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ed7658fe 1GNU Bison NEWS
3af4feb2 2
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3* Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?]
4
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5** Bug fixes
6
7*** Fix compiler attribute portability (yacc.c)
8
9 With locations enabled, __attribute__ was used unprotected.
0a7b8559 10
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11*** Fix some compiler warnings (lalr1.cc)
12
c13bb348 13* Noteworthy changes in release 2.7 (2012-12-12) [stable]
09a1cd5e 14
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15** Bug fixes
16
17 Warnings about uninitialized yylloc in yyparse have been fixed.
18
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19 Restored C90 compliance (yet no report was ever made).
20
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21** Diagnostics are improved
22
23*** Changes in the format of error messages
24
25 This used to be the format of many error reports:
26
27 input.y:2.7-12: %type redeclaration for exp
28 input.y:1.7-12: previous declaration
29
30 It is now:
31
32 input.y:2.7-12: error: %type redeclaration for exp
33 input.y:1.7-12: previous declaration
effd30c0 34
d4fe9e88 35*** New format for error reports: carets
effd30c0 36
d4fe9e88 37 Caret errors have been added to Bison:
7bada535 38
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39 input.y:2.7-12: error: %type redeclaration for exp
40 %type <sval> exp
41 ^^^^^^
42 input.y:1.7-12: previous declaration
43 %type <ival> exp
44 ^^^^^^
45
46 or
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47
48 input.y:3.20-23: error: ambiguous reference: '$exp'
fb6040f0 49 exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
7bada535 50 ^^^^
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51 input.y:3.1-3: refers to: $exp at $$
52 exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
53 ^^^
54 input.y:3.6-8: refers to: $exp at $1
55 exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
56 ^^^
57 input.y:3.14-16: refers to: $exp at $3
58 exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
59 ^^^
7bada535 60
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61 The default behaviour for now is still not to display these unless
62 explictly asked with -fcaret (or -fall). However, in a later release, it
63 will be made the default behavior (but may still be deactivated with
64 -fno-caret).
7bada535 65
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66** New value for %define variable: api.pure full
67
68 The %define variable api.pure requests a pure (reentrant) parser. However,
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69 for historical reasons, using it in a location-tracking Yacc parser
70 resulted in a yyerror function that did not take a location as a
71 parameter. With this new value, the user may request a better pure parser,
72 where yyerror does take a location as a parameter (in location-tracking
73 parsers).
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74
75 The use of "%define api.pure true" is deprecated in favor of this new
76 "%define api.pure full".
77
7287be84 78** New %define variable: api.location.type (glr.cc, lalr1.cc, lalr1.java)
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79
80 The %define variable api.location.type defines the name of the type to use
81 for locations. When defined, Bison no longer generates the position.hh
82 and location.hh files, nor does the parser will include them: the user is
83 then responsible to define her type.
84
85 This can be used in programs with several parsers to factor their location
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86 and position files: let one of them generate them, and the others just use
87 them.
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88
89 This feature was actually introduced, but not documented, in Bison 2.5,
90 under the name "location_type" (which is maintained for backward
91 compatibility).
92
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93 For consistency, lalr1.java's %define variables location_type and
94 position_type are deprecated in favor of api.location.type and
95 api.position.type.
96
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97** Exception safety (lalr1.cc)
98
99 The parse function now catches exceptions, uses the %destructors to
100 release memory (the lookahead symbol and the symbols pushed on the stack)
101 before re-throwing the exception.
102
103 This feature is somewhat experimental. User feedback would be
104 appreciated.
105
9c16d399 106** Graph improvements in DOT and XSLT
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107
108 The graphical presentation of the states is more readable: their shape is
109 now rectangular, the state number is clearly displayed, and the items are
110 numbered and left-justified.
111
112 The reductions are now explicitly represented as transitions to other
113 diamond shaped nodes.
114
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115 These changes are present in both --graph output and xml2dot.xsl XSLT
116 processing, with minor (documented) differences.
117
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118** %language is no longer an experimental feature.
119
120 The introduction of this feature, in 2.4, was four years ago. The
121 --language option and the %language directive are no longer experimental.
9c16d399 122
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123** Documentation
124
125 The sections about shift/reduce and reduce/reduce conflicts resolution
126 have been fixed and extended.
9d2423f5 127
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128 Although introduced more than four years ago, XML and Graphviz reports
129 were not properly documented.
130
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131 The translation of mid-rule actions is now described.
132
9d3f7eaf 133* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.5 (2012-11-07) [stable]
6f1360bd 134
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135 We consider compiler warnings about Bison generated parsers to be bugs.
136 Rather than working around them in your own project, please consider
137 reporting them to us.
138
139** Bug fixes
140
141 Warnings about uninitialized yylval and/or yylloc for push parsers with a
142 pure interface have been fixed for GCC 4.0 up to 4.8, and Clang 2.9 to
143 3.2.
144
145 Other issues in the test suite have been addressed.
6f1360bd 146
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147 Nul characters are correctly displayed in error messages.
148
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149 When possible, yylloc is correctly initialized before calling yylex. It
150 is no longer necessary to initialize it in the %initial-action.
151
0ac15849 152* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.4 (2012-10-23) [stable]
a4eb820f 153
468455e1 154 Bison 2.6.3's --version was incorrect. This release fixes this issue.
a4eb820f 155
6eb8f74f 156* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.3 (2012-10-22) [stable]
933ec544 157
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158** Bug fixes
159
9a50c55a 160 Bugs and portability issues in the test suite have been fixed.
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161
162 Some errors in translations have been addressed, and --help now directs
163 users to the appropriate place to report them.
164
165 Stray Info files shipped by accident are removed.
166
167 Incorrect definitions of YY_, issued by yacc.c when no parser header is
168 generated, are removed.
933ec544 169
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170 All the generated headers are self-contained.
171
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172** Header guards (yacc.c, glr.c, glr.cc)
173
174 In order to avoid collisions, the header guards are now
175 YY_<PREFIX>_<FILE>_INCLUDED, instead of merely <PREFIX>_<FILE>.
176 For instance the header generated from
177
178 %define api.prefix "calc"
179 %defines "lib/parse.h"
180
181 will use YY_CALC_LIB_PARSE_H_INCLUDED as guard.
182
7b70847e 183** Fix compiler warnings in the generated parser (yacc.c, glr.c)
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184
185 The compilation of pure parsers (%define api.pure) can trigger GCC
186 warnings such as:
187
188 input.c: In function 'yyparse':
189 input.c:1503:12: warning: 'yylval' may be used uninitialized in this
190 function [-Wmaybe-uninitialized]
191 *++yyvsp = yylval;
192 ^
193
194 This is now fixed; pragmas to avoid these warnings are no longer needed.
195
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196 Warnings from clang ("equality comparison with extraneous parentheses" and
197 "function declared 'noreturn' should not return") have also been
198 addressed.
199
e1eeecd3 200* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.2 (2012-08-03) [stable]
9c26b8fc 201
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202** Bug fixes
203
204 Buffer overruns, complaints from Flex, and portability issues in the test
205 suite have been fixed.
206
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207** Spaces in %lex- and %parse-param (lalr1.cc, glr.cc)
208
209 Trailing end-of-lines in %parse-param or %lex-param would result in
210 invalid C++. This is fixed.
9c26b8fc 211
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212** Spurious spaces and end-of-lines
213
214 The generated files no longer end (nor start) with empty lines.
215
77b214ef 216* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.1 (2012-07-30) [stable]
a4107f24 217
cbaea010 218 Bison no longer executes user-specified M4 code when processing a grammar.
