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* NEWS (2.5): Document fix for -Wno-KEY.
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4* Changes in version 2.5 (????-??-??):
5
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6** Grammar symbol names can now contain non-initial dashes:
7
8 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and with
9 %define variables (e.g. push-pull), grammar symbol names may contain
10 dashes in any position except the beginning. This is a GNU
11 extension over POSIX Yacc. Thus, use of this extension is reported
12 by -Wyacc and rejected in Yacc mode (--yacc).
13
3b1977ea 14** Named references:
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15
16 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
17 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
18 actions code.
19
20 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
21 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
22 as named references:
23
24 if_stmt : 'if' cond_expr 'then' then_stmt ';'
25 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
26
27 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
28
29 stmt[res] : 'if' expr[cond] 'then' stmt[then] 'else' stmt[else] ';'
30 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
31
f840c05a 32 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
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33 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
34 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
35
f840c05a 36 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
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37 will help to stabilize them.
38
3b1977ea 39** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
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40
41 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
42 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
43 with the full language recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
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44 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction
45 in parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
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46 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
47 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
48 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
49 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
50
51 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
52 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
53 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
54 file with these directives:
55
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56 %define lr.type lalr
57 %define lr.type ielr
58 %define lr.type canonical-lr
34a6c2d1 59
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60 The default-reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
61 adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'. For details on both
62 of these features, see the new section `Tuning LR' in the Bison
63 manual.
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64
65 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
66 stabilize them.
67
6f04ee6c 68** LAC (Lookahead Correction) for syntax error handling:
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69
70 Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
71 upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
72 additional parser stack reductions before discovering the syntax
6f04ee6c 73 error. Such reductions can perform user semantic actions that are
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74 unexpected because they are based on an invalid token, and they
75 cause error recovery to begin in a different syntactic context than
76 the one in which the invalid token was encountered. Second, when
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77 verbose error messages are enabled (with %error-verbose or the
78 obsolete `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'), the expected token list in the
79 syntax error message can both contain invalid tokens and omit valid
80 tokens.
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81
82 The culprits for the above problems are %nonassoc, default
83 reductions in inconsistent states, and parser state merging. Thus,
84 IELR and LALR suffer the most. Canonical LR can suffer only if
85 %nonassoc is used or if default reductions are enabled for
86 inconsistent states.
87
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88 LAC is a new mechanism within the parsing algorithm that solves
89 these problems for canonical LR, IELR, and LALR without sacrificing
90 %nonassoc, default reductions, or state merging. When LAC is in
91 use, canonical LR and IELR behave almost exactly the same for both
92 syntactically acceptable and syntactically unacceptable input.
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93 While LALR still does not support the full language-recognition
94 power of canonical LR and IELR, LAC at least enables LALR's syntax
95 error handling to correctly reflect LALR's language-recognition
96 power.
97
98 Currently, LAC is only supported for deterministic parsers in C.
99 You can enable LAC with the following directive:
100
101 %define parse.lac full
102
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103 See the new section `LAC' in the Bison manual for additional
104 details including a few caveats.
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105
106 LAC is an experimental feature. More user feedback will help to
107 stabilize it.
108
6ee881f6 109** %define improvements:
f37495f6 110
3b1977ea 111*** Can now be invoked via the command line:
4ecd3681 112
34d41938 113 Each of these command-line options
4ecd3681 114
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115 -D NAME[=VALUE]
116 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
117
118 -F NAME[=VALUE]
119 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
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120
121 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
122
34d41938 123 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
4ecd3681 124
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125 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
126 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
127 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
128 details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
4ecd3681 129
3b1977ea 130*** Variables renamed:
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131
132 The following %define variables
133
134 api.push_pull
135 lr.keep_unreachable_states
136
137 have been renamed to
138
139 api.push-pull
140 lr.keep-unreachable-states
141
142 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
143 for backward compatibility.
144
3b1977ea 145*** Values no longer need to be quoted in grammar file:
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146
147 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
148 within quotations marks. For example,
149
150 %define api.push-pull "push"
151
152 can be rewritten as
153
154 %define api.push-pull push
155
6ee881f6 156*** Unrecognized variables are now errors not warnings.
c046698e 157
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158*** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
159
160** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now errors not warnings.
