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d6fb461d 4* Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
c9ba9e59 5
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6** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
7 declarations have been fixed.
8
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9** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
10
11 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
12 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
13
14 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
15
16 instead of
17
18 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
19
1eb0b146 20 This prevents the future support for languages that do not use `;'
738cde3e 21 as C/C++/Java do. Yet some grammars still depend on this `feature'.
a957d06c 22 Bison 2.4.1 restores the previous behavior in the case of C output
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23 (specifically, when neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent
24 command-line options are used) to leave more time for grammars
25 depending on the old behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of
26 Bison will disable this feature.
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27
28** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 29
d6fb461d 30* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 31
d6fb461d 32** %language is an experimental feature.
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33
34 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
35 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
36 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
37 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
38 in future releases.
7bd1665a 39
d6fb461d 40** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 41
d6fb461d 42** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
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43 fixed.
44
d6fb461d 45* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 46
d6fb461d 47** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
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48 are now deprecated:
49
50 %define NAME "VALUE"
51
d6fb461d 52** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
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53
54 %define api.pure
55
56 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
57 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
58
d6fb461d 59** Push Parsing
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60
61 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
ef1b4273 62 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
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63 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
64 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
65 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
66
67 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
68 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
69
70 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
71
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72 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
73 feedback will help to stabilize it.
74
d6fb461d 75** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
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76 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
77 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 78
d6fb461d 79** Java
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80
81 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
82 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
83 %skeleton to select it.
84
85 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
86
87 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
88 feedback will help to stabilize it.
89
d6fb461d 90** %language
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91
92 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
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93 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
94 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
95 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 96
d6fb461d 97** XML Automaton Report
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98
99 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
100 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
101 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
c373bf8b 102
d6fb461d 103** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
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104 %defines. For example:
105
106 %defines "parser.h"
107
d6fb461d 108** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
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109 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
110 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
111 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 112
d6fb461d 113** Unreachable State Removal
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114
115 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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116 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
117 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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118
119 1. Removes unreachable states.
120
121 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
122 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
123 directives in existing grammar files.
124
125 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 126 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 127
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128 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
129
130 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
131
132 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
133 for further discussion.
134
d6fb461d 135** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
b1cc23c4 136
c373bf8b 137 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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138 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
139 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
140 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
141 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
142 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
143 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
144 code.
145
d6fb461d 146** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
59da312b 147 name.
1bb2bd75 148
d6fb461d 149** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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150 deprecated:
151
152 %file-prefix "parser"
153 %name-prefix "c_"
154 %output "parser.c"
155
d6fb461d 156** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
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157
158 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
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159 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
160 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
161 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
162 it:
163
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164 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
165 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
166 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
167 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 168
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169 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
170 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
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171 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
172 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
173
174 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
175 determine whether they should become permanent features.
176
d6fb461d 177** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
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178
179 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
180 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
181 about unused $2 in:
182
183 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
184
185 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
186 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
187
188 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
189
190 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
191 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
192 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
193
59da312b 194 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
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195 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
196
d6fb461d 197** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
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198
199 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
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200 %printer's:
201
202 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
203 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
204 declared semantic type tags.
205
3ebecc24 206 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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207 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
208 type tags.
209
210 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 211 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
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212 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
213 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
214
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215 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
216 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
217 features.
218
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219 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
220 details.
221
d6fb461d 222** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
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223 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
224 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
225
d6fb461d 226** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
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227 completely removed from Bison.
228
d6fb461d 229* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 230
d6fb461d 231** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
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232 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
233 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
234 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
235 and is required by POSIX.
236
d6fb461d 237** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
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238 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
239
d6fb461d 240** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
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241
242 For example:
243
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244 %union { char *string; }
245 %token <string> STRING1
246 %token <string> STRING2
247 %type <string> string1
248 %type <string> string2
249 %union { char character; }
250 %token <character> CHR
251 %type <character> chr
252 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
253 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
254 %destructor { } <character>
255
256 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
257 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
258 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
259 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
260 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 261
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262 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
263 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
264 future versions.]
265
d6fb461d 266** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
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267 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
268 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
269 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
270 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
271
d6fb461d 272** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 273 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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274
275 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
276 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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277 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
278 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 279 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 280
34f98f46 281 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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282 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
283 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
284 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
285 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
286 after the token definitions.
