]> git.saurik.com Git - bison.git/blame - NEWS
Accept --report-file=FILE to override the default `.output' filename.
[bison.git] / NEWS
CommitLineData
6780ca7a
DM
1Bison News
2----------
3af4feb2 3
35fe0834
PE
4Changes in version 2.3a+ (????-??-??):
5
d9df47b6
JD
6* The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
7 are now deprecated:
8
9 %define NAME "VALUE"
10
11* The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
12
13 %define api.pure
14
15 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
16 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
17
c373bf8b
JD
18* Push Parsing
19
20 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
21 is, instead of invoking yyparse, which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
22 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
23 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
24 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
25
26 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
27 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
28
29 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
30
31* The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
32 not VCG format.
33
34* An experimental directive %language specifies the language of the
35 generated parser, which can be C (the default) or C++. This
36 directive affects the skeleton used, and the names of the generated
37 files if the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
38
39* The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
40 %defines. For example:
41
42 %defines "parser.h"
43
cff03fb2
JD
44* When reporting useless rules and nonterminals, Bison now employs the term
45 "useless in grammar" instead of "useless" and employs the term "useless in
46 parser" instead of "never reduced".
47
c373bf8b
JD
48* Unreachable State Removal
49
50 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
31984206
JD
51 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
52 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
75ad86ee
JD
53
54 1. Removes unreachable states.
55
56 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
57 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
58 directives in existing grammar files.
59
60 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 61 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 62
31984206
JD
63 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
64
65 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
66
67 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
68 for further discussion.
69
c373bf8b
JD
70* Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
71
72 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
88c78747
JD
73 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
74 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
75 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
76 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
77 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
78 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
79 code.
80
1bb2bd75
JD
81* --report-file=FILE is a new flag to override the default `.output' file name.
82
16dc6a9e 83* The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
02975b9a
JD
84 deprecated:
85
86 %file-prefix "parser"
87 %name-prefix "c_"
88 %output "parser.c"
89
c373bf8b
JD
90* An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
91
92 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
8e0a5e9e
JD
93 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
94 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
95 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
96 it:
97
16dc6a9e
JD
98 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
99 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
100 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
101 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 102
61fee93e
JD
103 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
104 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
8e0a5e9e
JD
105 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
106 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
107
108 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
109 determine whether they should become permanent features.
110
17bd8a73
JD
111* Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
112
113 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
114 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
115 about unused $2 in:
116
117 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
118
119 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
120 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
121
122 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
123
124 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
125 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
126 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
127
128 To enable these warnings, specify the flag `--warnings=midrule-values' or
129 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
130
c373bf8b
JD
131* Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
132
133 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
12e35840
JD
134 %printer's:
135
136 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
137 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
138 declared semantic type tags.
139
3ebecc24 140 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
12e35840
JD
141 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
142 type tags.
143
144 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 145 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
12e35840
JD
146 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
147 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
148
85894313
JD
149 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
150 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
151 features.
152
12e35840
JD
153 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
154 details.
155
21fe08ca 156Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 157
ddc8ede1
PE
158* Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
159 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
160 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
161 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
162 and is required by POSIX.
163
cd48d21d
AD
164* Locations columns and lines start at 1.
165 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
166
b2a0b7ca 167* You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
ec5479ce
JD
168
169 For example:
170
b2a0b7ca
JD
171 %union { char *string; }
172 %token <string> STRING1
173 %token <string> STRING2
174 %type <string> string1
175 %type <string> string2
176 %union { char character; }
177 %token <character> CHR
178 %type <character> chr
179 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
180 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
181 %destructor { } <character>
182
183 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
184 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
185 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
186 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
187 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 188
85894313
JD
189 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
190 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
191 future versions.]
192
b931235e
JD
193* Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
194 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
195 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
196 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
197 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
198
34f98f46
JD
199* Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
200 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
9bc0dd67
JD
201
202 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
203 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
34f98f46
JD
204 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
205 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 206 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 207
34f98f46 208 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
9bc0dd67
JD
209 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
210 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
211 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
212 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
213 after the token definitions.
214
215 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
216 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
217
34f98f46
JD
218* Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
219 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
220 %after-header.