8617d87e 219
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220** Future Changes
221
222 In addition to the removal of the features announced in Bison 2.6, the
223 next major release will remove the "Temporary hack for adding a semicolon
224 to the user action", as announced in the release 2.5. Instead of:
225
226 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
227
228 write:
229
230 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
231
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232** Bug fixes
233
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234*** Type names are now properly escaped.
235
236*** glr.cc: set_debug_level and debug_level work as expected.
a4107f24 237
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238*** Stray @ or $ in actions
239
240 While Bison used to warn about stray $ or @ in action rules, it did not
241 for other actions such as printers, destructors, or initial actions. It
242 now does.
243
cd735a8c 244** Type names in actions
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245
246 For consistency with rule actions, it is now possible to qualify $$ by a
cd735a8c 247 type-name in destructors, printers, and initial actions. For instance:
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248
249 %printer { fprintf (yyo, "(%d, %f)", $<ival>$, $<fval>$); } <*> <>;
250
251 will display two values for each typed and untyped symbol (provided
cd735a8c 252 that YYSTYPE has both "ival" and "fval" fields).
4982f078 253
1505e8bb 254* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6 (2012-07-19) [stable]
ad6b775f 255
c2425191 256** Future Changes
0f11eec2 257
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258 The next major release of Bison will drop support for the following
259 deprecated features. Please report disagreements to bug-bison@gnu.org.
0f11eec2 260
aaf61036 261*** K&R C parsers
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262
263 Support for generating parsers in K&R C will be removed. Parsers
242cc08e 264 generated for C support ISO C90, and are tested with ISO C99 and ISO C11
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265 compilers.
266
258cddbc 267*** Features deprecated since Bison 1.875
55d1006f 268
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269 The definitions of yystype and yyltype will be removed; use YYSTYPE and
270 YYLTYPE.
55d1006f 271
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272 YYPARSE_PARAM and YYLEX_PARAM, deprecated in favor of %parse-param and
273 %lex-param, will no longer be supported.
274
275 Support for the preprocessor symbol YYERROR_VERBOSE will be removed, use
276 %error-verbose.
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277
278*** The generated header will be included (yacc.c)
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279
280 Instead of duplicating the content of the generated header (definition of
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281 YYSTYPE, yyparse declaration etc.), the generated parser will include it,
282 as is already the case for GLR or C++ parsers. This change is deferred
283 because existing versions of ylwrap (e.g., Automake 1.12.1) do not support
284 it.
0f11eec2 285
c2425191 286** Generated Parser Headers
56ca3d8f 287
258cddbc 288*** Guards (yacc.c, glr.c, glr.cc)
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289
290 The generated headers are now guarded, as is already the case for C++
242cc08e 291 parsers (lalr1.cc). For instance, with --defines=foo.h:
c3e9f08f 292
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293 #ifndef YY_FOO_H
294 # define YY_FOO_H
295 ...
296 #endif /* !YY_FOO_H */
c3e9f08f 297
258cddbc 298*** New declarations (yacc.c, glr.c)
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299
300 The generated header now declares yydebug and yyparse. Both honor
301 --name-prefix=bar_, and yield
302
e29f0771 303 int bar_parse (void);
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304
305 rather than
306
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307 #define yyparse bar_parse
308 int yyparse (void);
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309
310 in order to facilitate the inclusion of several parser headers inside a
311 single compilation unit.
c3e9f08f 312
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313*** Exported symbols in C++
314
315 The symbols YYTOKEN_TABLE and YYERROR_VERBOSE, which were defined in the
316 header, are removed, as they prevent the possibility of including several
317 generated headers from a single compilation unit.
318
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319*** YYLSP_NEEDED
320
321 For the same reasons, the undocumented and unused macro YYLSP_NEEDED is no
322 longer defined.
323
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324** New %define variable: api.prefix
325
326 Now that the generated headers are more complete and properly protected
327 against multiple inclusions, constant names, such as YYSTYPE are a
328 problem. While yyparse and others are properly renamed by %name-prefix,
329 YYSTYPE, YYDEBUG and others have never been affected by it. Because it
330 would introduce backward compatibility issues in projects not expecting
331 YYSTYPE to be renamed, instead of changing the behavior of %name-prefix,
332 it is deprecated in favor of a new %define variable: api.prefix.
333
334 The following examples compares both:
335
336 %name-prefix "bar_" | %define api.prefix "bar_"
337 %token <ival> FOO %token <ival> FOO
338 %union { int ival; } %union { int ival; }
339 %% %%
340 exp: 'a'; exp: 'a';
341
342 bison generates:
343
344 #ifndef BAR_FOO_H #ifndef BAR_FOO_H
345 # define BAR_FOO_H # define BAR_FOO_H
346
347 /* Enabling traces. */ /* Enabling traces. */
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348 # ifndef YYDEBUG | # ifndef BAR_DEBUG
349 > # if defined YYDEBUG
350 > # if YYDEBUG
351 > # define BAR_DEBUG 1
352 > # else
353 > # define BAR_DEBUG 0
354 > # endif
355 > # else
356 # define YYDEBUG 0 | # define BAR_DEBUG 0
357 > # endif
358 # endif | # endif
359
360 # if YYDEBUG | # if BAR_DEBUG
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361 extern int bar_debug; extern int bar_debug;
362 # endif # endif
363
364 /* Tokens. */ /* Tokens. */
365 # ifndef YYTOKENTYPE | # ifndef BAR_TOKENTYPE
366 # define YYTOKENTYPE | # define BAR_TOKENTYPE
367 enum yytokentype { | enum bar_tokentype {
368 FOO = 258 FOO = 258
369 }; };
370 # endif # endif
371
372 #if ! defined YYSTYPE \ | #if ! defined BAR_STYPE \
373 && ! defined YYSTYPE_IS_DECLARED | && ! defined BAR_STYPE_IS_DECLARED
374 typedef union YYSTYPE | typedef union BAR_STYPE
375 { {
376 int ival; int ival;
377 } YYSTYPE; | } BAR_STYPE;
378 # define YYSTYPE_IS_DECLARED 1 | # define BAR_STYPE_IS_DECLARED 1
379 #endif #endif
380
381 extern YYSTYPE bar_lval; | extern BAR_STYPE bar_lval;
382
383 int bar_parse (void); int bar_parse (void);
384
385 #endif /* !BAR_FOO_H */ #endif /* !BAR_FOO_H */
386
dfaac272 387* Noteworthy changes in release 2.5.1 (2012-06-05) [stable]
90dcd415 388
debe2c03 389** Future changes:
041308d0 390
e4ab1254 391 The next major release will drop support for generating parsers in K&R C.
ef51bfa7 392
466b4cf2 393** yacc.c: YYBACKUP works as expected.
94556574 394
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395** glr.c improvements:
396
397*** Location support is eliminated when not requested:
398
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399 GLR parsers used to include location-related code even when locations were
400 not requested, and therefore not even usable.
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401
402*** __attribute__ is preserved:
debe2c03 403
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404 __attribute__ is no longer disabled when __STRICT_ANSI__ is defined (i.e.,
405 when -std is passed to GCC).
debe2c03 406
466b4cf2 407** lalr1.java: several fixes:
041308d0 408
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409 The Java parser no longer throws ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException if the
410 first token leads to a syntax error. Some minor clean ups.