161
162** Character literals not of length one:
163
164 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
165 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
166 the following grammar to be the same token:
167
168 exp: exp '++'
169 | exp '+' exp
170 ;
171
172 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
173 some future release, Bison will start reporting an error instead.
174
175** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions:
176
177 Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
178 altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
179 determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
180 error or upon parser return. This bug has been fixed.
181
182** C++ parsers use YYRHSLOC:
183
184 Similarly to the C parsers, the C++ parsers now define the YYRHSLOC
185 macro and use it in the default YYLLOC_DEFAULT. You are encouraged
186 to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has "first"
187 and "last" members, instead of
188
189 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
190 do \
191 if (N) \
192 { \
193 (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
194 (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
195 } \
196 else \
197 { \
198 (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
199 } \
200 while (false)
201
202 use:
203
204 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
205 do \
206 if (N) \
207 { \
208 (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
209 (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
210 } \
211 else \
212 { \
213 (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
214 } \
215 while (false)
216
217** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
218
219 The default implementation of YYLLOC_DEFAULT used to be issued in
220 the header file. It is now output in the implementation file, after
221 the user %code sections so that its #ifndef guard does not try to
222 override the user's YYLLOC_DEFAULT if provided.
c046698e 223
3b1977ea 224** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it:
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225
226 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
227 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. More recently, it was
228 a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers. As
229 promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
230 semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
231 no longer implement YYFAIL at all. For further details, including a
232 discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
233 being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
234
3b1977ea 235** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action:
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236
237 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
238 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
239 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
240 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
241
242 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
243
244 instead of
245
246 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
247
248 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
249 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
250 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
251 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
252 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
253 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
254 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
255
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256** Verbose syntax error message fixes:
257
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258 When %error-verbose or the obsolete `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
259 specified, syntax error messages produced by the generated parser
260 include the unexpected token as well as a list of expected tokens.
261 The effect of %nonassoc on these verbose messages has been corrected
262 in two ways, but a more complete fix requires LAC, described above:
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263
264*** When %nonassoc is used, there can exist parser states that accept no
265 tokens, and so the parser does not always require a lookahead token
266 in order to detect a syntax error. Because no unexpected token or
267 expected tokens can then be reported, the verbose syntax error
268 message described above is suppressed, and the parser instead
269 reports the simpler message, "syntax error". Previously, this
270 suppression was sometimes erroneously triggered by %nonassoc when a
271 lookahead was actually required. Now verbose messages are
272 suppressed only when all previous lookaheads have already been
273 shifted or discarded.
274
275*** Previously, the list of expected tokens erroneously included tokens
276 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
277 were resolved with %nonassoc in the current parser state. Such
278 tokens are now properly omitted from the list.
279
280*** Expected token lists are still often wrong due to state merging
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281 (from LALR or IELR) and default reductions, which can both add
282 invalid tokens and subtract valid tokens. Canonical LR almost
283 completely fixes this problem by eliminating state merging and
284 default reductions. However, there is one minor problem left even
285 when using canonical LR and even after the fixes above. That is,
286 if the resolution of a conflict with %nonassoc appears in a later
287 parser state than the one at which some syntax error is
288 discovered, the conflicted token is still erroneously included in
289 the expected token list. Bison's new LAC implementation,
290 described above, eliminates this problem and the need for
291 canonical LR. However, LAC is still experimental and is disabled
292 by default.
1fa30307 293
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294** Java skeleton fixes:
295
296*** A location handling bug has been fixed.
297
298*** The top element of each of the value stack and location stack is now
299 cleared when popped so that it can be garbage collected.
77768165 300
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301*** Parser traces now print the top element of the stack.
302
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303** -W/--warnings fixes:
304
305*** Bison now properly recognizes the "no-" versions of categories:
306
307 For example, given the following command line, Bison now enables all
308 warnings except warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
309
310 bison -Wall,no-yacc gram.y
311
7527c744 312* Changes in version 2.4.3 (2010-08-05):
7a9c3cb3 313
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314** Bison now obeys -Werror and --warnings=error for warnings about
315 grammar rules that are useless in the parser due to conflicts.
316
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317** Problems with spawning M4 on at least FreeBSD 8 and FreeBSD 9 have
318 been fixed.
319
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320** Failures in the test suite for GCC 4.5 have been fixed.