221
222 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
223 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
224 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
225 convenient for you:
226
227 %before-header {
228 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
229 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
230 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
231 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
232 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
233 }
234 %start-header {
235 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
236 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
237 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
238 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
9bc0dd67
JD
239 }
240 %union {
34f98f46
JD
241 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
242 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
243 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 244 }
34f98f46
JD
245 %end-header {
246 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
247 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
248 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
249 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
250 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 251 }
34f98f46
JD
252 %after-header {
253 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
254 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
255 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
256 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
257 * Bison-generated definitions. */
258 }
259
260 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
261 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 262
85894313
JD
263 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
264 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
265
742e4900 266* The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
9e6e7ed2
PE
267 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
268 in a future release.
742e4900 269
4ad3ed84
PE
270Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
271
272* GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
273 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
274
275* It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
276 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
277
ab8d9dc5 278Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70
PE
279
280* The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
281 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
282 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 283
aa08666d
AD
284* %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
285
286* The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 287
d6ca7905
PE
288* Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
289 their contents together.
290
affac613 291* New warning: unused values
4d7bc38c
PE
292 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
293 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 294
8f3596a6 295 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
721be13c
PE
296 | exp "+" exp
297 ;
affac613 298
8f3596a6
AD
299 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
300 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 301 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 302
4e26c69e
PE
303 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
304 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
305 | exp "+" exp
306 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 307 ;
affac613 308
4e26c69e
PE
309 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
310 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
311 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 312
8f3596a6 313 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
721be13c
PE
314 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
315 ;
316
84866159
AD
317 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
318 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
319
320 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
321
721be13c
PE
322 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
323 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 324
9d9b8b70
PE
325* %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
326 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
327 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
328 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 329
035aa4a0
PE
330* %expect, %expect-rr
331 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
332 instead of warnings.
333
4b367315 334* GLR, YACC parsers.
4e26c69e
PE
335 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
336 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 337
302c0aee 338* Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 339
b50d2359 340* %require "VERSION"
4e26c69e
PE
341 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
342 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 343
fb9712a9 344* lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
e14d0ab6
AD
345 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
346 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
fb9712a9
AD
347 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
348 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
349
350 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
351 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
b50d2359
AD
352 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
353 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 354
b50d2359 355 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 356 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 357
302c0aee 358* DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 359\f
1bd0deda 360Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 361
e14d0ab6
AD
362* The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
363
a7db4add 364* Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
baf785db
PE
365 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
366 language is still English. For details, please see the new
0410a6e0
PE
367 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
368 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
369 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 370
1a059451
PE
371* Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
372 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
373 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
374 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
375
258b75ca
PE
376* Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
377 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
378 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
379
a7db4add 380* When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
72f000b0
PE
381 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
382 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
383 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
384 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 385\f
82de6b0d 386Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 387
82de6b0d 388* Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 389
82de6b0d
PE
390 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
391 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
392 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
393 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
394 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 395
82de6b0d
PE
396 - Error token location.
397 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
398 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
399 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
400 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 401
82de6b0d
PE
402 - Semicolon changes:
403 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
404 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 405
82de6b0d
PE
406 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
407 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
408 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
409 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 410
82de6b0d 411 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 412
82de6b0d 413* New features
1452af69 414
82de6b0d 415 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 416
82de6b0d
PE
417 - New directive: %initial-action.
418 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
419 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 420
82de6b0d
PE
421 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
422 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 423
82de6b0d
PE
424 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
425 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 426
82de6b0d 427 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 428 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 429
82de6b0d 430 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 431
82de6b0d
PE
432 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
433 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 434
82de6b0d 435* Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 436
82de6b0d
PE
437 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
438 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
439 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
440 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
441 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
442 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 443
82de6b0d
PE
444 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
445 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 446
82de6b0d 447 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 448\f
dc546b0f 449Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 450
dc546b0f
PE
451* The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
452 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 453
dc546b0f 454* syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 455
dc546b0f
PE
456 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
457 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 458
dc546b0f
PE
459 - %destructor
460 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
461 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 462
dc546b0f
PE
463 - %error-verbose
464 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 465
dc546b0f
PE
466 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
467 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 468
dc546b0f 469* POSIX conformance
d1de5372 470
dc546b0f
PE
471 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
472 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
473 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 474
dc546b0f
PE
475 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
476 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
477 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
478 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
479 be consistent.