041308d0 411
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412** Changes for C++:
413
414*** C++11 compatibility:
ef51bfa7 415
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416 C and C++ parsers use "nullptr" instead of "0" when __cplusplus is 201103L
417 or higher.
ef51bfa7 418
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419*** Header guards
420
421 The header files such as "parser.hh", "location.hh", etc. used a constant
422 name for preprocessor guards, for instance:
423
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424 #ifndef BISON_LOCATION_HH
425 # define BISON_LOCATION_HH
426 ...
427 #endif // !BISON_LOCATION_HH
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428
429 The inclusion guard is now computed from "PREFIX/FILE-NAME", where lower
430 case characters are converted to upper case, and series of
431 non-alphanumerical characters are converted to an underscore.
432
433 With "bison -o lang++/parser.cc", "location.hh" would now include:
434
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435 #ifndef YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
436 # define YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
437 ...
438 #endif // !YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
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439
440*** C++ locations:
936c88d1 441
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442 The position and location constructors (and their initialize methods)
443 accept new arguments for line and column. Several issues in the
444 documentation were fixed.
936c88d1 445
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446** liby is no longer asking for "rpl_fprintf" on some platforms.
447
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448** Changes in the manual:
449
450*** %printer is documented
451
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452 The "%printer" directive, supported since at least Bison 1.50, is finally
453 documented. The "mfcalc" example is extended to demonstrate it.
7e508a2b 454
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455 For consistency with the C skeletons, the C++ parsers now also support
456 "yyoutput" (as an alias to "debug_stream ()").
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457
458*** Several improvements have been made:
466b4cf2 459
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460 The layout for grammar excerpts was changed to a more compact scheme.
461 Named references are motivated. The description of the automaton
462 description file (*.output) is updated to the current format. Incorrect
463 index entries were fixed. Some other errors were fixed.
466b4cf2 464
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465** Building bison:
466
467*** Conflicting prototypes with recent/modified Flex.
468
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469 Fixed build problems with the current, unreleased, version of Flex, and
470 some modified versions of 2.5.35, which have modified function prototypes.
466b4cf2 471
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472*** Warnings during the build procedure have been eliminated.
473
474*** Several portability problems in the test suite have been fixed:
466b4cf2 475
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476 This includes warnings with some compilers, unexpected behavior of tools
477 such as diff, warning messages from the test suite itself, etc.
466b4cf2 478
91aadcc7 479*** The install-pdf target works properly:
8ef26c2a 480
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481 Running "make install-pdf" (or -dvi, -html, -info, and -ps) no longer
482 halts in the middle of its course.
8ef26c2a 483
b2bc8a1b 484* Changes in version 2.5 (2011-05-14):
006faedf 485
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486** Grammar symbol names can now contain non-initial dashes:
487
488 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and with
489 %define variables (e.g. push-pull), grammar symbol names may contain
490 dashes in any position except the beginning. This is a GNU
491 extension over POSIX Yacc. Thus, use of this extension is reported
492 by -Wyacc and rejected in Yacc mode (--yacc).
493
3b1977ea 494** Named references:
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495
496 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
497 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
498 actions code.
499
500 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
501 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
502 as named references:
503
ac3297d5 504 if_stmt : "if" cond_expr "then" then_stmt ';'
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505 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
506
507 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
508
ac3297d5 509 stmt[res] : "if" expr[cond] "then" stmt[then] "else" stmt[else] ';'
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510 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
511
f840c05a 512 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
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513 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
514 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
515
f840c05a 516 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
348f5608 517 will help to stabilize them.
2bd435c3 518 Contributed by Alex Rozenman.
348f5608 519
3b1977ea 520** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
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521
522 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
523 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
723206df 524 with the full language-recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
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525 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction
526 in parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
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527 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
528 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
529 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
530 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
531
532 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
533 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
534 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
535 file with these directives:
536
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537 %define lr.type lalr
538 %define lr.type ielr
539 %define lr.type canonical-lr
34a6c2d1 540
6f04ee6c 541 The default-reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
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542 adjusted using "%define lr.default-reductions". For details on both
543 of these features, see the new section "Tuning LR" in the Bison
6f04ee6c 544 manual.
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545
546 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
547 stabilize them.
548
6f04ee6c 549** LAC (Lookahead Correction) for syntax error handling:
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550
551 Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
552 upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
553 additional parser stack reductions before discovering the syntax
6f04ee6c 554 error. Such reductions can perform user semantic actions that are
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555 unexpected because they are based on an invalid token, and they
556 cause error recovery to begin in a different syntactic context than
557 the one in which the invalid token was encountered. Second, when
6f04ee6c 558 verbose error messages are enabled (with %error-verbose or the
e4ab1254 559 obsolete "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE"), the expected token list in the
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560 syntax error message can both contain invalid tokens and omit valid
561 tokens.
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562
563 The culprits for the above problems are %nonassoc, default
564 reductions in inconsistent states, and parser state merging. Thus,
565 IELR and LALR suffer the most. Canonical LR can suffer only if
566 %nonassoc is used or if default reductions are enabled for
567 inconsistent states.
568
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569 LAC is a new mechanism within the parsing algorithm that solves
570 these problems for canonical LR, IELR, and LALR without sacrificing
571 %nonassoc, default reductions, or state merging. When LAC is in
572 use, canonical LR and IELR behave almost exactly the same for both
573 syntactically acceptable and syntactically unacceptable input.
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574 While LALR still does not support the full language-recognition
575 power of canonical LR and IELR, LAC at least enables LALR's syntax
576 error handling to correctly reflect LALR's language-recognition
577 power.
578
579 Currently, LAC is only supported for deterministic parsers in C.
580 You can enable LAC with the following directive:
581
582 %define parse.lac full
583
e4ab1254 584 See the new section "LAC" in the Bison manual for additional
6f04ee6c 585 details including a few caveats.
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586
587 LAC is an experimental feature. More user feedback will help to
588 stabilize it.
589
6ee881f6 590** %define improvements:
f37495f6 591
3b1977ea 592*** Can now be invoked via the command line:
4ecd3681 593
34d41938 594 Each of these command-line options
4ecd3681 595
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596 -D NAME[=VALUE]
597 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
598
599 -F NAME[=VALUE]
600 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
4ecd3681
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601
602 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
603
34d41938 604 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
4ecd3681 605
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606 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
607 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
608 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
e4ab1254 609 details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
4ecd3681 610
3b1977ea 611*** Variables renamed:
812775a0
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612
613 The following %define variables
614
615 api.push_pull
616 lr.keep_unreachable_states
617
618 have been renamed to
619
620 api.push-pull
621 lr.keep-unreachable-states
622
623 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
624 for backward compatibility.
625
723206df 626*** Values no longer need to be quoted in the grammar file:
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627
628 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
629 within quotations marks. For example,
630
631 %define api.push-pull "push"
632
633 can be rewritten as
634
635 %define api.push-pull push
636
6ee881f6 637*** Unrecognized variables are now errors not warnings.
c046698e 638
6ee881f6
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639*** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
640
641** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now errors not warnings.
642
643** Character literals not of length one:
644
645 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
646 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
647 the following grammar to be the same token:
648
649 exp: exp '++'
650 | exp '+' exp
651 ;
652
653 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
654 some future release, Bison will start reporting an error instead.
655
656** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions:
657
658 Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
659 altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
660 determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
661 error or upon parser return. This bug has been fixed.