321
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322** Failures in the test suite for some versions of Sun Studio C++ have
323 been fixed.
324
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325** Contrary to Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, it has been decided that
326 warnings about undefined %prec identifiers will not be converted to
327 errors in Bison 2.5. They will remain warnings, which should be
328 sufficient for POSIX while avoiding backward compatibility issues.
329
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330** Minor documentation fixes.
331
ea66d039 332* Changes in version 2.4.2 (2010-03-20):
8defe11b 333
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334** Some portability problems that resulted in failures and livelocks
335 in the test suite on some versions of at least Solaris, AIX, HP-UX,
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336 RHEL4, and Tru64 have been addressed. As a result, fatal Bison
337 errors should no longer cause M4 to report a broken pipe on the
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338 affected platforms.
339
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340** `%prec IDENTIFIER' requires IDENTIFIER to be defined separately.
341
342 POSIX specifies that an error be reported for any identifier that does
343 not appear on the LHS of a grammar rule and that is not defined by
344 %token, %left, %right, or %nonassoc. Bison 2.3b and later lost this
345 error report for the case when an identifier appears only after a
346 %prec directive. It is now restored. However, for backward
347 compatibility with recent Bison releases, it is only a warning for
348 now. In Bison 2.5 and later, it will return to being an error.
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349 [Between the 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 releases, it was decided that this
350 warning will not be converted to an error in Bison 2.5.]
2c203528 351
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352** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
353
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354** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
355 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
356 avoided.
af2ffe5c 357
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358** %code is now a permanent feature.
359
360 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
361
362 %{CODE%}
363
364 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
365 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
366
367 %code {CODE}
368 %code requires {CODE}
369 %code provides {CODE}
370 %code top {CODE}
371
372 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
373 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
374 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
375 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
376 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
377
378 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
379 is still considered experimental.
380
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381** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
382
383 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
384 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. Previously, it was
385 documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers. YYFAIL is no longer
386 documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
387 Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
388 specified by POSIX.
389
390 Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
391 induce a syntax error. The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
392 that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
393 error so that you don't have to. However, there are several other
394 subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
395 inherent flaws when %error-verbose or `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
396 used. For a more detailed discussion, see:
397
398 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
399
400 The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
401 deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it. However,
402 because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
403 Bison features compatible with it. Thus, during parser generation,
404 Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
405 rule action. In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
406 %error-verbose and `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'. Eventually, YYFAIL will
407 be removed altogether.
408
409 There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
410 be a false positive. Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
411 Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
412 preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
413 To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
414 epilogue (that is, after the second `%%') in the Bison input file. In
415 this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
416 C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
417 phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
418 2.4.2 is not necessary.
419
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420** Internationalization.
421
422 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
423 message translations were not installed although supported by the
424 host system.
425
41930e7a 426* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
c9ba9e59 427
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428** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
429 declarations have been fixed.
430
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431** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
432
433 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
434 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
435
436 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
437
438 instead of
439
440 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
441
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442 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
443 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
444 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
445 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
446 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
447 feature.
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448
449** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 450
d6fb461d 451* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 452
d6fb461d 453** %language is an experimental feature.
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454
455 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
456 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
457 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
458 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
459 in future releases.
7bd1665a 460
d6fb461d 461** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 462
d6fb461d 463** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
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464 fixed.
465
d6fb461d 466* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 467
d6fb461d 468** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
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469 are now deprecated:
470
471 %define NAME "VALUE"
472
d6fb461d 473** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
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474
475 %define api.pure
476
477 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
478 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
479
d6fb461d 480** Push Parsing
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481
482 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
ef1b4273 483 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
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484 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
485 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
486 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
487
488 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
489 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
490
491 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
492
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493 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
494 feedback will help to stabilize it.
495
d6fb461d 496** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
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497 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
498 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 499
d6fb461d 500** Java
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501
502 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
503 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
504 %skeleton to select it.
505
506 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
507
508 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
509 feedback will help to stabilize it.
510
d6fb461d 511** %language
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512
513 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
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514 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
515 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
516 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 517
d6fb461d 518** XML Automaton Report
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519
520 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
521 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
522 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
c373bf8b 523
d6fb461d 524** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
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525 %defines. For example:
526
527 %defines "parser.h"
528
d6fb461d 529** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
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530 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
531 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
532 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 533
d6fb461d 534** Unreachable State Removal
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535
536 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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537 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
538 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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539
540 1. Removes unreachable states.