74724a70 480
dc546b0f
PE
481 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
482 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 483
dc546b0f
PE
484 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
485 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 486
dc546b0f
PE
487 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
488 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 489
dc546b0f
PE
490 - Yacc command and library now available
491 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
492 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
493 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
494 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 495
dc546b0f 496 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 497
dc546b0f
PE
498 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
499 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
500 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 501
dc546b0f 502* Other compatibility issues
886a425c 503
dc546b0f
PE
504 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
505 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
506 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
507 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
508 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
509 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 510
dc546b0f
PE
511 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
512 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 513
dc546b0f
PE
514 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
515 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 516
dc546b0f
PE
517 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
518 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
519 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 520
dc546b0f 521* GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 522
dc546b0f
PE
523 - GLR and inline
524 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
525 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 526
dc546b0f
PE
527 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
528 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 529
dc546b0f
PE
530* Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
531 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
532 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 533
dc546b0f
PE
534* #line in output files
535 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb
AD
536
537* Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
538 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
539 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
540 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 541\f
5c16c6b1 542Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5
PE
543
544* Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
545
b7195100 546* Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 547
f50adbbd
AD
548* GLR parsers
549 Fix spurious parse errors.
550
551* Pure parsers
552 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
553 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
554
d90c934c
AD
555* Type Clashes
556 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
557 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
558
559 untyped: ... typed;
560
561 but the converse remains an error:
562
563 typed: ... untyped;
564
565* Values of mid-rule actions
566 The following code:
567
568 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
569
570 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
571 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 572\f
420f93c8 573Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 574
676385e2
PH
575* GLR parsing
576 The declaration
577 %glr-parser
578 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
579 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 580 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
581 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
582
7933f2b5 583 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
584 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
585
8c165d89
AD
586* Output Directory
587 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 588 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
8c165d89
AD
589 now creates `bar.c'.
590
007a50a4
AD
591* Undefined token
592 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 593 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 594
77714df2 595* Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 596 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
597 no longer the case.
598
23c5a174 599* Error token
e88dbdbf 600 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
601 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
602 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
603 will be mapped onto another number.
604
217598da 605* Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 606 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
217598da
AD
607 error recovery is possible.
608
609* End token
610 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
611
68cd8af3
PE
612* Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
613 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
614 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
615 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
616 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
617 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
618 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
619 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
620 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 621
5504898e
AD
622* Traces
623 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
624
a861a339
PE
625* Larger grammars
626 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
627 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
628 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
629 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 630
77714df2 631* Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
632 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
633 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
634 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 635
77714df2 636* Useless rules
643a5994 637 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 638 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 639
6b98e4b5
AD
640* Useless rules, useless nonterminals
641 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
642
e8832397
AD
643* Rules never reduced
644 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
645 reported.
646
77714df2 647* Incorrect `Token not used'
11652ab3
AD
648 On a grammar such as
649
650 %token useless useful
651 %%
652 exp: '0' %prec useful;
653
654 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
655 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
656
77714df2
AD
657* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
658 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 659
b2d52318
AD
660* Default locations
661 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
662 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
663 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
664 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 665
b7c49edf
AD
666* Token end-of-file
667 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
668 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 669 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 670 For instance
7bd6c77e 671 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 672 or
7bd6c77e 673 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2
AD
674
675* Semantic parser
676 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
677
a861a339
PE
678* New translations
679 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
680 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
681
77714df2 682* Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 683 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 684
77714df2
AD
685* Token definitions as enums
686 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
687 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 688 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 689
ec3bc396
AD
690* Reports
691 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
692 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
693 - itemset
694 complete the core item sets with their closure
9e6e7ed2
PE
695 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
696 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
697 - solved
698 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
699 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
700 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 701
9af3fbce
AD
702* Type clashes
703 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
704 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
705
706 %type <foo> bar
707 %%
708 bar: '0' {} '0';
709
710 This is fixed.
a861a339
PE
711
712* GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 713\f
76551463
AD
714Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
715
716* C Skeleton
717 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
718 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
719 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
720
721 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
722 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
723 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
724 kludge will be disabled.
