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1Bison News
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4Changes in version 2.3a+ (????-??-??):
5
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6* The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
7 are now deprecated:
8
9 %define NAME "VALUE"
10
11* The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
12
13 %define api.pure
14
15 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
16 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
17
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18* Push Parsing
19
20 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
ef1b4273 21 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
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22 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
23 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
24 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
25
26 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
27 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
28
29 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
30
31* The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
32 not VCG format.
33
34* An experimental directive %language specifies the language of the
35 generated parser, which can be C (the default) or C++. This
36 directive affects the skeleton used, and the names of the generated
37 files if the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
38
39* The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
40 %defines. For example:
41
42 %defines "parser.h"
43
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44* When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
45 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
46 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
47 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 48
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49* Unreachable State Removal
50
51 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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52 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
53 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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54
55 1. Removes unreachable states.
56
57 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
58 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
59 directives in existing grammar files.
60
61 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 62 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 63
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64 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
65
66 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
67
68 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
69 for further discussion.
70
c373bf8b 71* Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
b1cc23c4 72
c373bf8b 73 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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74 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
75 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
76 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
77 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
78 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
79 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
80 code.
81
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82* --report-file=FILE is a new flag to override the default `.output' file name.
83
16dc6a9e 84* The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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85 deprecated:
86
87 %file-prefix "parser"
88 %name-prefix "c_"
89 %output "parser.c"
90
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91* An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
92
93 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
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94 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
95 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
96 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
97 it:
98
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99 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
100 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
101 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
102 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 103
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104 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
105 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
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106 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
107 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
108
109 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
110 determine whether they should become permanent features.
111
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112* Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
113
114 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
115 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
116 about unused $2 in:
117
118 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
119
120 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
121 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
122
123 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
124
125 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
126 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
127 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
128
129 To enable these warnings, specify the flag `--warnings=midrule-values' or
130 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
131
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132* Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
133
134 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
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135 %printer's:
136
137 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
138 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
139 declared semantic type tags.
140
3ebecc24 141 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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142 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
143 type tags.
144
145 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 146 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
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147 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
148 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
149
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150 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
151 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
152 features.
153
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154 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
155 details.
156
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157* %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
158 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
159 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
160
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161* The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
162 completely removed from Bison.
163
21fe08ca 164Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 165
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166* Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
167 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
168 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
169 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
170 and is required by POSIX.
171
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172* Locations columns and lines start at 1.
173 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
174
b2a0b7ca 175* You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
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176
177 For example:
178
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179 %union { char *string; }
180 %token <string> STRING1
181 %token <string> STRING2
182 %type <string> string1
183 %type <string> string2
184 %union { char character; }
185 %token <character> CHR
186 %type <character> chr
187 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
188 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
189 %destructor { } <character>
190
191 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
192 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
193 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
194 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
195 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 196
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197 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
198 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
199 future versions.]
200
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201* Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
202 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
203 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
204 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
205 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
206
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207* Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
208 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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209
210 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
211 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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212 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
213 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 214 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 215
34f98f46 216 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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217 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
218 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
219 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
220 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
221 after the token definitions.
222
223 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
224 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
225
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226* Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
227 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
228 %after-header.
229
230 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
231 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
232 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
233 convenient for you:
234
235 %before-header {
236 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
237 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
238 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
239 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
240 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
241 }
242 %start-header {
243 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
244 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
245 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
246 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
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247 }
248 %union {
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249 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
250 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
251 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 252 }
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253 %end-header {
254 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
255 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
256 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
257 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
258 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 259 }
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260 %after-header {
261 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
262 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
263 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
264 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
265 * Bison-generated definitions. */
266 }
267
268 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
269 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 270
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271 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
272 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
273
742e4900 274* The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
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275 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
276 in a future release.
742e4900 277
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278Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
279
280* GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
281 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
282
283* It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
284 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
285
ab8d9dc5 286Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
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287
288* The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
289 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
290 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 291
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292* %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
293
294* The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 295
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296* Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
297 their contents together.
298
affac613 299* New warning: unused values
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300 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
301 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 302
8f3596a6 303 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
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304 | exp "+" exp
305 ;
affac613 306
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307 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
308 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 309 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 310
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311 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
312 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
313 | exp "+" exp
314 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 315 ;
affac613 316
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317 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
318 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
319 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 320
8f3596a6 321 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
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322 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
323 ;
324
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325 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
326 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
327
328 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
329
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330 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
331 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 332
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333* %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
334 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
335 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
336 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 337
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338* %expect, %expect-rr
339 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
340 instead of warnings.
341
4b367315 342* GLR, YACC parsers.
