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1Bison News
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3af4feb2 3
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4Changes in version 2.3a+ (????-??-??):
5
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6* Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
7 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
8 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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9
10 1. Removes unreachable states.
11
12 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
13 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
14 directives in existing grammar files.
15
16 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
17 "never reduced because of conflicts".
18
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19 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
20
21 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
22
23 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
24 for further discussion.
25
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26* When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
27 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
28 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
29 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
30 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
31 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
32 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
33 code.
34
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35* The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
36 not VCG format.
37
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38* An experimental directive %language specifies the language of the
39 generated parser, which can be C (the default) or C++. This
40 directive affects the skeleton used, and the names of the generated
41 files if the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
42
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43* The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
44 %defines. For example:
45
46 %defines "parser.h"
47
16dc6a9e 48* The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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49 deprecated:
50
51 %file-prefix "parser"
52 %name-prefix "c_"
53 %output "parser.c"
54
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55* The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
56 are now deprecated:
57
58 %define NAME "VALUE"
59
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60* Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
61 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
62 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
63 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
64 it:
65
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66 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
67 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
68 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
69 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 70
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71 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
72 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
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73 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
74 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
75
76 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
77 determine whether they should become permanent features.
78
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79* Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
80
81 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
82 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
83 about unused $2 in:
84
85 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
86
87 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
88 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
89
90 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
91
92 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
93 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
94 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
95
96 To enable these warnings, specify the flag `--warnings=midrule-values' or
97 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
98
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99* Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
100 %printer's:
101
102 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
103 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
104 declared semantic type tags.
105
3ebecc24 106 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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107 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
108 type tags.
109
110 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 111 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
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112 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
113 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
114
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115 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
116 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
117 features.
118
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119 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
120 details.
121
21fe08ca 122Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 123
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124* Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
125 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
126 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
127 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
128 and is required by POSIX.
129
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130* Locations columns and lines start at 1.
131 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
132
b2a0b7ca 133* You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
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134
135 For example:
136
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137 %union { char *string; }
138 %token <string> STRING1
139 %token <string> STRING2
140 %type <string> string1
141 %type <string> string2
142 %union { char character; }
143 %token <character> CHR
144 %type <character> chr
145 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
146 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
147 %destructor { } <character>
148
149 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
150 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
151 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
152 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
153 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 154
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155 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
156 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
157 future versions.]
158
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159* Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
160 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
161 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
162 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
163 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
164
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165* Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
166 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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167
168 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
169 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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170 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
171 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 172 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 173
34f98f46 174 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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175 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
176 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
177 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
178 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
179 after the token definitions.
180
181 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
182 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
183
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184* Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
185 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
186 %after-header.
187
188 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
189 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
190 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
191 convenient for you:
192
193 %before-header {
194 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
195 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
196 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
197 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
198 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
199 }
200 %start-header {
201 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
202 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
203 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
204 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
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205 }
206 %union {
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207 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
208 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
209 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 210 }
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211 %end-header {
212 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
213 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
214 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
215 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
216 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 217 }
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218 %after-header {
219 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
220 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
221 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
222 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
223 * Bison-generated definitions. */
224 }
225
226 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
227 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 228
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229 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
230 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
231
742e4900 232* The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
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233 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
234 in a future release.
742e4900 235
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236Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
237
238* GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
239 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
240
241* It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
242 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
243
ab8d9dc5 244Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
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245
246* The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
247 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
248 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 249
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250* %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
251
252* The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 253
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254* Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
255 their contents together.
256
affac613 257* New warning: unused values
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258 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
259 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 260
8f3596a6 261 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
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262 | exp "+" exp
263 ;
affac613 264
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265 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
266 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 267 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 268
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269 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
270 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
271 | exp "+" exp
272 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 273 ;
affac613 274
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275 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
276 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
277 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 278
8f3596a6 279 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
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280 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
281 ;
282
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283 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
284 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
285
286 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
287
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288 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
289 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 290
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291* %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
292 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
293 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
294 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 295
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296* %expect, %expect-rr
297 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
298 instead of warnings.
299
4b367315 300* GLR, YACC parsers.
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301 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
302 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 303
302c0aee 304* Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 305
b50d2359 306* %require "VERSION"
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307 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
308 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 309
fb9712a9 310* lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
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311 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
312 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
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313 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
314 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
315
316 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
317 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
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318 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
319 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 320
b50d2359 321 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 322 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 323
302c0aee 324* DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 325\f
1bd0deda 326Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 327
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328* The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
329
a7db4add 330* Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
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331 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
332 language is still English. For details, please see the new
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333 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
334 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
335 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 336
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337* Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
338 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
339 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
340 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
341
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342* Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
343 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
344 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
345
a7db4add 346* When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
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347 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
348 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
349 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
350 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 351\f
82de6b0d 352Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 353
82de6b0d 354* Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 355
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356 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
357 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
358 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
359 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
360 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 361
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362 - Error token location.
363 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
364 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
365 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
366 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 367
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368 - Semicolon changes:
369 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
370 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 371
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372 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
373 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
374 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
375 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 376
82de6b0d 377 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 378
82de6b0d 379* New features
1452af69 380
82de6b0d 381 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 382
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383 - New directive: %initial-action.
384 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
385 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 386
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387 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
388 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 389
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390 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
391 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 392
82de6b0d 393 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 394 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 395
82de6b0d 396 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 397
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398 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
399 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 400
82de6b0d 401* Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 402
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403 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
404 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
405 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
406 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
407 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
408 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 409
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410 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
411 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 412
82de6b0d 413 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 414\f
dc546b0f 415Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 416
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417* The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
418 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 419
dc546b0f 420* syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 421
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422 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
423 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 424
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425 - %destructor
426 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
427 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 428
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429 - %error-verbose
430 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 431
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432 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
433 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 434
dc546b0f 435* POSIX conformance
d1de5372 436
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437 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
438 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
439 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 440
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441 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
442 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
443 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
444 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
445 be consistent.
74724a70 446
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447 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
448 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 449
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450 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
451 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 452
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453 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
454 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 455
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456 - Yacc command and library now available
457 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
458 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
459 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
460 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 461
dc546b0f 462 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 463
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464 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
465 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
466 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 467
dc546b0f 468* Other compatibility issues
886a425c 469
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470 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
471 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
472 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
473 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
474 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
475 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 476
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477 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
478 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 479
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480 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
481 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 482
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483 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
484 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
485 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 486
dc546b0f 487* GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 488
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489 - GLR and inline
490 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
491 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 492
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493 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
494 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 495
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496* Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
497 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
498 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 499
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500* #line in output files
501 - --no-line works properly.
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502
503* Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
504 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
505 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
506 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 507\f
5c16c6b1 508Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
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509
510* Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
511
b7195100 512* Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 513
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514* GLR parsers
515 Fix spurious parse errors.
516
517* Pure parsers
518 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
519 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
520
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521* Type Clashes
522 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
523 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
524
525 untyped: ... typed;
526
527 but the converse remains an error:
528
529 typed: ... untyped;
530
531* Values of mid-rule actions
532 The following code:
533
534 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
535
536 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
537 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 538\f
420f93c8 539Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 540
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541* GLR parsing
542 The declaration
543 %glr-parser
544 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
545 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 546 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
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547 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
548
7933f2b5 549 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
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550 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
551
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552* Output Directory
553 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 554 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
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555 now creates `bar.c'.
556
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557* Undefined token
558 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 559 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 560
77714df2 561* Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 562 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
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563 no longer the case.
564
23c5a174 565* Error token
e88dbdbf 566 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
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567 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
568 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
569 will be mapped onto another number.
570
217598da 571* Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 572 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
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573 error recovery is possible.
574
575* End token
576 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
577
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578* Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
579 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
580 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
581 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
582 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
583 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
584 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
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585 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
586 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 587
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588* Traces
589 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
590
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591* Larger grammars
592 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
593 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
594 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
595 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 596
77714df2 597* Explicit initial rule
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598 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
599 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
600 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 601
77714df2 602* Useless rules
643a5994 603 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 604 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 605
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606* Useless rules, useless nonterminals
607 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
608
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609* Rules never reduced
610 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
611 reported.
612
77714df2 613* Incorrect `Token not used'
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614 On a grammar such as
615
616 %token useless useful
617 %%
618 exp: '0' %prec useful;
619
620 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
621 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
622
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623* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
624 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 625
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626* Default locations
627 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
628 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
629 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
630 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 631
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632* Token end-of-file
633 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
634 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 635 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 636 For instance
7bd6c77e 637 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 638 or
7bd6c77e 639 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
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640
641* Semantic parser
642 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
643
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644* New translations
645 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
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646 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
647
77714df2 648* Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 649 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 650
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651* Token definitions as enums
652 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
653 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 654 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 655
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656* Reports
657 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
658 produces additional information:
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659 - itemset
660 complete the core item sets with their closure
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661 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
662 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
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663 - solved
664 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
665 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
666 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 667
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668* Type clashes
669 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
670 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
671
672 %type <foo> bar
673 %%
674 bar: '0' {} '0';
675
676 This is fixed.
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677
678* GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 679\f
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680Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
681
682* C Skeleton
683 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
684 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
685 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
686
687 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
688 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
689 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
690 kludge will be disabled.
691
692 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
693 extended.
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694\f
695Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
696
697* File name clashes are detected
698 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
699 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
700
701* A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
702 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
703 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
704 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
705 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
706 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
707
708* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
709 many portability hassles.
710
711* DJGPP support added.
712
713* Fix test suite portability problems.
714\f
715Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
716
717* Fix C++ issues
718 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
719 under some conditions.
720
721* Catch invalid @n
722 As is done with $n.
723\f
724Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
725
726* Fix Yacc output file names
727
728* Portability fixes
729
730* Italian, Dutch translations
731\f
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732Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
733
734* Many Bug Fixes
735
736* GNU Gettext and %expect
737 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
738 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
739 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
740 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
741
742* Use of alloca in parsers
743 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
744 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
745
746 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
747 problems as on AIX.
748
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749* yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
750
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751* When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
752 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
753
754* User Actions
755 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
756 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
757 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
758
759* Better C++ compliance
760 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 761 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
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762
763* Reduced Grammars
764 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
765
766* 64 bit hosts
767 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
768
769* Error messages
770 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
771
772* %expect
773 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
774 any warning.
775
776* The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
777
778* Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
779
780* Swedish translation
781
782* Parse errors
783 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
784 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
785 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
786
787* Fixed parser memory leaks.
788 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
789 previous allocations were not freed.
790
791* Fixed verbose output file.
792 Some newlines were missing.
793 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
794
795* Fixed conflict report.
796 Option -v was needed to get the result.
797
798* %expect
799 Was not used.
800 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
801
802* Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
803
804* Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
805
806* Fixed some typos in the documentation.
807
808* %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
809 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
810
811* doc/refcard.tex is updated.
812
813* %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
814 New.
815
816* --output
817 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
818\f
76551463 819Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 820
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821* `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
822 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
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823 argument.
824
825* `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
826 experiment.
827
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828* Portability fixes.
829\f
9f4503d6 830Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
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831
832* The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
833 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
834 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
835 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
836
837* Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 838
f2b5126e
PB
839* The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
840
f1c63ced 841* The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 842
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843* Russian translation added.
844
845* NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
846
847* Added the old Bison reference card.
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848
849* Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 850
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851* Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
852
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853* `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
854
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855* Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
856 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
857
6deb4447 858* New directives.
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859 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
860 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
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861
862* @$
863 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 864\f
9f4503d6 865Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
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866
867* Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
868
869* Added NLS.
870
871* Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
872
873* There is now a FAQ.
874\f
5c31c3c2
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875Changes in version 1.27:
876
877* The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
878 some systems has been fixed.
879\f
880Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551
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881
882* Bison now uses automake.
883
884* New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
885
886* Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
887
888* Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
889
890* A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1
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891
892* Problems when closing files should now be reported.
893
894* Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
895 not provide alloca().
4be07551 896\f
9f4503d6 897Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5
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898
899* Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
900the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 901
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902* Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
903example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
904of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
905
906* The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
907and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
908table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
909purposes.
910
911* The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
912directives in the parser file.
913
914* The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
915Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
916
917* The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
918the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
919The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
920a switch statement body.
921\f
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922Changes in version 1.23:
923
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924The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
925passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
926actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
927by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 928
6780ca7a 929Line numbers in output file corrected.
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930\f
931Changes in version 1.22:
932
933--help option added.
6780ca7a
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934\f
935Changes in version 1.20:
936
937Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
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938
939Local Variables:
940mode: outline
941End:
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942
943-----
944
d6ca7905 945Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
279cabb6 9462004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 947
75eb3bc4 948This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler.
76551463 949
f16b0819 950This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 951it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
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952the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
953(at your option) any later version.
76551463 954
f16b0819 955This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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956but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
957MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
958GNU General Public License for more details.
959
960You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 961along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.