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1Bison News
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4Changes in version 2.3a+ (????-??-??):
5
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6* The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
7 are now deprecated:
8
9 %define NAME "VALUE"
10
11* The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
12
13 %define api.pure
14
15 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
16 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
17
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18* Push Parsing
19
20 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
21 is, instead of invoking yyparse, which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
22 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
23 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
24 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
25
26 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
27 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
28
29 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
30
31* The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
32 not VCG format.
33
34* An experimental directive %language specifies the language of the
35 generated parser, which can be C (the default) or C++. This
36 directive affects the skeleton used, and the names of the generated
37 files if the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
38
39* The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
40 %defines. For example:
41
42 %defines "parser.h"
43
44* Unreachable State Removal
45
46 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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47 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
48 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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49
50 1. Removes unreachable states.
51
52 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
53 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
54 directives in existing grammar files.
55
56 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
57 "never reduced because of conflicts".
58
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59 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
60
61 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
62
63 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
64 for further discussion.
65
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66* Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
67
68 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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69 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
70 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
71 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
72 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
73 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
74 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
75 code.
76
16dc6a9e 77* The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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78 deprecated:
79
80 %file-prefix "parser"
81 %name-prefix "c_"
82 %output "parser.c"
83
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84* An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
85
86 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
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87 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
88 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
89 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
90 it:
91
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92 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
93 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
94 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
95 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 96
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97 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
98 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
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99 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
100 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
101
102 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
103 determine whether they should become permanent features.
104
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105* Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
106
107 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
108 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
109 about unused $2 in:
110
111 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
112
113 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
114 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
115
116 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
117
118 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
119 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
120 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
121
122 To enable these warnings, specify the flag `--warnings=midrule-values' or
123 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
124
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125* Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
126
127 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
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128 %printer's:
129
130 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
131 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
132 declared semantic type tags.
133
3ebecc24 134 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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135 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
136 type tags.
137
138 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 139 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
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140 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
141 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
142
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143 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
144 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
145 features.
146
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147 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
148 details.
149
21fe08ca 150Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 151
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152* Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
153 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
154 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
155 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
156 and is required by POSIX.
157
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158* Locations columns and lines start at 1.
159 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
160
b2a0b7ca 161* You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
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162
163 For example:
164
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165 %union { char *string; }
166 %token <string> STRING1
167 %token <string> STRING2
168 %type <string> string1
169 %type <string> string2
170 %union { char character; }
171 %token <character> CHR
172 %type <character> chr
173 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
174 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
175 %destructor { } <character>
176
177 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
178 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
179 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
180 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
181 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 182
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183 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
184 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
185 future versions.]
186
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187* Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
188 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
189 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
190 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
191 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
192
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193* Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
194 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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195
196 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
197 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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198 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
199 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 200 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 201
34f98f46 202 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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203 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
204 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
205 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
206 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
207 after the token definitions.
208
209 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
210 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
211
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212* Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
213 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
214 %after-header.
215
216 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
217 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
218 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
219 convenient for you:
220
221 %before-header {
222 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
223 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
224 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
225 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
226 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
227 }
228 %start-header {
229 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
230 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
231 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
232 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
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233 }
234 %union {
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235 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
236 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
237 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 238 }
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239 %end-header {
240 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
241 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
242 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
243 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
244 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 245 }
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246 %after-header {
247 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
248 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
249 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
250 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
251 * Bison-generated definitions. */
252 }
253
254 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
255 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 256
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257 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
258 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
259
742e4900 260* The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
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261 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
262 in a future release.
742e4900 263
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264Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
265
266* GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
267 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
268
269* It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
270 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
271
ab8d9dc5 272Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
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273
274* The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
275 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
276 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 277
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278* %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
279
280* The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 281
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282* Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
283 their contents together.
284
affac613 285* New warning: unused values
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286 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
287 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 288
8f3596a6 289 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
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290 | exp "+" exp
291 ;
affac613 292
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293 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
294 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 295 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 296
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297 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
298 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
299 | exp "+" exp
300 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 301 ;
affac613 302
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303 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
304 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
305 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 306
8f3596a6 307 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
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308 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
309 ;
310
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311 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
312 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
313
314 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
315
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316 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
317 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 318
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319* %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
320 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
321 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
322 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 323
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324* %expect, %expect-rr
325 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
326 instead of warnings.
327
4b367315 328* GLR, YACC parsers.