541
542 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
543 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
544 directives in existing grammar files.
545
546 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 547 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 548
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549 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
550
551 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
552
553 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
554 for further discussion.
555
d6fb461d 556** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
b1cc23c4 557
c373bf8b 558 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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559 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
560 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
561 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
562 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
563 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
564 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
565 code.
566
d6fb461d 567** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
59da312b 568 name.
1bb2bd75 569
d6fb461d 570** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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571 deprecated:
572
573 %file-prefix "parser"
574 %name-prefix "c_"
575 %output "parser.c"
576
d6fb461d 577** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
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578
579 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
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580 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
581 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
582 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
583 it:
584
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585 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
586 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
587 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
588 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 589
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590 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
591 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
8e0a5e9e
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592 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
593 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
594
595 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
596 determine whether they should become permanent features.
597
d6fb461d 598** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
17bd8a73
JD
599
600 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
601 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
602 about unused $2 in:
603
604 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
605
606 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
607 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
608
609 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
610
611 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
612 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
613 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
614
59da312b 615 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
17bd8a73
JD
616 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
617
d6fb461d 618** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
c373bf8b
JD
619
620 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
12e35840
JD
621 %printer's:
622
623 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
624 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
625 declared semantic type tags.
626
3ebecc24 627 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
12e35840
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628 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
629 type tags.
630
631 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 632 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
12e35840
JD
633 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
634 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
635
85894313
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636 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
637 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
638 features.
639
12e35840
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640 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
641 details.
642
d6fb461d 643** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
ab7f29f8
JD
644 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
645 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
646
d6fb461d 647** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
b1cc23c4
JD
648 completely removed from Bison.
649
d6fb461d 650* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 651
d6fb461d 652** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
ddc8ede1
PE
653 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
654 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
655 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
656 and is required by POSIX.
657
d6fb461d 658** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
cd48d21d
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659 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
660
d6fb461d 661** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
ec5479ce
JD
662
663 For example:
664
b2a0b7ca
JD
665 %union { char *string; }
666 %token <string> STRING1
667 %token <string> STRING2
668 %type <string> string1
669 %type <string> string2
670 %union { char character; }
671 %token <character> CHR
672 %type <character> chr
673 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
674 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
675 %destructor { } <character>
676
677 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
678 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
679 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
680 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
681 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 682
85894313
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683 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
684 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
685 future versions.]
686
d6fb461d 687** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
b931235e
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688 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
689 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
690 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
691 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
692
d6fb461d 693** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 694 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
9bc0dd67
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695
696 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
697 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
34f98f46
JD
698 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
699 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 700 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 701
34f98f46 702 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
9bc0dd67
JD
703 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
704 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
705 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
706 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
707 after the token definitions.
708
709 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
710 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
711
d6fb461d 712** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
34f98f46
JD
713 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
714 %after-header.
715
716 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
717 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
718 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
719 convenient for you:
720
721 %before-header {
722 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
723 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
724 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
725 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
726 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
727 }
728 %start-header {
729 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
730 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
731 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
732 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
9bc0dd67
JD
733 }
734 %union {
34f98f46
JD
735 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
736 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
737 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 738 }
34f98f46
JD
739 %end-header {
740 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
741 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
742 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
743 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
744 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 745 }
34f98f46
JD
746 %after-header {
747 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
748 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
749 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
750 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
751 * Bison-generated definitions. */
752 }
753
754 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
755 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 756
85894313
JD
757 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
758 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
759
d6fb461d 760** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
9e6e7ed2
PE
761 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
762 in a future release.
742e4900 763
d6fb461d 764* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 765
d6fb461d 766** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
4ad3ed84
PE
767 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
768
d6fb461d 769** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
4ad3ed84
PE
770 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
771
d6fb461d 772* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 773
d6fb461d 774** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
193d7c70
PE
775 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
776 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 777
d6fb461d 778** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 779
d6fb461d 780** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 781
d6fb461d 782** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
d6ca7905
PE
783 their contents together.
