009** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
1010 some systems has been fixed.
1011\f
402b123d 1012* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 1013
402b123d 1014** Bison now uses automake.
4be07551 1015
402b123d 1016** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 1017
402b123d 1018** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 1019
402b123d 1020** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 1021
402b123d 1022** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 1023
402b123d 1024** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 1025
402b123d 1026** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 1027 not provide alloca().
4be07551 1028\f
402b123d 1029* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 1030
402b123d 1031** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 1032the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 1033
402b123d 1034** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5
RS
1035example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1036of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1037
402b123d 1038** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
1039and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1040table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1041purposes.
1042
402b123d 1043** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
1044directives in the parser file.
1045
402b123d 1046** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
1047Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1048
402b123d 1049** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
1050the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1051The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1052a switch statement body.
1053\f
402b123d 1054* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 1055
4d019228
DM
1056The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1057passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1058actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1059by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 1060
6780ca7a 1061Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 1062\f
402b123d 1063* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
1064
1065--help option added.
6780ca7a 1066\f
402b123d 1067* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
1068
1069Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
AD
1070
1071Local Variables:
1072mode: outline
1073End:
76551463
AD
1074
1075-----
1076
d6ca7905 1077Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
74553c98 10782004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 1079
74553c98 1080This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
76551463 1081
f16b0819 1082This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 1083it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
1084the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1085(at your option) any later version.
76551463 1086
f16b0819 1087This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
1088but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1089MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1090GNU General Public License for more details.
1091
1092You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1093along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.