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329 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
330 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 331
302c0aee 332* Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 333
b50d2359 334* %require "VERSION"
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335 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
336 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 337
fb9712a9 338* lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
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339 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
340 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
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341 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
342 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
343
344 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
345 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
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346 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
347 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 348
b50d2359 349 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 350 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 351
302c0aee 352* DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 353\f
1bd0deda 354Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 355
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356* The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
357
a7db4add 358* Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
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359 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
360 language is still English. For details, please see the new
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361 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
362 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
363 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 364
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365* Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
366 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
367 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
368 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
369
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370* Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
371 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
372 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
373
a7db4add 374* When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
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375 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
376 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
377 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
378 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 379\f
82de6b0d 380Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 381
82de6b0d 382* Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 383
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384 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
385 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
386 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
387 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
388 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 389
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390 - Error token location.
391 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
392 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
393 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
394 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 395
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396 - Semicolon changes:
397 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
398 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 399
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400 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
401 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
402 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
403 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 404
82de6b0d 405 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 406
82de6b0d 407* New features
1452af69 408
82de6b0d 409 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 410
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411 - New directive: %initial-action.
412 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
413 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 414
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415 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
416 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 417
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418 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
419 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 420
82de6b0d 421 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 422 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 423
82de6b0d 424 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 425
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426 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
427 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 428
82de6b0d 429* Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 430
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431 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
432 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
433 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
434 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
435 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
436 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 437
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438 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
439 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 440
82de6b0d 441 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 442\f
dc546b0f 443Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 444
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445* The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
446 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 447
dc546b0f 448* syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 449
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450 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
451 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 452
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453 - %destructor
454 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
455 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 456
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457 - %error-verbose
458 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 459
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460 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
461 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 462
dc546b0f 463* POSIX conformance
d1de5372 464
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465 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
466 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
467 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 468
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469 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
470 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
471 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
472 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
473 be consistent.
74724a70 474
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475 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
476 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 477
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478 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
479 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 480
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481 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
482 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 483
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484 - Yacc command and library now available
485 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
486 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
487 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
488 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 489
dc546b0f 490 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 491
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492 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
493 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
494 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 495
dc546b0f 496* Other compatibility issues
886a425c 497
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498 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
499 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
500 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
501 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
502 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
503 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 504
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505 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
506 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 507
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508 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
509 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 510
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511 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
512 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
513 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 514
dc546b0f 515* GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 516
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517 - GLR and inline
518 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
519 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 520
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521 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
522 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 523
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524* Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
525 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
526 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 527
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528* #line in output files
529 - --no-line works properly.
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530
531* Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
532 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
533 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
534 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 535\f
5c16c6b1 536Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5
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537
538* Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
539
b7195100 540* Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 541
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542* GLR parsers
543 Fix spurious parse errors.
544
545* Pure parsers
546 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
547 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
548
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549* Type Clashes
550 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
551 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
552
553 untyped: ... typed;
554
555 but the converse remains an error:
556
557 typed: ... untyped;
558
559* Values of mid-rule actions
560 The following code:
561
562 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
563
564 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
565 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 566\f
420f93c8 567Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 568
676385e2
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569* GLR parsing
570 The declaration
571 %glr-parser
572 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
573 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 574 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
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575 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
576
7933f2b5 577 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
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578 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
579
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580* Output Directory
581 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 582 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
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583 now creates `bar.c'.
584
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585* Undefined token
586 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 587 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 588
77714df2 589* Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 590 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
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591 no longer the case.
592
23c5a174 593* Error token
e88dbdbf 594 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
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595 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
596 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
597 will be mapped onto another number.
598
217598da 599* Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 600 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
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601 error recovery is possible.
602
603* End token
604 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
605
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606* Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
607 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
608 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
609 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
610 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
611 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
612 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
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613 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
614 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 615
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616* Traces
617 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
618
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619* Larger grammars
620 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
621 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
622 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
623 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 624
77714df2 625* Explicit initial rule
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626 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
627 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
628 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 629
77714df2 630* Useless rules
643a5994 631 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 632 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 633
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634* Useless rules, useless nonterminals
635 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
636
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637* Rules never reduced
638 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
639 reported.
