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4* Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
5
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6** Java skeleton improvements:
7
8 The constants for token names were moved to the Lexer interface.
9 Also, it is possible to add code to the parser's constructors using
10 "%code init" and "%define init_throws".
11
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12* Changes in version 2.4.2 (????-??-??):
13
14* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
c9ba9e59 15
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16** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
17 declarations have been fixed.
1979121c 18
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19** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
20
21 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
22 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
23
24 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
25
26 instead of
27
28 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
29
30 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
31 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
32 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
33 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
34 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
35 feature.
36
37** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 38
402b123d 39* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 40
402b123d 41** %language is an experimental feature.
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42
43 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
44 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
45 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
46 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
47 in future releases.
7bd1665a 48
402b123d 49** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 50
402b123d 51** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
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52 fixed.
53
402b123d 54* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 55
402b123d 56** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
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57 are now deprecated:
58
59 %define NAME "VALUE"
60
402b123d 61** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
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62
63 %define api.pure
64
65 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
66 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
67
402b123d 68** Push Parsing
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69
70 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
ef1b4273 71 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
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72 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
73 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
74 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
75
76 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
77 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
78
79 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
80
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81 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
82 feedback will help to stabilize it.
83
402b123d 84** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
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85 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
86 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 87
402b123d 88** Java
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89
90 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
91 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
92 %skeleton to select it.
93
94 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
95
96 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
97 feedback will help to stabilize it.
98
402b123d 99** %language
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100
101 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
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102 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
103 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
104 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 105
402b123d 106** XML Automaton Report
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107
108 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
109 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
110 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
c373bf8b 111
402b123d 112** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
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113 %defines. For example:
114
115 %defines "parser.h"
116
402b123d 117** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
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118 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
119 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
120 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 121
402b123d 122** Unreachable State Removal
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123
124 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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125 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
126 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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127
128 1. Removes unreachable states.
129
130 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
131 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
132 directives in existing grammar files.
133
134 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 135 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 136
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137 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
138
139 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
140
141 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
142 for further discussion.
143
402b123d 144** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
b1cc23c4 145
c373bf8b 146 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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147 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
148 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
149 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
150 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
151 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
152 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
153 code.
154
402b123d 155** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
59da312b 156 name.
1bb2bd75 157
402b123d 158** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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159 deprecated:
160
161 %file-prefix "parser"
162 %name-prefix "c_"
163 %output "parser.c"
164
402b123d 165** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
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166
167 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
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168 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
169 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
170 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
171 it:
172
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173 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
174 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
175 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
176 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 177
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178 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
179 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
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180 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
181 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
182
183 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
184 determine whether they should become permanent features.
185
402b123d 186** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
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187
188 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
189 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
190 about unused $2 in:
191
192 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
193
194 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
195 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
196
197 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
198
199 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
200 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
201 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
202
59da312b 203 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
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204 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
205
402b123d 206** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
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207
208 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
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209 %printer's:
210
211 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
212 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
213 declared semantic type tags.
214
3ebecc24 215 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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216 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
217 type tags.
218
219 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 220 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
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221 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
222 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
223
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224 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
225 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
226 features.
227
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228 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
229 details.
230
402b123d 231** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
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232 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
233 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
234
402b123d 235** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
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236 completely removed from Bison.
237
402b123d 238* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 239
402b123d 240** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
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241 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
242 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
243 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
244 and is required by POSIX.
245
402b123d 246** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
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247 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
248
402b123d 249** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
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250
251 For example:
252
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253 %union { char *string; }
254 %token <string> STRING1
255 %token <string> STRING2
256 %type <string> string1
257 %type <string> string2
258 %union { char character; }
259 %token <character> CHR
260 %type <character> chr
261 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
262 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
263 %destructor { } <character>
264
265 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
266 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
267 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
268 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
269 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 270
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271 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
272 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
273 future versions.]