662
663** C++ parsers use YYRHSLOC:
664
665 Similarly to the C parsers, the C++ parsers now define the YYRHSLOC
666 macro and use it in the default YYLLOC_DEFAULT. You are encouraged
e4ab1254
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667 to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has "first"
668 and "last" members, instead of
6ee881f6 669
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670 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
671 do \
672 if (N) \
673 { \
674 (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
675 (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
676 } \
677 else \
678 { \
679 (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
680 } \
681 while (false)
6ee881f6
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682
683 use:
684
e29f0771
AD
685 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
686 do \
687 if (N) \
688 { \
689 (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
690 (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
691 } \
692 else \
693 { \
694 (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
695 } \
696 while (false)
6ee881f6
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697
698** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
699
700 The default implementation of YYLLOC_DEFAULT used to be issued in
701 the header file. It is now output in the implementation file, after
702 the user %code sections so that its #ifndef guard does not try to
703 override the user's YYLLOC_DEFAULT if provided.
c046698e 704
3b1977ea 705** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it:
62efdd2a
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706
707 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
708 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. More recently, it was
709 a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers. As
710 promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
711 semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
712 no longer implement YYFAIL at all. For further details, including a
713 discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
714 being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
715
3b1977ea 716** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action:
a2d05674
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717
718 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
719 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
720 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
721 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
722
723 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
724
725 instead of
726
727 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
728
729 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
730 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
731 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
732 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
733 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
734 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
735 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
736
095a1d11
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737** Verbose syntax error message fixes:
738
e4ab1254 739 When %error-verbose or the obsolete "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE" is
6f04ee6c
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740 specified, syntax error messages produced by the generated parser
741 include the unexpected token as well as a list of expected tokens.
742 The effect of %nonassoc on these verbose messages has been corrected
743 in two ways, but a more complete fix requires LAC, described above:
095a1d11
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744
745*** When %nonassoc is used, there can exist parser states that accept no
746 tokens, and so the parser does not always require a lookahead token
747 in order to detect a syntax error. Because no unexpected token or
748 expected tokens can then be reported, the verbose syntax error
749 message described above is suppressed, and the parser instead
e4ab1254 750 reports the simpler message, "syntax error". Previously, this
095a1d11
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751 suppression was sometimes erroneously triggered by %nonassoc when a
752 lookahead was actually required. Now verbose messages are
753 suppressed only when all previous lookaheads have already been
754 shifted or discarded.
755
756*** Previously, the list of expected tokens erroneously included tokens
757 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
758 were resolved with %nonassoc in the current parser state. Such
759 tokens are now properly omitted from the list.
760
761*** Expected token lists are still often wrong due to state merging
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762 (from LALR or IELR) and default reductions, which can both add
763 invalid tokens and subtract valid tokens. Canonical LR almost
764 completely fixes this problem by eliminating state merging and
765 default reductions. However, there is one minor problem left even
766 when using canonical LR and even after the fixes above. That is,
767 if the resolution of a conflict with %nonassoc appears in a later
768 parser state than the one at which some syntax error is
769 discovered, the conflicted token is still erroneously included in
770 the expected token list. Bison's new LAC implementation,
771 described above, eliminates this problem and the need for
772 canonical LR. However, LAC is still experimental and is disabled
773 by default.
1fa30307 774
4c2a6e42
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775** Java skeleton fixes:
776
777*** A location handling bug has been fixed.
778
779*** The top element of each of the value stack and location stack is now
780 cleared when popped so that it can be garbage collected.
77768165 781
f0e2c228
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782*** Parser traces now print the top element of the stack.
783
248dba53
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784** -W/--warnings fixes:
785
e4ab1254 786*** Bison now properly recognizes the "no-" versions of categories:
248dba53
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787
788 For example, given the following command line, Bison now enables all
789 warnings except warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
790
791 bison -Wall,no-yacc gram.y
792
6f8bdce2
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793*** Bison now treats S/R and R/R conflicts like other warnings:
794
795 Previously, conflict reports were independent of Bison's normal
796 warning system. Now, Bison recognizes the warning categories
e4ab1254 797 "conflicts-sr" and "conflicts-rr". This change has important
6f8bdce2
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798 consequences for the -W and --warnings command-line options. For
799 example:
800
801 bison -Wno-conflicts-sr gram.y # S/R conflicts not reported
802 bison -Wno-conflicts-rr gram.y # R/R conflicts not reported
803 bison -Wnone gram.y # no conflicts are reported
804 bison -Werror gram.y # any conflict is an error
805
806 However, as before, if the %expect or %expect-rr directive is
807 specified, an unexpected number of conflicts is an error, and an
808 expected number of conflicts is not reported, so -W and --warning
809 then have no effect on the conflict report.
810
e4ab1254 811*** The "none" category no longer disables a preceding "error":
dab96632
JD
812
813 For example, for the following command line, Bison now reports
814 errors instead of warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
815
816 bison -Werror,none,yacc gram.y
817
e4ab1254 818*** The "none" category now disables all Bison warnings:
8ffd7912 819
e4ab1254 820 Previously, the "none" category disabled only Bison warnings for
8ffd7912
JD
821 which there existed a specific -W/--warning category. However,
822 given the following command line, Bison is now guaranteed to
823 suppress all warnings:
824
825 bison -Wnone gram.y
826
9d6af153
JD
827** Precedence directives can now assign token number 0:
828
829 Since Bison 2.3b, which restored the ability of precedence
830 directives to assign token numbers, doing so for token number 0 has
831 produced an assertion failure. For example:
832
833 %left END 0
834
835 This bug has been fixed.
836
7527c744 837* Changes in version 2.4.3 (2010-08-05):
7a9c3cb3 838
4631c34f
JD
839** Bison now obeys -Werror and --warnings=error for warnings about
840 grammar rules that are useless in the parser due to conflicts.
841
7a9c3cb3
JD
842** Problems with spawning M4 on at least FreeBSD 8 and FreeBSD 9 have
843 been fixed.
844
132247cd
JD
845** Failures in the test suite for GCC 4.5 have been fixed.
846
88bb35d6
JD
847** Failures in the test suite for some versions of Sun Studio C++ have
848 been fixed.
849
43fdc9fd
JD
850** Contrary to Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, it has been decided that
851 warnings about undefined %prec identifiers will not be converted to
852 errors in Bison 2.5. They will remain warnings, which should be
853 sufficient for POSIX while avoiding backward compatibility issues.
854
cf22447c
JD
855** Minor documentation fixes.
856
ea66d039 857* Changes in version 2.4.2 (2010-03-20):
8defe11b 858
47fa5747
JD
859** Some portability problems that resulted in failures and livelocks
860 in the test suite on some versions of at least Solaris, AIX, HP-UX,
ea66d039
JD
861 RHEL4, and Tru64 have been addressed. As a result, fatal Bison
862 errors should no longer cause M4 to report a broken pipe on the
47fa5747
JD
863 affected platforms.
864
e4ab1254 865** "%prec IDENTIFIER" requires IDENTIFIER to be defined separately.
2c203528
JD
866
867 POSIX specifies that an error be reported for any identifier that does
868 not appear on the LHS of a grammar rule and that is not defined by
869 %token, %left, %right, or %nonassoc. Bison 2.3b and later lost this
870 error report for the case when an identifier appears only after a
871 %prec directive. It is now restored. However, for backward
872 compatibility with recent Bison releases, it is only a warning for
873 now. In Bison 2.5 and later, it will return to being an error.
43fdc9fd
JD
874 [Between the 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 releases, it was decided that this
875 warning will not be converted to an error in Bison 2.5.]
2c203528 876
c5196098
EB
877** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
878
34731471
JD
879** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
880 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
881 avoided.
af2ffe5c 882
966aba65
JD
883** %code is now a permanent feature.
884
885 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
886
887 %{CODE%}
888
889 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
890 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
891
892 %code {CODE}
893 %code requires {CODE}
894 %code provides {CODE}
895 %code top {CODE}
896
897 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
898 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
899 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
900 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
901 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
902
903 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
904 is still considered experimental.