784
d6fb461d 785** New warning: unused values
4d7bc38c
PE
786 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
787 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 788
8f3596a6 789 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
721be13c
PE
790 | exp "+" exp
791 ;
affac613 792
8f3596a6
AD
793 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
794 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 795 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 796
4e26c69e
PE
797 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
798 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
799 | exp "+" exp
800 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 801 ;
affac613 802
4e26c69e
PE
803 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
804 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
805 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 806
8f3596a6 807 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
721be13c
PE
808 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
809 ;
810
84866159
AD
811 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
812 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
813
814 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
815
721be13c
PE
816 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
817 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 818
d6fb461d 819** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
9d9b8b70
PE
820 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
821 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
822 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 823
d6fb461d 824** %expect, %expect-rr
035aa4a0
PE
825 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
826 instead of warnings.
827
d6fb461d 828** GLR, YACC parsers.
4e26c69e
PE
829 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
830 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 831
d6fb461d 832** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 833
d6fb461d 834** %require "VERSION"
4e26c69e
PE
835 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
836 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 837
d6fb461d 838** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
e14d0ab6
AD
839 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
840 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
fb9712a9
AD
841 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
842 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
843
844 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
845 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
b50d2359
AD
846 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
847 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 848
b50d2359 849 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 850 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 851
d6fb461d 852** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 853\f
d6fb461d 854* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 855
d6fb461d 856** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 857
d6fb461d 858** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
baf785db
PE
859 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
860 language is still English. For details, please see the new
0410a6e0
PE
861 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
862 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
863 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 864
d6fb461d 865** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
1a059451
PE
866 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
867 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
868 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
869
d6fb461d 870** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
258b75ca
PE
871 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
872 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
873
d6fb461d 874** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
72f000b0
PE
875 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
876 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
877 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
878 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 879\f
d6fb461d 880* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 881
d6fb461d 882** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 883
82de6b0d
PE
884 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
885 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
886 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
887 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
888 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 889
82de6b0d
PE
890 - Error token location.
891 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
892 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
893 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
894 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 895
82de6b0d
PE
896 - Semicolon changes:
897 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
898 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 899
82de6b0d
PE
900 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
901 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
902 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
903 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 904
82de6b0d 905 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 906
d6fb461d 907** New features
1452af69 908
82de6b0d 909 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 910
82de6b0d
PE
911 - New directive: %initial-action.
912 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
913 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 914
82de6b0d
PE
915 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
916 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 917
82de6b0d
PE
918 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
919 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 920
82de6b0d 921 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 922 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 923
82de6b0d 924 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 925
82de6b0d
PE
926 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
927 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 928
d6fb461d 929** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 930
82de6b0d
PE
931 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
932 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
933 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
934 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
935 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
936 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 937
82de6b0d
PE
938 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
939 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 940
82de6b0d 941 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 942\f
d6fb461d 943* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 944
d6fb461d 945** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 946 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 947
d6fb461d 948** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 949
dc546b0f
PE
950 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
951 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 952
dc546b0f
PE
953 - %destructor
954 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
955 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 956
dc546b0f
PE
957 - %error-verbose
958 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 959
dc546b0f
PE
960 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
961 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 962
d6fb461d 963** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 964
dc546b0f
PE
965 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
966 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
967 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 968
dc546b0f
PE
969 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
970 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
971 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
972 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
973 be consistent.
74724a70 974
dc546b0f
PE
975 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
976 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 977
dc546b0f
PE
978 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
979 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 980
dc546b0f
PE
981 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
982 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 983
dc546b0f
PE
984 - Yacc command and library now available
985 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
986 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
987 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
988 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 989
dc546b0f 990 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 991
dc546b0f
PE
992 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
993 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
994 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 995
d6fb461d 996** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 997
dc546b0f
PE
998 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
999 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
1000 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
1001 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
1002 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
1003 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 1004
dc546b0f
PE
1005 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
1006 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 1007
dc546b0f
PE
1008 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
1009 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 1010
dc546b0f
PE
1011 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
1012 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
1013 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 1014
d6fb461d 1015** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 1016
dc546b0f
PE
1017 - GLR and inline
1018 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
1019 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 1020
dc546b0f
PE
1021 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
1022 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 1023
d6fb461d 1024** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
dc546b0f
PE
1025 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
1026 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 1027
d6fb461d 1028** #line in output files
dc546b0f 1029 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 1030
d6fb461d 1031** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
1032 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
1033 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
1034 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 1035\f
d6fb461d 1036* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 1037
d6fb461d 1038** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 1039
d6fb461d 1040** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 1041
d6fb461d 1042** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1043 Fix spurious parse errors.
1044
d6fb461d 1045** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1046 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
1047 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
1048
d6fb461d 1049** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
1050 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
1051 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
1052
1053 untyped: ... typed;
1054
1055 but the converse remains an error:
1056
1057 typed: ... untyped;
1058
d6fb461d 1059** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
1060 The following code:
1061
1062 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
1063
1064 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
1065 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 1066\f
d6fb461d 1067* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 1068
d6fb461d 1069** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
1070 The declaration
1071 %glr-parser
1072 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
1073 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 1074 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
1075 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
1076
7933f2b5 1077 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
1078 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
1079
d6fb461d 1080** Output Directory
8c165d89 1081 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 1082 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
8c165d89
AD
1083 now creates `bar.c'.
1084
d6fb461d 1085** Undefined token
007a50a4 1086 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 1087 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 1088
d6fb461d 1089** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 1090 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
1091 no longer the case.
1092
d6fb461d 1093** Error token
e88dbdbf 1094 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
1095 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
1096 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
1097 will be mapped onto another number.
1098
d6fb461d 1099** Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 1100 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
217598da
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1101 error recovery is possible.
1102
d6fb461d 1103** End token
217598da
AD
1104 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
1105
d6fb461d 1106** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
1107 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
1108 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
1109 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
1110 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
1111 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
1112 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
1113 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
1114 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 1115
d6fb461d 1116** Traces
5504898e
AD
1117 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
1118
d6fb461d 1119** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
1120 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
1121 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
1122 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
1123 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 1124
d6fb461d 1125** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
1126 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
1127 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
1128 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 1129
d6fb461d 1130** Useless rules
643a5994 1131 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 1132 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 1133
d6fb461d 1134** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
1135 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
1136
d6fb461d 1137** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
1138 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
1139 reported.
1140
d6fb461d 1141** Incorrect `Token not used'
11652ab3
AD
1142 On a grammar such as
1143
1144 %token useless useful
1145 %%
1146 exp: '0' %prec useful;
1147
1148 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
1149 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
1150
d6fb461d 1151** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 1152 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 1153
d6fb461d 1154** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
1155 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
1156 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
1157 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
1158 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 1159
d6fb461d 1160** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
1161 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
1162 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 1163 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 1164 For instance
7bd6c77e 1165 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 1166 or
7bd6c77e 1167 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 1168
d6fb461d 1169** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
1170 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
1171
d6fb461d 1172** New translations
a861a339 1173 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
1174 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
1175
d6fb461d 1176** Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 1177 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 1178
d6fb461d 1179** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
1180 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
1181 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 1182 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 1183
d6fb461d 1184** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
1185 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
1186 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
1187 - itemset
1188 complete the core item sets with their closure
9e6e7ed2
PE
1189 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
1190 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
1191 - solved
1192 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
1193 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
1194 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 1195
d6fb461d 1196** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
1197 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
1198 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
1199
1200 %type <foo> bar
1201 %%
1202 bar: '0' {} '0';
1203
1204 This is fixed.
a861a339 1205
d6fb461d 1206** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 1207\f
d6fb461d 1208* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 1209
d6fb461d 1210** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
1211 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
1212 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
1213 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
1214
1215 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
1216 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
1217 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
1218 kludge will be disabled.
1219
1220 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
1221 extended.
76551463 1222\f
d6fb461d 1223* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 1224
d6fb461d 1225** File name clashes are detected
76551463
AD
1226 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
1227 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
1228
d6fb461d 1229** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
1230 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1231 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1232 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1233 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1234 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1235
d6fb461d 1236** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
1237 many portability hassles.
1238
d6fb461d 1239** DJGPP support added.
76551463 1240
d6fb461d 1241** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 1242\f
d6fb461d 1243* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 1244
d6fb461d 1245** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
1246 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1247 under some conditions.
1248
d6fb461d 1249** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
1250 As is done with $n.
1251\f
d6fb461d 1252* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 1253
d6fb461d 1254** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 1255
d6fb461d 1256** Portability fixes
76551463 1257
d6fb461d 1258** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 1259\f
d6fb461d 1260* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 1261
d6fb461d 1262** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 1263
d6fb461d 1264** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1265 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1266 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1267 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
1268 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
1269
d6fb461d 1270** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
1271 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1272 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1273
1274 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1275 problems as on AIX.
1276
d6fb461d 1277** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 1278
d6fb461d 1279** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
1280 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1281
d6fb461d 1282** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
1283 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1284 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1285 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1286
d6fb461d 1287** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 1288 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 1289 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 1290
d6fb461d 1291** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
1292 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1293
d6fb461d 1294** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
1295 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1296
d6fb461d 1297** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
1298 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1299
d6fb461d 1300** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1301 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1302 any warning.
1303
d6fb461d 1304** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 1305
d6fb461d 1306** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 1307
d6fb461d 1308** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 1309
d6fb461d 1310** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
1311 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1312 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1313 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1314
d6fb461d 1315** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
1316 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1317 previous allocations were not freed.
1318
d6fb461d 1319** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
1320 Some newlines were missing.
1321 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1322
d6fb461d 1323** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
1324 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1325
d6fb461d 1326** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1327 Was not used.
1328 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1329
d6fb461d 1330** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 1331
d6fb461d 1332** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 1333
d6fb461d 1334** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 1335
d6fb461d 1336** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
1337 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1338
d6fb461d 1339** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 1340
d6fb461d 1341** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
1342 New.
1343
d6fb461d 1344** --output
52d1aeee
MA
1345 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
1346\f
d6fb461d 1347* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 1348
d6fb461d 1349** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
fdac0091 1350 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
1351 argument.
1352
d6fb461d 1353** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
1354 experiment.
1355
d6fb461d 1356** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 1357\f
d6fb461d 1358* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 1359
d6fb461d 1360** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
1361 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1362 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
1363 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
1364
d6fb461d 1365** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 1366
d6fb461d 1367** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 1368
d6fb461d 1369** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 1370
d6fb461d 1371** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 1372
d6fb461d 1373** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 1374
d6fb461d 1375** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 1376
d6fb461d 1377** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 1378
d6fb461d 1379** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
cd5bd6ac 1380
d6fb461d 1381** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
62ab6972 1382
d6fb461d 1383** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
1384 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1385
d6fb461d 1386** New directives.
4ecbf796
MA
1387 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
1388 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2 1389
d6fb461d 1390** @$
f987e9d2 1391 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 1392\f
d6fb461d 1393* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 1394
d6fb461d 1395** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 1396
d6fb461d 1397** Added NLS.
d2e00347 1398
d6fb461d 1399** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 1400
d6fb461d 1401** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 1402\f
d6fb461d 1403* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 1404
d6fb461d 1405** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
1406 some systems has been fixed.
1407\f
d6fb461d 1408* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 1409
d6fb461d 1410** Bison now uses automake.
4be07551 1411
d6fb461d 1412** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 1413
d6fb461d 1414** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 1415
d6fb461d 1416** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 1417
d6fb461d 1418** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 1419
d6fb461d 1420** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 1421
d6fb461d 1422** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 1423 not provide alloca().
4be07551 1424\f
d6fb461d 1425* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 1426
d6fb461d 1427** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 1428the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 1429
d6fb461d 1430** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5
RS
1431example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1432of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1433
d6fb461d 1434** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
1435and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1436table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1437purposes.
1438
d6fb461d 1439** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
1440directives in the parser file.
1441
d6fb461d 1442** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
1443Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1444
d6fb461d 1445** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
1446the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1447The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1448a switch statement body.
1449\f
d6fb461d 1450* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 1451
4d019228
DM
1452The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1453passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1454actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1455by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 1456
6780ca7a 1457Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 1458\f
d6fb461d 1459* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
1460
1461--help option added.
6780ca7a 1462\f
d6fb461d 1463* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
1464
1465Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
AD
1466
1467Local Variables:
1468mode: outline
1469End:
76551463
AD
1470
1471-----
1472
ea0a7676 1473Copyright (C) 1995-2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 1474
8defe11b 1475This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
76551463 1476
f16b0819 1477This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 1478it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
1479the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1480(at your option) any later version.
76551463 1481
f16b0819 1482This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
1483but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1484MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1485GNU General Public License for more details.
1486
1487You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1488along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.