274
402b123d 275** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
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276 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
277 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
278 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
279 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
280
402b123d 281** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 282 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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283
284 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
285 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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286 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
287 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 288 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 289
34f98f46 290 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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291 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
292 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
293 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
294 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
295 after the token definitions.
296
297 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
298 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
299
402b123d 300** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
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301 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
302 %after-header.
303
304 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
305 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
306 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
307 convenient for you:
308
309 %before-header {
310 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
311 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
312 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
313 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
314 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
315 }
316 %start-header {
317 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
318 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
319 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
320 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
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321 }
322 %union {
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323 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
324 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
325 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 326 }
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327 %end-header {
328 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
329 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
330 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
331 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
332 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 333 }
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334 %after-header {
335 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
336 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
337 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
338 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
339 * Bison-generated definitions. */
340 }
341
342 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
343 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 344
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345 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
346 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
347
402b123d 348** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
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349 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
350 in a future release.
742e4900 351
402b123d 352* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 353
402b123d 354** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
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355 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
356
402b123d 357** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
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358 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
359
402b123d 360* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 361
402b123d 362** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
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363 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
364 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 365
402b123d 366** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 367
402b123d 368** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 369
402b123d 370** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
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371 their contents together.
372
402b123d 373** New warning: unused values
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374 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
375 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 376
8f3596a6 377 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
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378 | exp "+" exp
379 ;
affac613 380
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381 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
382 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 383 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 384
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385 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
386 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
387 | exp "+" exp
388 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 389 ;
affac613 390
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391 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
392 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
393 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 394
8f3596a6 395 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
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396 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
397 ;
398
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399 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
400 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
401
402 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
403
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404 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
405 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 406
402b123d 407** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
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408 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
409 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
410 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 411
402b123d 412** %expect, %expect-rr
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413 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
414 instead of warnings.
415
402b123d 416** GLR, YACC parsers.
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417 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
418 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 419
402b123d 420** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 421
402b123d 422** %require "VERSION"
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423 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
424 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 425
402b123d 426** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
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427 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
428 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
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429 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
430 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
431
432 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
433 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
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434 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
435 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 436
b50d2359 437 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 438 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 439
402b123d 440** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 441\f
402b123d 442* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 443
402b123d 444** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 445
402b123d 446** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
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447 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
448 language is still English. For details, please see the new
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449 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
450 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
451 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 452
402b123d 453** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
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454 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
455 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
456 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
457
402b123d 458** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
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459 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
460 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
461
402b123d 462** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
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463 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
464 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
465 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
466 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 467\f
402b123d 468* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 469
402b123d 470** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 471
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472 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
473 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
474 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
475 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
476 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 477
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478 - Error token location.
479 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
480 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
481 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
482 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 483
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484 - Semicolon changes:
485 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
486 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 487
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488 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
489 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
490 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
491 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 492
82de6b0d 493 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 494
402b123d 495** New features
1452af69 496
82de6b0d 497 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 498
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499 - New directive: %initial-action.
500 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
501 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 502
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503 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
504 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 505
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506 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
507 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 508
82de6b0d 509 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 510 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 511
82de6b0d 512 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 513
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514 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
515 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 516
402b123d 517** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 518
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519 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
520 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
521 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
522 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
523 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
524 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 525
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526 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
527 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 528
82de6b0d 529 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 530\f
402b123d 531* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 532
402b123d 533** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 534 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 535
402b123d 536** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 537
dc546b0f
PE
538 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
539 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 540
dc546b0f
PE
541 - %destructor
542 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
543 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 544
dc546b0f
PE
545 - %error-verbose
546 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 547
dc546b0f
PE
548 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
549 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 550
402b123d 551** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 552
dc546b0f
PE
553 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
554 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
555 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 556
dc546b0f
PE
557 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
558 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
559 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
560 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
561 be consistent.