905
41d35e54
JD
906** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
907
908 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
909 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. Previously, it was
910 documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers. YYFAIL is no longer
911 documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
912 Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
913 specified by POSIX.
914
915 Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
916 induce a syntax error. The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
917 that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
918 error so that you don't have to. However, there are several other
919 subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
e4ab1254 920 inherent flaws when %error-verbose or "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE" is
41d35e54
JD
921 used. For a more detailed discussion, see:
922
923 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
924
925 The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
926 deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it. However,
927 because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
928 Bison features compatible with it. Thus, during parser generation,
929 Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
930 rule action. In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
e4ab1254 931 %error-verbose and "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE". Eventually, YYFAIL will
41d35e54
JD
932 be removed altogether.
933
934 There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
935 be a false positive. Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
936 Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
937 preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
938 To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
e4ab1254 939 epilogue (that is, after the second "%%") in the Bison input file. In
41d35e54
JD
940 this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
941 C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
942 phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
943 2.4.2 is not necessary.
944
dac8cc0d
AD
945** Internationalization.
946
947 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
948 message translations were not installed although supported by the
949 host system.
950
41930e7a 951* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
c9ba9e59 952
a957d06c
JD
953** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
954 declarations have been fixed.
955
738cde3e
AD
956** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
957
958 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
959 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
960
961 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
962
963 instead of
964
965 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
966
e4ab1254 967 Some grammars still depend on this "feature". Bison 2.4.1 restores
d07932ef
JD
968 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
969 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
970 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
971 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
972 feature.
a957d06c
JD
973
974** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 975
d6fb461d 976* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 977
d6fb461d 978** %language is an experimental feature.
ed4d67dc
JD
979
980 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
981 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
982 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
983 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
984 in future releases.
7bd1665a 985
d6fb461d 986** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 987
d6fb461d 988** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
241fda7a
JD
989 fixed.
990
d6fb461d 991* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 992
d6fb461d 993** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
d9df47b6
JD
994 are now deprecated:
995
996 %define NAME "VALUE"
997
e4ab1254 998** The directive "%pure-parser" is now deprecated in favor of:
d9df47b6
JD
999
1000 %define api.pure
1001
1002 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
1003 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
1004
d6fb461d 1005** Push Parsing
c373bf8b
JD
1006
1007 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
e4ab1254
AD
1008 is, instead of invoking "yyparse", which pulls tokens from "yylex", you can
1009 push one token at a time to the parser using "yypush_parse", which will
c373bf8b
JD
1010 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
1011 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
1012
1013 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
1014 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
1015
e4ab1254 1016 See the new section "A Push Parser" in the Bison manual for details.
c373bf8b 1017
59da312b
JD
1018 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
1019 feedback will help to stabilize it.
1020
d6fb461d 1021** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
8e55b3aa
JD
1022 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
1023 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 1024
d6fb461d 1025** Java
59da312b
JD
1026
1027 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
e4ab1254 1028 "data/lalr1.java". Consider using the new %language directive instead of
59da312b
JD
1029 %skeleton to select it.
1030
e4ab1254 1031 See the new section "Java Parsers" in the Bison manual for details.
59da312b
JD
1032
1033 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
1034 feedback will help to stabilize it.
2bd435c3 1035 Contributed by Paolo Bonzini.
59da312b 1036
d6fb461d 1037** %language
59da312b
JD
1038
1039 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
d43f77e7
PB
1040 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
1041 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
1042 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 1043
d6fb461d 1044** XML Automaton Report
59da312b
JD
1045
1046 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
e4ab1254 1047 "--xml" option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
59da312b 1048 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
2bd435c3 1049 Contributed by Wojciech Polak.
c373bf8b 1050
d6fb461d 1051** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
c373bf8b
JD
1052 %defines. For example:
1053
1054 %defines "parser.h"
1055
d6fb461d 1056** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
d80fb37a
JD
1057 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
1058 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
1059 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 1060
d6fb461d 1061** Unreachable State Removal
c373bf8b
JD
1062
1063 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
31984206
JD
1064 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
1065 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
75ad86ee
JD
1066
1067 1. Removes unreachable states.
1068
1069 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
1070 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
1071 directives in existing grammar files.
1072
1073 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 1074 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 1075
31984206
JD
1076 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
1077
1078 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
1079
e4ab1254 1080 See the %define entry in the "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison manual
31984206
JD
1081 for further discussion.
1082
e4ab1254 1083** Lookahead Set Correction in the ".output" Report
b1cc23c4 1084
e4ab1254
AD
1085 When instructed to generate a ".output" file including lookahead sets
1086 (using "--report=lookahead", for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
88c78747
JD
1087 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
1088 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
1089 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
1090 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
e4ab1254 1091 bug affected only the ".output" file and not the generated parser source
88c78747
JD
1092 code.
1093
e4ab1254 1094** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default ".output" file
59da312b 1095 name.
1bb2bd75 1096
e4ab1254 1097** The "=" that used to be required in the following directives is now
02975b9a
JD
1098 deprecated:
1099
1100 %file-prefix "parser"
1101 %name-prefix "c_"
1102 %output "parser.c"
1103
e4ab1254 1104** An Alternative to "%{...%}" -- "%code QUALIFIER {CODE}"
c373bf8b
JD
1105
1106 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
8e0a5e9e
JD
1107 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
1108 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
1109 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
1110 it:
1111
e4ab1254
AD
1112 1. "%code {CODE}" replaces "%after-header {CODE}"
1113 2. "%code requires {CODE}" replaces "%start-header {CODE}"
1114 3. "%code provides {CODE}" replaces "%end-header {CODE}"
1115 4. "%code top {CODE}" replaces "%before-header {CODE}"
8e0a5e9e 1116
e4ab1254
AD
1117 See the %code entries in section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
1118 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section "Prologue
1119 Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
8e0a5e9e
JD
1120 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
1121
1122 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
1123 determine whether they should become permanent features.
1124
d6fb461d 1125** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
17bd8a73
JD
1126
1127 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
1128 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
1129 about unused $2 in:
1130
1131 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
1132
1133 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
1134 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
1135
1136 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
1137
1138 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
1139 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
1140 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
1141
e4ab1254
AD
1142 To enable these warnings, specify the option "--warnings=midrule-values" or
1143 "-W", which is a synonym for "--warnings=all".
17bd8a73 1144
e4ab1254 1145** Default %destructor or %printer with "<*>" or "<>"
c373bf8b
JD
1146
1147 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
12e35840
JD
1148 %printer's:
1149
e4ab1254 1150 1. Place "<*>" in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
12e35840
JD
1151 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
1152 declared semantic type tags.
1153
e4ab1254 1154 2. Place "<>" in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
12e35840
JD
1155 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
1156 type tags.
1157
e4ab1254
AD
1158 Bison no longer supports the "%symbol-default" notation from Bison 2.3a.
1159 "<*>" and "<>" combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
12e35840
JD
1160 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
1161 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
1162
85894313
JD
1163 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
1164 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
1165 features.
1166
e4ab1254 1167 See the section "Freeing Discarded Symbols" in the Bison manual for further
12e35840
JD
1168 details.
1169
d6fb461d 1170** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
e4ab1254 1171 by POSIX. However, see the end of section "Operator Precedence" in the Bison
ab7f29f8
JD
1172 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
1173
d6fb461d 1174** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
b1cc23c4
JD
1175 completely removed from Bison.