640
77714df2 641* Incorrect `Token not used'
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642 On a grammar such as
643
644 %token useless useful
645 %%
646 exp: '0' %prec useful;
647
648 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
649 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
650
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651* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
652 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 653
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654* Default locations
655 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
656 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
657 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
658 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 659
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660* Token end-of-file
661 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
662 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 663 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 664 For instance
7bd6c77e 665 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 666 or
7bd6c77e 667 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
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668
669* Semantic parser
670 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
671
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672* New translations
673 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
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674 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
675
77714df2 676* Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 677 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 678
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679* Token definitions as enums
680 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
681 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 682 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 683
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684* Reports
685 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
686 produces additional information:
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687 - itemset
688 complete the core item sets with their closure
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689 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
690 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
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691 - solved
692 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
693 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
694 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 695
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696* Type clashes
697 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
698 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
699
700 %type <foo> bar
701 %%
702 bar: '0' {} '0';
703
704 This is fixed.
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705
706* GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 707\f
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708Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
709
710* C Skeleton
711 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
712 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
713 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
714
715 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
716 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
717 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
718 kludge will be disabled.
719
720 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
721 extended.
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722\f
723Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
724
725* File name clashes are detected
726 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
727 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
728
729* A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
730 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
731 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
732 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
733 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
734 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
735
736* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
737 many portability hassles.
738
739* DJGPP support added.
740
741* Fix test suite portability problems.
742\f
743Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
744
745* Fix C++ issues
746 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
747 under some conditions.
748
749* Catch invalid @n
750 As is done with $n.
751\f
752Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
753
754* Fix Yacc output file names
755
756* Portability fixes
757
758* Italian, Dutch translations
759\f
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MA
760Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
761
762* Many Bug Fixes
763
764* GNU Gettext and %expect
765 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
766 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
767 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
768 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
769
770* Use of alloca in parsers
771 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
772 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
773
774 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
775 problems as on AIX.
776
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777* yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
778
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779* When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
780 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
781
782* User Actions
783 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
784 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
785 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
786
787* Better C++ compliance
788 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 789 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee
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790
791* Reduced Grammars
792 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
793
794* 64 bit hosts
795 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
796
797* Error messages
798 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
799
800* %expect
801 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
802 any warning.
803
804* The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
805
806* Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
807
808* Swedish translation
809
810* Parse errors
811 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
812 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
813 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
814
815* Fixed parser memory leaks.
816 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
817 previous allocations were not freed.
818
819* Fixed verbose output file.
820 Some newlines were missing.
821 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
822
823* Fixed conflict report.
824 Option -v was needed to get the result.
825
826* %expect
827 Was not used.
828 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
829
830* Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
831
832* Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
833
834* Fixed some typos in the documentation.
835
836* %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
837 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
838
839* doc/refcard.tex is updated.
840
841* %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
842 New.
843
844* --output
845 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
846\f
76551463 847Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 848
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849* `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
850 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
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851 argument.
852
853* `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
854 experiment.
855
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856* Portability fixes.
857\f
9f4503d6 858Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
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859
860* The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
861 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
862 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
863 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
864
865* Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 866
f2b5126e
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867* The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
868
f1c63ced 869* The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 870
f87a2205
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871* Russian translation added.
872
873* NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
874
875* Added the old Bison reference card.
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876
877* Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 878
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879* Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
880
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881* `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
882
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883* Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
884 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
885
6deb4447 886* New directives.
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887 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
888 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2
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889
890* @$
891 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 892\f
9f4503d6 893Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347
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894
895* Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
896
897* Added NLS.
898
899* Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
900
901* There is now a FAQ.
902\f
5c31c3c2
JT
903Changes in version 1.27:
904
905* The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
906 some systems has been fixed.
907\f
908Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551
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909
910* Bison now uses automake.
911
912* New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
913
914* Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
915
916* Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
917
918* A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1
JT
919
920* Problems when closing files should now be reported.
921
922* Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
923 not provide alloca().
4be07551 924\f
9f4503d6 925Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5
RS
926
927* Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
928the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 929
df8878c5
RS
930* Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
931example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
932of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
933
934* The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
935and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
936table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
937purposes.
938
939* The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
940directives in the parser file.
941
942* The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
943Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
944
945* The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
946the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
947The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
948a switch statement body.
949\f
6780ca7a
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950Changes in version 1.23:
951
4d019228
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952The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
953passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
954actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
955by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 956
6780ca7a 957Line numbers in output file corrected.
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DM
958\f
959Changes in version 1.22:
960
961--help option added.
6780ca7a
DM
962\f
963Changes in version 1.20:
964
965Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
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966
967Local Variables:
968mode: outline
969End:
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970
971-----
972
d6ca7905 973Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
279cabb6 9742004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 975
75eb3bc4 976This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler.
76551463 977
f16b0819 978This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 979it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
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980the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
981(at your option) any later version.
76551463 982
f16b0819 983This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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984but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
985MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
986GNU General Public License for more details.
987
988You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 989along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.