725
726 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
727 extended.
76551463
AD
728\f
729Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
730
731* File name clashes are detected
732 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
733 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
734
735* A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
736 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
737 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
738 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
739 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
740 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
741
742* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
743 many portability hassles.
744
745* DJGPP support added.
746
747* Fix test suite portability problems.
748\f
749Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
750
751* Fix C++ issues
752 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
753 under some conditions.
754
755* Catch invalid @n
756 As is done with $n.
757\f
758Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
759
760* Fix Yacc output file names
761
762* Portability fixes
763
764* Italian, Dutch translations
765\f
52d1aeee
MA
766Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
767
768* Many Bug Fixes
769
770* GNU Gettext and %expect
771 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
772 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
773 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
774 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
775
776* Use of alloca in parsers
777 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
778 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
779
780 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
781 problems as on AIX.
782
b47dbebe
PE
783* yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
784
52d1aeee
MA
785* When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
786 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
787
788* User Actions
789 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
790 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
791 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
792
793* Better C++ compliance
794 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 795 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee
MA
796
797* Reduced Grammars
798 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
799
800* 64 bit hosts
801 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
802
803* Error messages
804 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
805
806* %expect
807 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
808 any warning.
809
810* The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
811
812* Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
813
814* Swedish translation
815
816* Parse errors
817 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
818 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
819 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
820
821* Fixed parser memory leaks.
822 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
823 previous allocations were not freed.
824
825* Fixed verbose output file.
826 Some newlines were missing.
827 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
828
829* Fixed conflict report.
830 Option -v was needed to get the result.
831
832* %expect
833 Was not used.
834 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
835
836* Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
837
838* Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
839
840* Fixed some typos in the documentation.
841
842* %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
843 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
844
845* doc/refcard.tex is updated.
846
847* %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
848 New.
849
850* --output
851 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
852\f
76551463 853Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 854
fdac0091
PE
855* `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
856 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
857 argument.
858
859* `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
860 experiment.
861
f987e9d2
AD
862* Portability fixes.
863\f
9f4503d6 864Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e
AD
865
866* The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
867 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
868 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
869 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
870
871* Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 872
f2b5126e
PB
873* The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
874
f1c63ced 875* The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 876
f87a2205
JT
877* Russian translation added.
878
879* NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
880
881* Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb
AD
882
883* Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 884
cd5bd6ac
AD
885* Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
886
62ab6972
AD
887* `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
888
cd5bd6ac
AD
889* Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
890 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
891
6deb4447 892* New directives.
4ecbf796
MA
893 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
894 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2
AD
895
896* @$
897 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 898\f
9f4503d6 899Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347
JT
900
901* Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
902
903* Added NLS.
904
905* Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
906
907* There is now a FAQ.
908\f
5c31c3c2
JT
909Changes in version 1.27:
910
911* The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
912 some systems has been fixed.
913\f
914Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551
JT
915
916* Bison now uses automake.
917
918* New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
919
920* Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
921
922* Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
923
924* A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1
JT
925
926* Problems when closing files should now be reported.
927
928* Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
929 not provide alloca().
4be07551 930\f
9f4503d6 931Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5
RS
932
933* Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
934the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 935
df8878c5
RS
936* Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
937example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
938of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
939
940* The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
941and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
942table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
943purposes.
944
945* The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
946directives in the parser file.
947
948* The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
949Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
950
951* The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
952the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
953The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
954a switch statement body.
955\f
6780ca7a
DM
956Changes in version 1.23:
957
4d019228
DM
958The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
959passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
960actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
961by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 962
6780ca7a 963Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a
DM
964\f
965Changes in version 1.22:
966
967--help option added.
6780ca7a
DM
968\f
969Changes in version 1.20:
970
971Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
AD
972
973Local Variables:
974mode: outline
975End:
76551463
AD
976
977-----
978
d6ca7905 979Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
279cabb6 9802004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 981
75eb3bc4 982This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler.
76551463 983
f16b0819 984This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 985it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
986the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
987(at your option) any later version.
76551463 988
f16b0819 989This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
990but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
991MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
992GNU General Public License for more details.
993
994You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 995along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.