1176
d6fb461d 1177* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 1178
d6fb461d 1179** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
ddc8ede1
PE
1180 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
1181 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
1182 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
1183 and is required by POSIX.
1184
d6fb461d 1185** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
cd48d21d
AD
1186 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
1187
d6fb461d 1188** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
ec5479ce
JD
1189
1190 For example:
1191
b2a0b7ca
JD
1192 %union { char *string; }
1193 %token <string> STRING1
1194 %token <string> STRING2
1195 %type <string> string1
1196 %type <string> string2
1197 %union { char character; }
1198 %token <character> CHR
1199 %type <character> chr
1200 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
1201 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
1202 %destructor { } <character>
1203
1204 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
e4ab1254
AD
1205 semantic type tag other than "<character>", it passes its semantic value to
1206 "free". However, when the parser discards a "STRING1" or a "string1", it
1207 also prints its line number to "stdout". It performs only the second
1208 "%destructor" in this case, so it invokes "free" only once.
ec5479ce 1209
85894313
JD
1210 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
1211 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
1212 future versions.]
1213
e4ab1254
AD
1214** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with "-y",
1215 "--yacc", or "%yacc"), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
b931235e
JD
1216 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
1217 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
1218 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
1219
d6fb461d 1220** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 1221 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
9bc0dd67
JD
1222
1223 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
e4ab1254 1224 "%{ ... %}" syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
34f98f46
JD
1225 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
1226 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 1227 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 1228
34f98f46 1229 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
9bc0dd67
JD
1230 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
1231 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
1232 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
1233 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
1234 after the token definitions.
1235
1236 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
1237 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
1238
d6fb461d 1239** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
34f98f46
JD
1240 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
1241 %after-header.
1242
1243 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
1244 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
1245 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
1246 convenient for you:
1247
1248 %before-header {
1249 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
1250 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
1251 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
1252 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
e4ab1254 1253 * example is '#include "system.h"'. */
34f98f46
JD
1254 }
1255 %start-header {
1256 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
1257 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
1258 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
1259 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
9bc0dd67
JD
1260 }
1261 %union {
34f98f46
JD
1262 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
1263 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
1264 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 1265 }
34f98f46
JD
1266 %end-header {
1267 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
1268 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
1269 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
1270 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
1271 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 1272 }
34f98f46
JD
1273 %after-header {
1274 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
1275 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
1276 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
1277 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
1278 * Bison-generated definitions. */
1279 }
1280
1281 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
1282 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 1283
85894313
JD
1284 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
1285 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
1286
e4ab1254 1287** The option "--report=look-ahead" has been changed to "--report=lookahead".
9e6e7ed2
PE
1288 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
1289 in a future release.
742e4900 1290
d6fb461d 1291* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 1292
e4ab1254 1293** GLR grammars should now use "YYRECOVERING ()" instead of "YYRECOVERING",
4ad3ed84
PE
1294 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
1295
d6fb461d 1296** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
4ad3ed84
PE
1297 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
1298
d6fb461d 1299* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 1300
d6fb461d 1301** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
193d7c70
PE
1302 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
1303 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 1304
d6fb461d 1305** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 1306
d6fb461d 1307** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 1308
d6fb461d 1309** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
d6ca7905
PE
1310 their contents together.
1311
d6fb461d 1312** New warning: unused values
4d7bc38c
PE
1313 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
1314 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 1315
8f3596a6 1316 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
e29f0771
AD
1317 | exp "+" exp
1318 ;
affac613 1319
8f3596a6
AD
1320 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
1321 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 1322 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 1323
4e26c69e 1324 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
e29f0771
AD
1325 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
1326 | exp "+" exp
1327 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
1328 ;
affac613 1329
4e26c69e
PE
1330 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
1331 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
1332 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 1333
8f3596a6 1334 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
e29f0771
AD
1335 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
1336 ;
721be13c 1337
84866159
AD
1338 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
1339 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
1340
1341 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
1342
721be13c
PE
1343 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
1344 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 1345
d6fb461d 1346** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
9d9b8b70
PE
1347 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
1348 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
1349 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 1350
d6fb461d 1351** %expect, %expect-rr
035aa4a0
PE
1352 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
1353 instead of warnings.
1354
d6fb461d 1355** GLR, YACC parsers.
4e26c69e
PE
1356 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
1357 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 1358
e4ab1254 1359** Bison now warns if it finds a stray "$" or "@" in an action.
ad6a9b97 1360
d6fb461d 1361** %require "VERSION"
4e26c69e
PE
1362 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
1363 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 1364
d6fb461d 1365** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
e14d0ab6
AD
1366 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
1367 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
e4ab1254
AD
1368 tokens are enumerations of the "yy::parser::token" struct, and the
1369 semantic values have the "yy::parser::semantic_type" type.
fb9712a9
AD
1370
1371 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
e4ab1254 1372 '%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
b50d2359
AD
1373 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
1374 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 1375
b50d2359 1376 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
e4ab1254 1377 fail using '%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 1378
d6fb461d 1379** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 1380\f
d6fb461d 1381* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 1382
d6fb461d 1383** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 1384
d6fb461d 1385** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
baf785db
PE
1386 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
1387 language is still English. For details, please see the new
0410a6e0
PE
1388 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
1389 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
1390 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 1391
d6fb461d 1392** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
1a059451
PE
1393 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
1394 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
1395 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
1396
d6fb461d 1397** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
258b75ca
PE
1398 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
1399 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
1400
d6fb461d 1401** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
72f000b0
PE
1402 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
1403 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
1404 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
1405 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 1406\f
d6fb461d 1407* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 1408
d6fb461d 1409** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 1410
82de6b0d
PE
1411 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
1412 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
1413 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
1414 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
1415 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 1416
82de6b0d
PE
1417 - Error token location.
1418 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
1419 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
1420 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
1421 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 1422
82de6b0d
PE
1423 - Semicolon changes:
1424 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
1425 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 1426
82de6b0d
PE
1427 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
1428 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
1429 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
1430 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 1431
82de6b0d 1432 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 1433
d6fb461d 1434** New features
1452af69 1435
82de6b0d 1436 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 1437
82de6b0d
PE
1438 - New directive: %initial-action.
1439 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
1440 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 1441
82de6b0d
PE
1442 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
1443 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 1444
e4ab1254 1445 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., "%token FOO 0x12d".
82de6b0d 1446 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 1447
e4ab1254 1448 - The option "--report=lookahead" was changed to "--report=look-ahead".
9e6e7ed2 1449 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 1450
82de6b0d 1451 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 1452
82de6b0d
PE
1453 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
1454 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 1455
d6fb461d 1456** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 1457
82de6b0d
PE
1458 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
1459 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
1460 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
1461 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
1462 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
1463 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 1464
82de6b0d
PE
1465 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
1466 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 1467
82de6b0d 1468 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 1469\f
d6fb461d 1470* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 1471
d6fb461d 1472** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 1473 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 1474
d6fb461d 1475** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 1476
dc546b0f
PE
1477 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
1478 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 1479
dc546b0f
PE
1480 - %destructor
1481 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
1482 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 1483
dc546b0f
PE
1484 - %error-verbose
1485 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 1486
dc546b0f
PE
1487 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
1488 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 1489
d6fb461d 1490** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 1491
dc546b0f
PE
1492 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
1493 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
1494 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 1495
e4ab1254
AD
1496 - "parse error" -> "syntax error"
1497 Bison now uniformly uses the term "syntax error"; formerly, the code
1498 and manual sometimes used the term "parse error" instead. POSIX
1499 requires "syntax error" in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
dc546b0f 1500 be consistent.