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343 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
344 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 345
302c0aee 346* Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 347
b50d2359 348* %require "VERSION"
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349 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
350 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 351
fb9712a9 352* lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
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353 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
354 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
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355 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
356 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
357
358 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
359 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
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360 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
361 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 362
b50d2359 363 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 364 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 365
302c0aee 366* DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 367\f
1bd0deda 368Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 369
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370* The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
371
a7db4add 372* Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
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373 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
374 language is still English. For details, please see the new
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375 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
376 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
377 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 378
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379* Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
380 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
381 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
382 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
383
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384* Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
385 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
386 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
387
a7db4add 388* When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
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389 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
390 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
391 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
392 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 393\f
82de6b0d 394Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 395
82de6b0d 396* Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 397
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398 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
399 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
400 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
401 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
402 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 403
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404 - Error token location.
405 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
406 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
407 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
408 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 409
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410 - Semicolon changes:
411 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
412 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 413
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414 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
415 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
416 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
417 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 418
82de6b0d 419 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 420
82de6b0d 421* New features
1452af69 422
82de6b0d 423 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 424
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425 - New directive: %initial-action.
426 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
427 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 428
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429 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
430 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 431
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432 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
433 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 434
82de6b0d 435 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 436 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 437
82de6b0d 438 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 439
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440 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
441 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 442
82de6b0d 443* Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 444
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445 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
446 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
447 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
448 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
449 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
450 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 451
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452 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
453 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 454
82de6b0d 455 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 456\f
dc546b0f 457Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 458
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459* The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
460 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 461
dc546b0f 462* syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 463
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464 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
465 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 466
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467 - %destructor
468 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
469 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 470
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471 - %error-verbose
472 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 473
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474 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
475 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 476
dc546b0f 477* POSIX conformance
d1de5372 478
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479 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
480 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
481 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 482
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483 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
484 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
485 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
486 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
487 be consistent.
74724a70 488
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489 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
490 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 491
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492 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
493 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 494
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495 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
496 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 497
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498 - Yacc command and library now available
499 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
500 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
501 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
502 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 503
dc546b0f 504 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 505
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506 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
507 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
508 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 509
dc546b0f 510* Other compatibility issues
886a425c 511
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512 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
513 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
514 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
515 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
516 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
517 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 518
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519 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
520 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 521
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522 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
523 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 524
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525 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
526 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
527 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 528
dc546b0f 529* GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 530
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531 - GLR and inline
532 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
533 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 534
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535 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
536 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 537
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538* Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
539 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
540 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 541
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542* #line in output files
543 - --no-line works properly.
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544
545* Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
546 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
547 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
548 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 549\f
5c16c6b1 550Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5
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551
552* Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
553
b7195100 554* Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 555
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556* GLR parsers
557 Fix spurious parse errors.
558
559* Pure parsers
560 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
561 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
562
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563* Type Clashes
564 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
565 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
566
567 untyped: ... typed;
568
569 but the converse remains an error:
570
571 typed: ... untyped;
572
573* Values of mid-rule actions
574 The following code:
575
576 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
577
578 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
579 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 580\f
420f93c8 581Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 582
676385e2
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583* GLR parsing
584 The declaration
585 %glr-parser
586 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
587 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 588 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
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589 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
590
7933f2b5 591 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
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592 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
593
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594* Output Directory
595 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 596 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
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597 now creates `bar.c'.
598
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599* Undefined token
600 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 601 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 602
77714df2 603* Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 604 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
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605 no longer the case.
606
23c5a174 607* Error token
e88dbdbf 608 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
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609 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
610 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
611 will be mapped onto another number.
612
217598da 613* Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 614 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
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615 error recovery is possible.
616
617* End token
618 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
619
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620* Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
621 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
622 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
623 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
624 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
625 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
626 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
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627 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
628 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 629
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630* Traces
631 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
632
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633* Larger grammars
634 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
635 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
636 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
637 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 638
77714df2 639* Explicit initial rule
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640 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
641 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
642 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 643
77714df2 644* Useless rules
643a5994 645 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 646 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 647
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648* Useless rules, useless nonterminals
649 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
650
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651* Rules never reduced
652 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
653 reported.