287
288 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
289 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
290
d6fb461d 291** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
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292 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
293 %after-header.
294
295 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
296 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
297 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
298 convenient for you:
299
300 %before-header {
301 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
302 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
303 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
304 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
305 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
306 }
307 %start-header {
308 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
309 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
310 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
311 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
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312 }
313 %union {
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314 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
315 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
316 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 317 }
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318 %end-header {
319 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
320 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
321 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
322 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
323 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 324 }
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325 %after-header {
326 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
327 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
328 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
329 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
330 * Bison-generated definitions. */
331 }
332
333 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
334 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 335
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336 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
337 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
338
d6fb461d 339** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
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340 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
341 in a future release.
742e4900 342
d6fb461d 343* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 344
d6fb461d 345** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
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346 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
347
d6fb461d 348** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
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349 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
350
d6fb461d 351* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 352
d6fb461d 353** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
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354 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
355 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 356
d6fb461d 357** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 358
d6fb461d 359** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 360
d6fb461d 361** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
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362 their contents together.
363
d6fb461d 364** New warning: unused values
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365 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
366 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 367
8f3596a6 368 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
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369 | exp "+" exp
370 ;
affac613 371
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372 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
373 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 374 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 375
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376 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
377 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
378 | exp "+" exp
379 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 380 ;
affac613 381
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382 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
383 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
384 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 385
8f3596a6 386 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
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387 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
388 ;
389
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390 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
391 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
392
393 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
394
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395 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
396 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 397
d6fb461d 398** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
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399 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
400 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
401 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 402
d6fb461d 403** %expect, %expect-rr
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404 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
405 instead of warnings.
406
d6fb461d 407** GLR, YACC parsers.
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408 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
409 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 410
d6fb461d 411** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 412
d6fb461d 413** %require "VERSION"
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414 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
415 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 416
d6fb461d 417** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
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418 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
419 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
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420 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
421 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
422
423 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
424 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
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425 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
426 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 427
b50d2359 428 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 429 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 430
d6fb461d 431** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 432\f
d6fb461d 433* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 434
d6fb461d 435** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 436
d6fb461d 437** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
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438 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
439 language is still English. For details, please see the new
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440 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
441 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
442 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 443
d6fb461d 444** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
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445 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
446 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
447 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
448
d6fb461d 449** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
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450 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
451 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
452
d6fb461d 453** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
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454 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
455 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
456 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
457 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 458\f
d6fb461d 459* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 460
d6fb461d 461** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 462
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463 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
464 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
465 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
466 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
467 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 468
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469 - Error token location.
470 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
471 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
472 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
473 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 474
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475 - Semicolon changes:
476 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
477 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 478
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479 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
480 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
481 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
482 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 483
82de6b0d 484 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 485
d6fb461d 486** New features
1452af69 487
82de6b0d 488 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 489
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490 - New directive: %initial-action.
491 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
492 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 493
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494 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
495 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 496
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497 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
498 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 499
82de6b0d 500 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 501 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 502
82de6b0d 503 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 504
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505 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
506 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 507
d6fb461d 508** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 509
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510 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
511 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
512 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
513 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
514 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
515 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 516
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517 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
518 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 519
82de6b0d 520 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 521\f
d6fb461d 522* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 523
d6fb461d 524** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 525 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 526
d6fb461d 527** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 528
dc546b0f
PE
529 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
530 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 531
dc546b0f
PE
532 - %destructor
533 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
534 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 535
dc546b0f
PE
536 - %error-verbose
537 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 538
dc546b0f
PE
539 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
540 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 541
d6fb461d 542** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 543
dc546b0f
PE
544 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
545 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
546 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 547
dc546b0f
PE
548 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
549 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
550 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
551 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
552 be consistent.