74724a70 1501
dc546b0f
PE
1502 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
1503 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 1504
dc546b0f
PE
1505 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
1506 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 1507
dc546b0f
PE
1508 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
1509 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 1510
dc546b0f 1511 - Yacc command and library now available
e4ab1254 1512 The Bison distribution now installs a "yacc" command, as POSIX requires.
dc546b0f
PE
1513 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
1514 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
1515 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 1516
dc546b0f 1517 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 1518
dc546b0f
PE
1519 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
1520 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
1521 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 1522
d6fb461d 1523** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 1524
e4ab1254
AD
1525 - %union directives can now have a tag before the "{", e.g., the
1526 directive "%union foo {...}" now generates the C code
1527 "typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;"; this is for Yacc compatibility.
1528 The default union tag is "YYSTYPE", for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
1529 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now "YYLTYPE" not "yyltype".
dc546b0f 1530 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 1531
e4ab1254 1532 - ";" is output before the terminating "}" of an action, for
dc546b0f 1533 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 1534
dc546b0f 1535 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
e4ab1254 1536 "conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce".
437c2d80 1537
e4ab1254 1538 - "yystype" and "yyltype" are now obsolescent macros instead of being
dc546b0f
PE
1539 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
1540 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 1541
d6fb461d 1542** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 1543
dc546b0f
PE
1544 - GLR and inline
1545 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
e4ab1254 1546 C keyword "inline".
959e5f51 1547
e4ab1254
AD
1548 - "parsing stack overflow..." -> "parser stack overflow"
1549 GLR parsers now report "parser stack overflow" as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 1550
18ad57b3
AD
1551** %parse-param and %lex-param
1552 The macros YYPARSE_PARAM and YYLEX_PARAM provide a means to pass
1553 additional context to yyparse and yylex. They suffer from several
1554 shortcomings:
1555
1556 - a single argument only can be added,
1557 - their types are weak (void *),
242cc08e 1558 - this context is not passed to ancillary functions such as yyerror,
18ad57b3
AD
1559 - only yacc.c parsers support them.
1560
1561 The new %parse-param/%lex-param directives provide a more precise control.
1562 For instance:
1563
1564 %parse-param {int *nastiness}
1565 %lex-param {int *nastiness}
1566 %parse-param {int *randomness}
1567
1568 results in the following signatures:
1569
1570 int yylex (int *nastiness);
1571 int yyparse (int *nastiness, int *randomness);
1572
1573 or, if both %pure-parser and %locations are used:
1574
1575 int yylex (YYSTYPE *lvalp, YYLTYPE *llocp, int *nastiness);
1576 int yyparse (int *nastiness, int *randomness);
1577
d6fb461d 1578** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
e4ab1254 1579 e.g., it generates a warning for "bison -d -o foo.h foo.y" since
dc546b0f 1580 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 1581
d6fb461d 1582** #line in output files
dc546b0f 1583 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 1584
d6fb461d 1585** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
1586 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
1587 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
1588 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 1589\f
d6fb461d 1590* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 1591
d6fb461d 1592** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 1593
d6fb461d 1594** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 1595
d6fb461d 1596** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1597 Fix spurious parse errors.
1598
d6fb461d 1599** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1600 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
1601 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
1602
d6fb461d 1603** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
1604 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
1605 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
1606
e29f0771 1607 untyped: ... typed;
d90c934c
AD
1608
1609 but the converse remains an error:
1610
e29f0771 1611 typed: ... untyped;
d90c934c 1612
d6fb461d 1613** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
1614 The following code:
1615
e29f0771 1616 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
d90c934c
AD
1617
1618 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
1619 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 1620\f
d6fb461d 1621* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 1622
d6fb461d 1623** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
1624 The declaration
1625 %glr-parser
1626 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
1627 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 1628 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
1629 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
1630
7933f2b5 1631 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
1632 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
1633
d6fb461d 1634** Output Directory
8c165d89 1635 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e4ab1254
AD
1636 specified, running "bison foo/bar.y" created "foo/bar.c". It
1637 now creates "bar.c".
8c165d89 1638
d6fb461d 1639** Undefined token
007a50a4 1640 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 1641 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 1642
d6fb461d 1643** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 1644 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
1645 no longer the case.
1646
d6fb461d 1647** Error token
e88dbdbf 1648 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
1649 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
1650 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
1651 will be mapped onto another number.
1652
d6fb461d 1653** Verbose error messages
e4ab1254 1654 They no longer report "..., expecting error or..." for states where
217598da
AD
1655 error recovery is possible.
1656
d6fb461d 1657** End token
e4ab1254 1658 Defaults to "$end" instead of "$".
217598da 1659
d6fb461d 1660** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
1661 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
1662 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
1663 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
1664 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
1665 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
1666 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
1667 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
1668 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 1669
d6fb461d 1670** Traces
5504898e
AD
1671 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
1672
d6fb461d 1673** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
1674 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
1675 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
1676 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
1677 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 1678
d6fb461d 1679** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
1680 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
1681 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
1682 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 1683
d6fb461d 1684** Useless rules
643a5994 1685 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 1686 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 1687
d6fb461d 1688** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
1689 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
1690
d6fb461d 1691** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
1692 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
1693 reported.
1694
e4ab1254 1695** Incorrect "Token not used"
11652ab3
AD
1696 On a grammar such as
1697
e29f0771
AD
1698 %token useless useful
1699 %%
1700 exp: '0' %prec useful;
11652ab3
AD
1701
1702 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
e4ab1254 1703 bison reported both "useful" and "useless" as useless tokens.
11652ab3 1704
d6fb461d 1705** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 1706 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 1707
d6fb461d 1708** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
1709 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
1710 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
1711 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
1712 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 1713
d6fb461d 1714** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
1715 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
1716 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
e4ab1254 1717 error messages instead of "$end", which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 1718 For instance
e29f0771 1719 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 1720 or
e29f0771 1721 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 1722
d6fb461d 1723** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
1724 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
1725
d6fb461d 1726** New translations
a861a339 1727 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
1728 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
1729
d6fb461d 1730** Incorrect token definitions
e4ab1254
AD
1731 When given
1732 %token 'a' "A"
1733 bison used to output
1734 #define 'a' 65
b87f8b21 1735
d6fb461d 1736** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
1737 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
1738 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 1739 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 1740
d6fb461d 1741** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
1742 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
1743 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
1744 - itemset
1745 complete the core item sets with their closure
e4ab1254 1746 - lookahead [changed to "look-ahead" in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
9e6e7ed2 1747 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
1748 - solved
1749 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
1750 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
1751 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 1752
d6fb461d 1753** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
1754 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
1755 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
1756
e29f0771
AD
1757 %type <foo> bar
1758 %%
1759 bar: '0' {} '0';
9af3fbce
AD
1760
1761 This is fixed.
a861a339 1762
d6fb461d 1763** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 1764\f
d6fb461d 1765* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 1766
d6fb461d 1767** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
1768 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
1769 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
1770 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
1771
1772 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
1773 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
1774 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
1775 kludge will be disabled.
1776
1777 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
1778 extended.
76551463 1779\f
d6fb461d 1780* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 1781
d6fb461d 1782** File name clashes are detected
76551463 1783 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
e4ab1254 1784 fatal error: header and parser would both be named "foo.x"
76551463 1785
e4ab1254 1786** A missing ";" at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
1787 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1788 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1789 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1790 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1791 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1792
d6fb461d 1793** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
1794 many portability hassles.
1795
d6fb461d 1796** DJGPP support added.