74724a70 562
dc546b0f
PE
563 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
564 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 565
dc546b0f
PE
566 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
567 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 568
dc546b0f
PE
569 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
570 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 571
dc546b0f
PE
572 - Yacc command and library now available
573 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
574 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
575 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
576 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 577
dc546b0f 578 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 579
dc546b0f
PE
580 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
581 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
582 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 583
402b123d 584** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 585
dc546b0f
PE
586 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
587 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
588 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
589 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
590 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
591 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 592
dc546b0f
PE
593 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
594 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 595
dc546b0f
PE
596 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
597 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 598
dc546b0f
PE
599 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
600 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
601 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 602
402b123d 603** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 604
dc546b0f
PE
605 - GLR and inline
606 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
607 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 608
dc546b0f
PE
609 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
610 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 611
402b123d 612** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
dc546b0f
PE
613 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
614 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 615
402b123d 616** #line in output files
dc546b0f 617 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 618
402b123d 619** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
620 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
621 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
622 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 623\f
402b123d 624* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 625
402b123d 626** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 627
402b123d 628** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 629
402b123d 630** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
631 Fix spurious parse errors.
632
402b123d 633** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
634 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
635 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
636
402b123d 637** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
638 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
639 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
640
641 untyped: ... typed;
642
643 but the converse remains an error:
644
645 typed: ... untyped;
646
402b123d 647** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
648 The following code:
649
650 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
651
652 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
653 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 654\f
402b123d 655* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 656
402b123d 657** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
658 The declaration
659 %glr-parser
660 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
661 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 662 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
663 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
664
7933f2b5 665 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
666 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
667
402b123d 668** Output Directory
8c165d89 669 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 670 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
8c165d89
AD
671 now creates `bar.c'.
672
402b123d 673** Undefined token
007a50a4 674 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 675 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 676
402b123d 677** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 678 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
679 no longer the case.
680
402b123d 681** Error token
e88dbdbf 682 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
683 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
684 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
685 will be mapped onto another number.
686
402b123d 687** Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 688 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
217598da
AD
689 error recovery is possible.
690
402b123d 691** End token
217598da
AD
692 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
693
402b123d 694** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
695 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
696 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
697 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
698 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
699 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
700 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
701 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
702 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 703
402b123d 704** Traces
5504898e
AD
705 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
706
402b123d 707** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
708 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
709 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
710 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
711 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 712
402b123d 713** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
714 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
715 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
716 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 717
402b123d 718** Useless rules
643a5994 719 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 720 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 721
402b123d 722** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
723 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
724
402b123d 725** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
726 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
727 reported.
728
402b123d 729** Incorrect `Token not used'
11652ab3
AD
730 On a grammar such as
731
732 %token useless useful
733 %%
734 exp: '0' %prec useful;
735
736 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
737 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
738
402b123d 739** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 740 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 741
402b123d 742** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
743 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
744 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
745 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
746 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 747
402b123d 748** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
749 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
750 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 751 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 752 For instance
7bd6c77e 753 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 754 or
7bd6c77e 755 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 756
402b123d 757** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
758 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
759
402b123d 760** New translations
a861a339 761 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
762 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
763
402b123d 764** Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 765 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 766
402b123d 767** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
768 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
769 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 770 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 771
402b123d 772** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
773 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
774 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
775 - itemset
776 complete the core item sets with their closure
9e6e7ed2
PE
777 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
778 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
779 - solved
780 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
781 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
782 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 783
402b123d 784** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
785 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
786 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
787
788 %type <foo> bar
789 %%
790 bar: '0' {} '0';
791
792 This is fixed.
a861a339 793
402b123d 794** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 795\f
402b123d 796* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 797
402b123d 798** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
799 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
800 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
801 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
802
803 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
804 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
805 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
806 kludge will be disabled.
807
808 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
809 extended.
76551463 810\f
402b123d 811* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 812
402b123d 813** File name clashes are detected
76551463
AD
814 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
815 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
816
402b123d 817** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
818 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
819 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
820 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
821 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
822 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
823
402b123d 824** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
825 many portability hassles.
826
402b123d 827** DJGPP support added.