74724a70 553
dc546b0f
PE
554 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
555 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 556
dc546b0f
PE
557 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
558 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 559
dc546b0f
PE
560 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
561 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 562
dc546b0f
PE
563 - Yacc command and library now available
564 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
565 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
566 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
567 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 568
dc546b0f 569 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 570
dc546b0f
PE
571 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
572 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
573 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 574
d6fb461d 575** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 576
dc546b0f
PE
577 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
578 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
579 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
580 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
581 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
582 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 583
dc546b0f
PE
584 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
585 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 586
dc546b0f
PE
587 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
588 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 589
dc546b0f
PE
590 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
591 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
592 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 593
d6fb461d 594** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 595
dc546b0f
PE
596 - GLR and inline
597 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
598 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 599
dc546b0f
PE
600 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
601 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 602
d6fb461d 603** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
dc546b0f
PE
604 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
605 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 606
d6fb461d 607** #line in output files
dc546b0f 608 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 609
d6fb461d 610** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
611 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
612 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
613 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 614\f
d6fb461d 615* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 616
d6fb461d 617** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 618
d6fb461d 619** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 620
d6fb461d 621** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
622 Fix spurious parse errors.
623
d6fb461d 624** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
625 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
626 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
627
d6fb461d 628** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
629 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
630 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
631
632 untyped: ... typed;
633
634 but the converse remains an error:
635
636 typed: ... untyped;
637
d6fb461d 638** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
639 The following code:
640
641 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
642
643 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
644 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 645\f
d6fb461d 646* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 647
d6fb461d 648** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
649 The declaration
650 %glr-parser
651 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
652 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 653 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
654 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
655
7933f2b5 656 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
657 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
658
d6fb461d 659** Output Directory
8c165d89 660 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 661 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
8c165d89
AD
662 now creates `bar.c'.
663
d6fb461d 664** Undefined token
007a50a4 665 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 666 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 667
d6fb461d 668** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 669 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
670 no longer the case.
671
d6fb461d 672** Error token
e88dbdbf 673 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
674 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
675 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
676 will be mapped onto another number.
677
d6fb461d 678** Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 679 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
217598da
AD
680 error recovery is possible.
681
d6fb461d 682** End token
217598da
AD
683 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
684
d6fb461d 685** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
686 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
687 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
688 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
689 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
690 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
691 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
692 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
693 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 694
d6fb461d 695** Traces
5504898e
AD
696 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
697
d6fb461d 698** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
699 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
700 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
701 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
702 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 703
d6fb461d 704** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
705 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
706 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
707 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 708
d6fb461d 709** Useless rules
643a5994 710 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 711 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 712
d6fb461d 713** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
714 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
715
d6fb461d 716** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
717 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
718 reported.
719
d6fb461d 720** Incorrect `Token not used'
11652ab3
AD
721 On a grammar such as
722
723 %token useless useful
724 %%
725 exp: '0' %prec useful;
726
727 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
728 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
729
d6fb461d 730** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 731 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 732
d6fb461d 733** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
734 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
735 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
736 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
737 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 738
d6fb461d 739** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
740 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
741 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 742 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 743 For instance
7bd6c77e 744 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 745 or
7bd6c77e 746 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 747
d6fb461d 748** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
749 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
750
d6fb461d 751** New translations
a861a339 752 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
753 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
754
d6fb461d 755** Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 756 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 757
d6fb461d 758** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
759 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
760 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 761 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 762
d6fb461d 763** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
764 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
765 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
766 - itemset
767 complete the core item sets with their closure
9e6e7ed2
PE
768 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
769 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
770 - solved
771 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
772 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
773 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 774
d6fb461d 775** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
776 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
777 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
778
779 %type <foo> bar
780 %%
781 bar: '0' {} '0';
782
783 This is fixed.
a861a339 784
d6fb461d 785** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 786\f
d6fb461d 787* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 788
d6fb461d 789** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
790 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
791 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
792 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
793
794 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
795 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
796 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
797 kludge will be disabled.
798
799 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
800 extended.
76551463 801\f
d6fb461d 802* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 803
d6fb461d 804** File name clashes are detected
76551463
AD
805 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
806 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
807
d6fb461d 808** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
809 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
810 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
811 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
812 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
813 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
814
d6fb461d 815** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
816 many portability hassles.
817
d6fb461d 818** DJGPP support added.
76551463 819
d6fb461d 820** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 821\f
d6fb461d 822* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 823
d6fb461d 824** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
825 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
826 under some conditions.