654
77714df2 655* Incorrect `Token not used'
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656 On a grammar such as
657
658 %token useless useful
659 %%
660 exp: '0' %prec useful;
661
662 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
663 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
664
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665* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
666 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 667
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668* Default locations
669 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
670 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
671 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
672 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 673
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674* Token end-of-file
675 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
676 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 677 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 678 For instance
7bd6c77e 679 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 680 or
7bd6c77e 681 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
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682
683* Semantic parser
684 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
685
a861a339
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686* New translations
687 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
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688 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
689
77714df2 690* Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 691 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 692
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693* Token definitions as enums
694 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
695 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 696 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 697
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698* Reports
699 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
700 produces additional information:
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701 - itemset
702 complete the core item sets with their closure
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703 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
704 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
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705 - solved
706 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
707 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
708 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 709
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710* Type clashes
711 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
712 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
713
714 %type <foo> bar
715 %%
716 bar: '0' {} '0';
717
718 This is fixed.
a861a339
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719
720* GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 721\f
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722Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
723
724* C Skeleton
725 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
726 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
727 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
728
729 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
730 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
731 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
732 kludge will be disabled.
733
734 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
735 extended.
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736\f
737Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
738
739* File name clashes are detected
740 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
741 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
742
743* A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
744 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
745 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
746 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
747 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
748 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
749
750* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
751 many portability hassles.
752
753* DJGPP support added.
754
755* Fix test suite portability problems.
756\f
757Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
758
759* Fix C++ issues
760 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
761 under some conditions.
762
763* Catch invalid @n
764 As is done with $n.
765\f
766Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
767
768* Fix Yacc output file names
769
770* Portability fixes
771
772* Italian, Dutch translations
773\f
52d1aeee
MA
774Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
775
776* Many Bug Fixes
777
778* GNU Gettext and %expect
779 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
780 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
781 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
782 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
783
784* Use of alloca in parsers
785 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
786 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
787
788 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
789 problems as on AIX.
790
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791* yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
792
52d1aeee
MA
793* When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
794 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
795
796* User Actions
797 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
798 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
799 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
800
801* Better C++ compliance
802 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 803 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
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804
805* Reduced Grammars
806 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
807
808* 64 bit hosts
809 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
810
811* Error messages
812 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
813
814* %expect
815 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
816 any warning.
817
818* The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
819
820* Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
821
822* Swedish translation
823
824* Parse errors
825 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
826 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
827 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
828
829* Fixed parser memory leaks.
830 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
831 previous allocations were not freed.
832
833* Fixed verbose output file.
834 Some newlines were missing.
835 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
836
837* Fixed conflict report.
838 Option -v was needed to get the result.
839
840* %expect
841 Was not used.
842 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
843
844* Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
845
846* Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
847
848* Fixed some typos in the documentation.
849
850* %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
851 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
852
853* doc/refcard.tex is updated.
854
855* %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
856 New.
857
858* --output
859 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
860\f
76551463 861Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 862
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PE
863* `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
864 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
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865 argument.
866
867* `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
868 experiment.
869
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870* Portability fixes.
871\f
9f4503d6 872Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e
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873
874* The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
875 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
876 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
877 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
878
879* Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 880
f2b5126e
PB
881* The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
882
f1c63ced 883* The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 884
f87a2205
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885* Russian translation added.
886
887* NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
888
889* Added the old Bison reference card.
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890
891* Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 892
cd5bd6ac
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893* Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
894
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895* `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
896
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897* Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
898 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
899
6deb4447 900* New directives.
4ecbf796
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901 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
902 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2
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903
904* @$
905 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 906\f
9f4503d6 907Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347
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908
909* Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
910
911* Added NLS.
912
913* Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
914
915* There is now a FAQ.
916\f
5c31c3c2
JT
917Changes in version 1.27:
918
919* The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
920 some systems has been fixed.
921\f
922Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551
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923
924* Bison now uses automake.
925
926* New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
927
928* Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
929
930* Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
931
932* A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1
JT
933
934* Problems when closing files should now be reported.
935
936* Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
937 not provide alloca().
4be07551 938\f
9f4503d6 939Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5
RS
940
941* Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
942the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 943
df8878c5
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944* Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
945example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
946of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
947
948* The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
949and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
950table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
951purposes.
952
953* The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
954directives in the parser file.
955
956* The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
957Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
958
959* The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
960the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
961The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
962a switch statement body.
963\f
6780ca7a
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964Changes in version 1.23:
965
4d019228
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966The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
967passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
968actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
969by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 970
6780ca7a 971Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a
DM
972\f
973Changes in version 1.22:
974
975--help option added.
6780ca7a
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976\f
977Changes in version 1.20:
978
979Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
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980
981Local Variables:
982mode: outline
983End:
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984
985-----
986
d6ca7905 987Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
ab7f29f8 9882004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 989
75eb3bc4 990This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler.
76551463 991
f16b0819 992This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 993it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
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994the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
995(at your option) any later version.
76551463 996
f16b0819 997This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
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998but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
999MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1000GNU General Public License for more details.
1001
1002You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1003along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.