76551463 828
402b123d 829** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 830\f
402b123d 831* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 832
402b123d 833** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
834 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
835 under some conditions.
836
402b123d 837** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
838 As is done with $n.
839\f
402b123d 840* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 841
402b123d 842** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 843
402b123d 844** Portability fixes
76551463 845
402b123d 846** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 847\f
402b123d 848* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 849
402b123d 850** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 851
402b123d 852** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
853 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
854 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
855 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
856 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
857
402b123d 858** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
859 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
860 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
861
862 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
863 problems as on AIX.
864
402b123d 865** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 866
402b123d 867** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
868 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
869
402b123d 870** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
871 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
872 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
873 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
874
402b123d 875** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 876 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 877 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 878
402b123d 879** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
880 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
881
402b123d 882** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
883 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
884
402b123d 885** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
886 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
887
402b123d 888** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
889 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
890 any warning.
891
402b123d 892** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 893
402b123d 894** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 895
402b123d 896** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 897
402b123d 898** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
899 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
900 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
901 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
902
402b123d 903** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
904 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
905 previous allocations were not freed.
906
402b123d 907** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
908 Some newlines were missing.
909 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
910
402b123d 911** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
912 Option -v was needed to get the result.
913
402b123d 914** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
915 Was not used.
916 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
917
402b123d 918** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 919
402b123d 920** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 921
402b123d 922** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 923
402b123d 924** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
925 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
926
402b123d 927** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 928
402b123d 929** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
930 New.
931
402b123d 932** --output
52d1aeee
MA
933 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
934\f
402b123d 935* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 936
402b123d 937** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
fdac0091 938 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
939 argument.
940
402b123d 941** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
942 experiment.
943
402b123d 944** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 945\f
402b123d 946* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 947
402b123d 948** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
949 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
950 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
951 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
952
402b123d 953** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 954
402b123d 955** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 956
402b123d 957** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 958
402b123d 959** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 960
402b123d 961** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 962
402b123d 963** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 964
402b123d 965** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 966
402b123d 967** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
cd5bd6ac 968
402b123d 969** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
62ab6972 970
402b123d 971** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
972 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
973
402b123d 974** New directives.
4ecbf796
MA
975 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
976 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2 977
402b123d 978** @$
f987e9d2 979 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 980\f
402b123d 981* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 982
402b123d 983** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 984
402b123d 985** Added NLS.
d2e00347 986
402b123d 987** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 988
402b123d 989** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 990\f
402b123d 991* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 992
402b123d 993** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
994 some systems has been fixed.
995\f
402b123d 996* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 997
402b123d 998** Bison now uses automake.
4be07551 999
402b123d 1000** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 1001
402b123d 1002** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 1003
402b123d 1004** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 1005
402b123d 1006** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 1007
402b123d 1008** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 1009
402b123d 1010** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 1011 not provide alloca().
4be07551 1012\f
402b123d 1013* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 1014
402b123d 1015** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 1016the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 1017
402b123d 1018** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5
RS
1019example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1020of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1021
402b123d 1022** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
1023and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1024table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1025purposes.
1026
402b123d 1027** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
1028directives in the parser file.
1029
402b123d 1030** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
1031Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1032
402b123d 1033** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
1034the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1035The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1036a switch statement body.
1037\f
402b123d 1038* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 1039
4d019228
DM
1040The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1041passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1042actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1043by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 1044
6780ca7a 1045Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 1046\f
402b123d 1047* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
1048
1049--help option added.
6780ca7a 1050\f
402b123d 1051* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
1052
1053Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
AD
1054
1055Local Variables:
1056mode: outline
1057End:
76551463
AD
1058
1059-----
1060
d6ca7905 1061Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
74553c98 10622004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 1063
74553c98 1064This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
76551463 1065
f16b0819 1066This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 1067it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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1068the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1069(at your option) any later version.
76551463 1070
f16b0819 1071This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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1072but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1073MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1074GNU General Public License for more details.
1075
1076You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1077along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.