827
d6fb461d 828** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
829 As is done with $n.
830\f
d6fb461d 831* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 832
d6fb461d 833** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 834
d6fb461d 835** Portability fixes
76551463 836
d6fb461d 837** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 838\f
d6fb461d 839* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 840
d6fb461d 841** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 842
d6fb461d 843** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
844 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
845 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
846 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
847 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
848
d6fb461d 849** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
850 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
851 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
852
853 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
854 problems as on AIX.
855
d6fb461d 856** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 857
d6fb461d 858** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
859 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
860
d6fb461d 861** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
862 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
863 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
864 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
865
d6fb461d 866** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 867 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 868 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 869
d6fb461d 870** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
871 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
872
d6fb461d 873** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
874 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
875
d6fb461d 876** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
877 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
878
d6fb461d 879** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
880 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
881 any warning.
882
d6fb461d 883** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 884
d6fb461d 885** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 886
d6fb461d 887** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 888
d6fb461d 889** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
890 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
891 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
892 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
893
d6fb461d 894** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
895 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
896 previous allocations were not freed.
897
d6fb461d 898** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
899 Some newlines were missing.
900 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
901
d6fb461d 902** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
903 Option -v was needed to get the result.
904
d6fb461d 905** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
906 Was not used.
907 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
908
d6fb461d 909** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 910
d6fb461d 911** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 912
d6fb461d 913** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 914
d6fb461d 915** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
916 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
917
d6fb461d 918** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 919
d6fb461d 920** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
921 New.
922
d6fb461d 923** --output
52d1aeee
MA
924 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
925\f
d6fb461d 926* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 927
d6fb461d 928** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
fdac0091 929 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
930 argument.
931
d6fb461d 932** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
933 experiment.
934
d6fb461d 935** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 936\f
d6fb461d 937* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 938
d6fb461d 939** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
940 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
941 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
942 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
943
d6fb461d 944** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 945
d6fb461d 946** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 947
d6fb461d 948** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 949
d6fb461d 950** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 951
d6fb461d 952** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 953
d6fb461d 954** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 955
d6fb461d 956** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 957
d6fb461d 958** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
cd5bd6ac 959
d6fb461d 960** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
62ab6972 961
d6fb461d 962** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
963 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
964
d6fb461d 965** New directives.
4ecbf796
MA
966 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
967 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2 968
d6fb461d 969** @$
f987e9d2 970 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 971\f
d6fb461d 972* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 973
d6fb461d 974** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 975
d6fb461d 976** Added NLS.
d2e00347 977
d6fb461d 978** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 979
d6fb461d 980** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 981\f
d6fb461d 982* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 983
d6fb461d 984** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
985 some systems has been fixed.
986\f
d6fb461d 987* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 988
d6fb461d 989** Bison now uses automake.
4be07551 990
d6fb461d 991** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 992
d6fb461d 993** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 994
d6fb461d 995** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 996
d6fb461d 997** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 998
d6fb461d 999** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 1000
d6fb461d 1001** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 1002 not provide alloca().
4be07551 1003\f
d6fb461d 1004* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 1005
d6fb461d 1006** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 1007the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 1008
d6fb461d 1009** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5
RS
1010example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1011of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1012
d6fb461d 1013** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
1014and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1015table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1016purposes.
1017
d6fb461d 1018** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
1019directives in the parser file.
1020
d6fb461d 1021** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
1022Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1023
d6fb461d 1024** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
1025the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1026The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1027a switch statement body.
1028\f
d6fb461d 1029* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 1030
4d019228
DM
1031The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1032passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1033actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1034by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 1035
6780ca7a 1036Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 1037\f
d6fb461d 1038* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
1039
1040--help option added.
6780ca7a 1041\f
d6fb461d 1042* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
1043
1044Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
AD
1045
1046Local Variables:
1047mode: outline
1048End:
76551463
AD
1049
1050-----
1051
d6ca7905 1052Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
ab7f29f8 10532004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 1054
75eb3bc4 1055This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler.
76551463 1056
f16b0819 1057This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 1058it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
1059the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1060(at your option) any later version.
76551463 1061
f16b0819 1062This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
1063but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1064MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1065GNU General Public License for more details.
1066
1067You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1068along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.