76551463 1797
d6fb461d 1798** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 1799\f
d6fb461d 1800* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 1801
d6fb461d 1802** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
1803 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1804 under some conditions.
1805
d6fb461d 1806** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
1807 As is done with $n.
1808\f
d6fb461d 1809* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 1810
d6fb461d 1811** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 1812
d6fb461d 1813** Portability fixes
76551463 1814
d6fb461d 1815** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 1816\f
d6fb461d 1817* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 1818
d6fb461d 1819** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 1820
d6fb461d 1821** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1822 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1823 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1824 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
e4ab1254 1825 does not trigger an error when the input file is named "plural.y".
52d1aeee 1826
d6fb461d 1827** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
1828 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1829 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1830
1831 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1832 problems as on AIX.
1833
d6fb461d 1834** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 1835
d6fb461d 1836** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
1837 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1838
d6fb461d 1839** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
1840 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1841 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1842 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1843
d6fb461d 1844** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 1845 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 1846 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 1847
d6fb461d 1848** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
1849 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1850
d6fb461d 1851** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
1852 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1853
d6fb461d 1854** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
1855 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1856
d6fb461d 1857** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1858 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1859 any warning.
1860
d6fb461d 1861** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 1862
d6fb461d 1863** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 1864
d6fb461d 1865** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 1866
d6fb461d 1867** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
1868 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1869 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1870 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1871
d6fb461d 1872** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
1873 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1874 previous allocations were not freed.
1875
d6fb461d 1876** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
1877 Some newlines were missing.
1878 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1879
d6fb461d 1880** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
1881 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1882
d6fb461d 1883** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1884 Was not used.
1885 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1886
d6fb461d 1887** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 1888
d6fb461d 1889** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 1890
d6fb461d 1891** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 1892
d6fb461d 1893** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
1894 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1895
d6fb461d 1896** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 1897
d6fb461d 1898** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
1899 New.
1900
d6fb461d 1901** --output
e4ab1254 1902 New, aliasing "--output-file".
52d1aeee 1903\f
d6fb461d 1904* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 1905
e4ab1254
AD
1906** "--defines" and "--graph" have now an optional argument which is the
1907 output file name. "-d" and "-g" do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
1908 argument.
1909
e4ab1254 1910** "%source_extension" and "%header_extension" are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
1911 experiment.
1912
d6fb461d 1913** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 1914\f
d6fb461d 1915* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 1916
d6fb461d 1917** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
1918 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1919 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
e4ab1254 1920 "-Dconst=". Autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
342b8b6e 1921
e4ab1254 1922** Added "-g" and "--graph".
f87a2205 1923
d6fb461d 1924** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 1925
d6fb461d 1926** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 1927
d6fb461d 1928** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 1929
d6fb461d 1930** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 1931
d6fb461d 1932** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 1933
e4ab1254 1934** Added "--locations" and "%locations".
6deb4447 1935
e4ab1254 1936** Added "-S" and "--skeleton".
cd5bd6ac 1937
e4ab1254 1938** "%raw", "-r", "--raw" is disabled.
62ab6972 1939
d6fb461d 1940** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
1941 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1942
d6fb461d 1943** New directives.
e4ab1254
AD
1944 "%yacc", "%fixed_output_files", "%defines", "%no_parser", "%verbose",
1945 "%debug", "%source_extension" and "%header_extension".
f987e9d2 1946
d6fb461d 1947** @$
f987e9d2 1948 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 1949\f
d6fb461d 1950* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 1951
d6fb461d 1952** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 1953
d6fb461d 1954** Added NLS.
d2e00347 1955
d6fb461d 1956** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 1957
d6fb461d 1958** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 1959\f
d6fb461d 1960* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 1961
d6fb461d 1962** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
1963 some systems has been fixed.
1964\f
d6fb461d 1965* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 1966
7e508a2b 1967** Bison now uses Automake.
4be07551 1968
d6fb461d 1969** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 1970
d6fb461d 1971** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 1972
d6fb461d 1973** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 1974
d6fb461d 1975** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 1976
d6fb461d 1977** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 1978
d6fb461d 1979** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 1980 not provide alloca().
4be07551 1981\f
d6fb461d 1982* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 1983
d6fb461d 1984** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 1985the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 1986
d6fb461d 1987** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5 1988example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
7e508a2b 1989of choosing a name like LESSEQ.
df8878c5 1990
d6fb461d 1991** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
1992and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1993table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1994purposes.
1995
d6fb461d 1996** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
1997directives in the parser file.
1998
d6fb461d 1999** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
2000Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
2001
d6fb461d 2002** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
2003the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
2004The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
2005a switch statement body.
2006\f
d6fb461d 2007* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 2008
4d019228
DM
2009The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
2010passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
2011actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
2012by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 2013
6780ca7a 2014Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 2015\f
d6fb461d 2016* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
2017
2018--help option added.
6780ca7a 2019\f
d6fb461d 2020* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
2021
2022Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6 2023
76551463
AD
2024-----
2025
c932d613 2026Copyright (C) 1995-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 2027
8defe11b 2028This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
76551463 2029
f16b0819 2030This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 2031it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
2032the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2033(at your option) any later version.
76551463 2034
f16b0819 2035This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
2036but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2037MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2038GNU General Public License for more details.
2039
2040You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 2041along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
7e508a2b
AD
2042
2043 LocalWords: yacc YYBACKUP glr GCC lalr ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException nullptr
2044 LocalWords: cplusplus liby rpl fprintf mfcalc Wyacc stmt cond expr mk sym lr
2045 LocalWords: IELR ielr Lookahead YYERROR nonassoc LALR's api lookaheads yychar
2046 LocalWords: destructor lookahead YYRHSLOC YYLLOC Rhs ifndef YYFAIL cpp sr rr
2047 LocalWords: preprocessor initializer Wno Wnone Werror FreeBSD prec livelocks
2048 LocalWords: Solaris AIX UX RHEL Tru LHS gcc's Wundef YYENABLE NLS YYLTYPE VCG
2049 LocalWords: yyerror cpp's Wunused yylval yylloc prepend yyparse yylex yypush
2050 LocalWords: Graphviz xml nonterminals midrule destructor's YYSTYPE typedef ly
2051 LocalWords: CHR chr printf stdout namespace preprocessing enum pre include's
2052 LocalWords: YYRECOVERING nonfree destructors YYABORT YYACCEPT params enums de
2053 LocalWords: struct yystype DJGPP lex param Haible NUM alloca YYSTACK NUL goto
2054 LocalWords: YYMAXDEPTH Unescaped UCNs YYLTYPE's yyltype typedefs inline Yaccs
2055 LocalWords: Heriyanto Reenable dprec Hilfinger Eggert MYEOF Folle Menezes EOF
242cc08e 2056 LocalWords: Lackovic define's itemset Groff Gettext malloc NEWS'ed YYDEBUG YY
7e508a2b 2057 LocalWords: namespaces strerror const autoconfiguration Dconst Autoconf's FDL
242cc08e
AD
2058 LocalWords: Automake TMPDIR LESSEQ ylwrap endif yydebug YYTOKEN YYLSP ival hh
2059 LocalWords: extern YYTOKENTYPE TOKENTYPE yytokentype tokentype STYPE lval pdf
7287be84
AD
2060 LocalWords: lang yyoutput dvi html ps POSIX lvalp llocp calc yyo fval Wmaybe
2061 LocalWords: yyvsp pragmas noreturn java's
7e508a2b
AD
2062
2063Local Variables:
2064mode: outline
e4ab1254 2065fill-column: 76
7e508a2b 2066End: