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4* Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
5
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6** Additional yylex/yyparse arguments
7
8 The new directive %param declare additional argument to both yylex
bb9191dd 9 and yyparse. The %lex-param, %parse-param, and %param directives
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10 support one or more arguments. Instead of
11
12 %lex-param {arg1_type *arg1}
13 %lex-param {arg2_type *arg2}
14 %parse-param {arg1_type *arg1}
15 %parse-param {arg2_type *arg2}
16
17 one may now declare
18
19 %param {arg1_type *arg1} {arg2_type *arg2}
20
21** Java skeleton improvements
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22
23 The constants for token names were moved to the Lexer interface.
24 Also, it is possible to add code to the parser's constructors using
25 "%code init" and "%define init_throws".
26
4c6622c2 27** Variable api.tokens.prefix
99c08fb6 28
4c6622c2 29 The variable api.tokens.prefix changes the way tokens are identified in
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30 the generated files. This is especially useful to avoid collisions
31 with identifiers in the target language. For instance
32
33 %token FILE for ERROR
4c6622c2 34 %define api.tokens.prefix "TOK_"
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35 %%
36 start: FILE for ERROR;
37
38 will generate the definition of the symbols TOK_FILE, TOK_for, and
39 TOK_ERROR in the generated sources. In particular, the scanner must
40 use these prefixed token names, although the grammar itself still
41 uses the short names (as in the sample rule given above).
42
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43** Variable api.namespace
44
45 The "namespace" variable is renamed "api.namespace". Backward
46 compatibility is ensured, but upgrading is recommended.
47
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48** Variable parse.error
49
50 The variable error controls the verbosity of error messages. The
51 use of the %error-verbose directive is deprecated in favor of
52 %define parse.error "verbose".
53
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54** Semantic predicates
55
56 The new, experimental, semantic-predicate feature allows actions of
57 the form %?{ BOOLEAN-EXPRESSION }, which cause syntax errors (as for
58 YYERROR) if the expression evaluates to 0, and are evaluated immediately
59 in GLR parsers, rather than being deferred. The result is that they
60 allow the programmer to prune possible parses based on the values of
61 runtime expressions.
62
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63* Changes in version 2.5 (????-??-??):
64
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65** Grammar symbol names can now contain non-initial dashes:
66
67 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and with
68 %define variables (e.g. push-pull), grammar symbol names may contain
69 dashes in any position except the beginning. This is a GNU
70 extension over POSIX Yacc. Thus, use of this extension is reported
71 by -Wyacc and rejected in Yacc mode (--yacc).
72
f1b238df 73** Named references:
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74
75 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
76 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
77 actions code.
78
79 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
80 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
81 as named references:
82
83 if_stmt : 'if' cond_expr 'then' then_stmt ';'
84 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
85
86 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
87
88 stmt[res] : 'if' expr[cond] 'then' stmt[then] 'else' stmt[else] ';'
89 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
90
5b1ff423 91 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
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92 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
93 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
94
5b1ff423 95 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
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96 will help to stabilize them.
97
f1b238df 98** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
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99
100 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
101 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
102 with the full language recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
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103 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction
104 in parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
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105 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
106 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
107 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
108 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
109
110 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
111 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
112 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
113 file with these directives:
114
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115 %define lr.type lalr
116 %define lr.type ielr
117 %define lr.type canonical-lr
eb45ef3b 118
110ef36a 119 The default reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
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120 adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'. See the documentation
121 for `%define lr.type' and `%define lr.default-reductions' in the
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122 section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual for the
123 details.
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124
125 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
126 stabilize them.
127
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128** LAC (lookahead correction) for syntax error handling:
129
130 Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
131 upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
132 additional parser stack reductions before discovering the syntax
133 error. Such reductions perform user semantic actions that are
134 unexpected because they are based on an invalid token, and they
135 cause error recovery to begin in a different syntactic context than
136 the one in which the invalid token was encountered. Second, when
137 verbose error messages are enabled (with %error-verbose or `#define
138 YYERROR_VERBOSE'), the expected token list in the syntax error
139 message can both contain invalid tokens and omit valid tokens.
140
141 The culprits for the above problems are %nonassoc, default
142 reductions in inconsistent states, and parser state merging. Thus,
143 IELR and LALR suffer the most. Canonical LR can suffer only if
144 %nonassoc is used or if default reductions are enabled for
145 inconsistent states.
146
147 LAC is a new mechanism within the parsing algorithm that completely
148 solves these problems for canonical LR, IELR, and LALR without
149 sacrificing %nonassoc, default reductions, or state mering. When
150 LAC is in use, canonical LR and IELR behave exactly the same for
151 both syntactically acceptable and syntactically unacceptable input.
152 While LALR still does not support the full language-recognition
153 power of canonical LR and IELR, LAC at least enables LALR's syntax
154 error handling to correctly reflect LALR's language-recognition
155 power.
156
157 Currently, LAC is only supported for deterministic parsers in C.
158 You can enable LAC with the following directive:
159
160 %define parse.lac full
161
162 See the documentation for `%define parse.lac' in the section `Bison
163 Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual for additional details.
164
165 LAC is an experimental feature. More user feedback will help to
166 stabilize it.
167
d397d9f0 168** %define improvements:
cf499cff 169
f1b238df 170*** Can now be invoked via the command line:
50cca368 171
de5ab940 172 Each of these command-line options
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174 -D NAME[=VALUE]
175 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
176
177 -F NAME[=VALUE]
178 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
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179
180 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
181
de5ab940 182 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
50cca368 183
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184 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
185 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
186 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
187 details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
50cca368 188
f1b238df 189*** Variables renamed:
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190
191 The following %define variables
192
193 api.push_pull
194 lr.keep_unreachable_states
195
196 have been renamed to
197
198 api.push-pull
199 lr.keep-unreachable-states
200
201 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
202 for backward compatibility.
203
f1b238df 204*** Values no longer need to be quoted in grammar file:
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205
206 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
207 within quotations marks. For example,
208
209 %define api.push-pull "push"
210
211 can be rewritten as
212
213 %define api.push-pull push
214
d397d9f0 215*** Unrecognized variables are now errors not warnings.
cdf3f113 216
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217*** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
218
219** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now errors not warnings.
220
221** Character literals not of length one:
222
223 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
224 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
225 the following grammar to be the same token:
226
227 exp: exp '++'
228 | exp '+' exp
229 ;
230
231 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
232 some future release, Bison will start reporting an error instead.
233
234** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions:
235
236 Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
237 altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
238 determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
239 error or upon parser return. This bug has been fixed.
240
241** C++ parsers use YYRHSLOC:
242
243 Similarly to the C parsers, the C++ parsers now define the YYRHSLOC
244 macro and use it in the default YYLLOC_DEFAULT. You are encouraged
245 to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has "first"
246 and "last" members, instead of
247
248 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
249 do \
250 if (N) \
251 { \
252 (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
253 (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
254 } \
255 else \
256 { \
257 (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
258 } \
259 while (false)
260
261 use:
262
263 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
264 do \
265 if (N) \
266 { \
267 (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
268 (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
269 } \
270 else \
271 { \
272 (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
273 } \
274 while (false)
275
276** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
277
278 The default implementation of YYLLOC_DEFAULT used to be issued in
279 the header file. It is now output in the implementation file, after
280 the user %code sections so that its #ifndef guard does not try to
281 override the user's YYLLOC_DEFAULT if provided.
cdf3f113 282
f1b238df 283** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it:
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284
285 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
286 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. More recently, it was
287 a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers. As
288 promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
289 semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
290 no longer implement YYFAIL at all. For further details, including a
291 discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
292 being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
293
f1b238df 294** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action:
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295
296 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
297 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
298 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
299 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
300
301 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
302
303 instead of
304
305 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
306
307 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
308 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
309 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
310 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
311 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
312 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
313 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
314
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315** Verbose syntax error message fixes:
316
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317 When %error-verbose or `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is specified,
318 syntax error messages produced by the generated parser include the
319 unexpected token as well as a list of expected tokens. The effect
320 of %nonassoc on these verbose messages has been corrected in two
321 ways, but a complete fix requires LAC, described above:
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322
323*** When %nonassoc is used, there can exist parser states that accept no
324 tokens, and so the parser does not always require a lookahead token
325 in order to detect a syntax error. Because no unexpected token or
326 expected tokens can then be reported, the verbose syntax error
327 message described above is suppressed, and the parser instead
328 reports the simpler message, "syntax error". Previously, this
329 suppression was sometimes erroneously triggered by %nonassoc when a
330 lookahead was actually required. Now verbose messages are
331 suppressed only when all previous lookaheads have already been
332 shifted or discarded.
333
334*** Previously, the list of expected tokens erroneously included tokens
335 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
336 were resolved with %nonassoc in the current parser state. Such
337 tokens are now properly omitted from the list.
338
339*** Expected token lists are still often wrong due to state merging
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340 (from LALR or IELR) and default reductions, which can both add
341 invalid tokens and subtract valid tokens. Canonical LR almost
342 completely fixes this problem by eliminating state merging and
343 default reductions. However, there is one minor problem left even
344 when using canonical LR and even after the fixes above. That is,
345 if the resolution of a conflict with %nonassoc appears in a later
346 parser state than the one at which some syntax error is
347 discovered, the conflicted token is still erroneously included in
348 the expected token list. Bison's new LAC implementation,
349 described above, eliminates this problem and the need for
350 canonical LR. However, LAC is still experimental and is disabled
351 by default.
53f036ce 352
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353** A location handling bug in the Java skeleton has been fixed.
354
64877e5e 355* Changes in version 2.4.3 (2010-08-05):
8b9e021f 356
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357** Bison now obeys -Werror and --warnings=error for warnings about
358 grammar rules that are useless in the parser due to conflicts.
359
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360** Problems with spawning M4 on at least FreeBSD 8 and FreeBSD 9 have
361 been fixed.
362
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363** Failures in the test suite for GCC 4.5 have been fixed.
364
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365** Failures in the test suite for some versions of Sun Studio C++ have
366 been fixed.
367
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368** Contrary to Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, it has been decided that
369 warnings about undefined %prec identifiers will not be converted to
370 errors in Bison 2.5. They will remain warnings, which should be
371 sufficient for POSIX while avoiding backward compatibility issues.
372
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373** Minor documentation fixes.
374
e19a049c 375* Changes in version 2.4.2 (2010-03-20):
74553c98 376
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377** Some portability problems that resulted in failures and livelocks
378 in the test suite on some versions of at least Solaris, AIX, HP-UX,
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379 RHEL4, and Tru64 have been addressed. As a result, fatal Bison
380 errors should no longer cause M4 to report a broken pipe on the
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381 affected platforms.
382
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383** `%prec IDENTIFIER' requires IDENTIFIER to be defined separately.
384
385 POSIX specifies that an error be reported for any identifier that does
386 not appear on the LHS of a grammar rule and that is not defined by
387 %token, %left, %right, or %nonassoc. Bison 2.3b and later lost this
388 error report for the case when an identifier appears only after a
389 %prec directive. It is now restored. However, for backward
390 compatibility with recent Bison releases, it is only a warning for
391 now. In Bison 2.5 and later, it will return to being an error.
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392 [Between the 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 releases, it was decided that this
393 warning will not be converted to an error in Bison 2.5.]
8bb3a2e7 394
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395** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
396
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397** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
398 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
399 avoided.
c938d650 400
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401** %code is now a permanent feature.
402
403 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
404
405 %{CODE%}
406
407 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
408 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
409
410 %code {CODE}
411 %code requires {CODE}
412 %code provides {CODE}
413 %code top {CODE}
414
415 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
416 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
417 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
418 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
419 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
420
421 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
422 is still considered experimental.
423
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424** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
425
426 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
427 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. Previously, it was
428 documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers. YYFAIL is no longer
429 documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
430 Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
431 specified by POSIX.
432
433 Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
434 induce a syntax error. The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
435 that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
436 error so that you don't have to. However, there are several other
437 subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
438 inherent flaws when %error-verbose or `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
439 used. For a more detailed discussion, see:
440
441 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
442
443 The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
444 deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it. However,
445 because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
446 Bison features compatible with it. Thus, during parser generation,
447 Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
448 rule action. In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
449 %error-verbose and `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'. Eventually, YYFAIL will
450 be removed altogether.
451
452 There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
453 be a false positive. Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
454 Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
455 preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
456 To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
457 epilogue (that is, after the second `%%') in the Bison input file. In
458 this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
459 C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
460 phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
461 2.4.2 is not necessary.
462
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463** Internationalization.
464
465 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
466 message translations were not installed although supported by the
467 host system.
468
74553c98 469* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
c9ba9e59 470
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471** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
472 declarations have been fixed.
1979121c 473
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474** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
475
476 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
477 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
478
479 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
480
481 instead of
482
483 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
484
485 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
486 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
487 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
488 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
489 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
490 feature.
491
492** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 493
402b123d 494* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 495
402b123d 496** %language is an experimental feature.
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497
498 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
499 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
500 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
501 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
502 in future releases.
7bd1665a 503
402b123d 504** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 505
402b123d 506** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
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507 fixed.
508
402b123d 509* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 510
402b123d 511** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
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512 are now deprecated:
513
514 %define NAME "VALUE"
515
402b123d 516** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
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517
518 %define api.pure
519
520 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
521 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
522
402b123d 523** Push Parsing
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524
525 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
ef1b4273 526 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
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527 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
528 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
529 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
530
531 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
532 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
533
534 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
535
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536 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
537 feedback will help to stabilize it.
538
402b123d 539** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
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540 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
541 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 542
402b123d 543** Java
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544
545 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
546 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
547 %skeleton to select it.
548
549 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
550
551 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
552 feedback will help to stabilize it.
553
402b123d 554** %language
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555
556 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
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557 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
558 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
559 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 560
402b123d 561** XML Automaton Report
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562
563 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
564 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
565 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
c373bf8b 566
402b123d 567** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
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568 %defines. For example:
569
570 %defines "parser.h"
571
402b123d 572** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
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573 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
574 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
575 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 576
402b123d 577** Unreachable State Removal
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578
579 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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580 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
581 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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582
583 1. Removes unreachable states.
584
585 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
586 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
587 directives in existing grammar files.
588
589 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 590 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 591
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592 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
593
594 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
595
596 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
597 for further discussion.
598
402b123d 599** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
b1cc23c4 600
c373bf8b 601 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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602 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
603 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
604 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
605 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
606 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
607 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
608 code.
609
402b123d 610** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
59da312b 611 name.
1bb2bd75 612
402b123d 613** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
02975b9a
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614 deprecated:
615
616 %file-prefix "parser"
617 %name-prefix "c_"
618 %output "parser.c"
619
402b123d 620** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
c373bf8b
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621
622 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
8e0a5e9e
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623 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
624 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
625 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
626 it:
627
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628 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
629 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
630 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
631 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 632
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633 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
634 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
8e0a5e9e
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635 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
636 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
637
638 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
639 determine whether they should become permanent features.
640
402b123d 641** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
17bd8a73
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642
643 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
644 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
645 about unused $2 in:
646
647 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
648
649 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
650 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
651
652 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
653
654 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
655 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
656 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
657
59da312b 658 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
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659 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
660
402b123d 661** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
c373bf8b
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662
663 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
12e35840
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664 %printer's:
665
666 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
667 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
668 declared semantic type tags.
669
3ebecc24 670 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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671 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
672 type tags.
673
674 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 675 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
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676 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
677 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
678
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679 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
680 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
681 features.
682
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683 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
684 details.
685
402b123d 686** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
ab7f29f8
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687 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
688 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
689
402b123d 690** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
b1cc23c4
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691 completely removed from Bison.
692
402b123d 693* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 694
402b123d 695** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
ddc8ede1
PE
696 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
697 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
698 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
699 and is required by POSIX.
700
402b123d 701** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
cd48d21d
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702 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
703
402b123d 704** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
ec5479ce
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705
706 For example:
707
b2a0b7ca
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708 %union { char *string; }
709 %token <string> STRING1
710 %token <string> STRING2
711 %type <string> string1
712 %type <string> string2
713 %union { char character; }
714 %token <character> CHR
715 %type <character> chr
716 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
717 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
718 %destructor { } <character>
719
720 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
721 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
722 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
723 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
724 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 725
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726 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
727 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
728 future versions.]
729
402b123d 730** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
b931235e
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731 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
732 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
733 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
734 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
735
402b123d 736** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 737 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
9bc0dd67
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738
739 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
740 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
34f98f46
JD
741 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
742 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 743 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 744
34f98f46 745 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
9bc0dd67
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746 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
747 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
748 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
749 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
750 after the token definitions.
751
752 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
753 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
754
402b123d 755** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
34f98f46
JD
756 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
757 %after-header.
758
759 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
760 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
761 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
762 convenient for you:
763
764 %before-header {
765 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
766 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
767 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
768 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
769 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
770 }
771 %start-header {
772 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
773 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
774 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
775 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
9bc0dd67
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776 }
777 %union {
34f98f46
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778 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
779 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
780 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 781 }
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782 %end-header {
783 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
784 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
785 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
786 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
787 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 788 }
34f98f46
JD
789 %after-header {
790 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
791 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
792 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
793 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
794 * Bison-generated definitions. */
795 }
796
797 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
798 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 799
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800 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
801 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
802
402b123d 803** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
9e6e7ed2
PE
804 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
805 in a future release.
742e4900 806
402b123d 807* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 808
402b123d 809** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
4ad3ed84
PE
810 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
811
402b123d 812** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
4ad3ed84
PE
813 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
814
402b123d 815* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 816
402b123d 817** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
193d7c70
PE
818 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
819 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 820
402b123d 821** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 822
402b123d 823** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 824
402b123d 825** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
d6ca7905
PE
826 their contents together.
827
402b123d 828** New warning: unused values
4d7bc38c
PE
829 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
830 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 831
8f3596a6 832 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
721be13c
PE
833 | exp "+" exp
834 ;
affac613 835
8f3596a6
AD
836 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
837 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 838 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 839
4e26c69e
PE
840 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
841 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
842 | exp "+" exp
843 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 844 ;
affac613 845
4e26c69e
PE
846 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
847 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
848 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 849
8f3596a6 850 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
721be13c
PE
851 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
852 ;
853
84866159
AD
854 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
855 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
856
857 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
858
721be13c
PE
859 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
860 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 861
402b123d 862** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
9d9b8b70
PE
863 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
864 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
865 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 866
402b123d 867** %expect, %expect-rr
035aa4a0
PE
868 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
869 instead of warnings.
870
402b123d 871** GLR, YACC parsers.
4e26c69e
PE
872 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
873 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 874
402b123d 875** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 876
402b123d 877** %require "VERSION"
4e26c69e
PE
878 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
879 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 880
402b123d 881** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
e14d0ab6
AD
882 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
883 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
fb9712a9
AD
884 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
885 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
886
887 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
888 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
b50d2359
AD
889 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
890 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 891
b50d2359 892 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 893 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 894
402b123d 895** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 896\f
402b123d 897* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 898
402b123d 899** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 900
402b123d 901** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
baf785db
PE
902 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
903 language is still English. For details, please see the new
0410a6e0
PE
904 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
905 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
906 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 907
402b123d 908** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
1a059451
PE
909 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
910 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
911 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
912
402b123d 913** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
258b75ca
PE
914 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
915 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
916
402b123d 917** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
72f000b0
PE
918 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
919 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
920 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
921 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 922\f
402b123d 923* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 924
402b123d 925** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 926
82de6b0d
PE
927 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
928 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
929 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
930 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
931 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 932
82de6b0d
PE
933 - Error token location.
934 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
935 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
936 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
937 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 938
82de6b0d
PE
939 - Semicolon changes:
940 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
941 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 942
82de6b0d
PE
943 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
944 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
945 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
946 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 947
82de6b0d 948 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 949
402b123d 950** New features
1452af69 951
82de6b0d 952 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 953
82de6b0d
PE
954 - New directive: %initial-action.
955 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
956 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 957
82de6b0d
PE
958 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
959 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 960
82de6b0d
PE
961 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
962 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 963
82de6b0d 964 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 965 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 966
82de6b0d 967 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 968
82de6b0d
PE
969 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
970 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 971
402b123d 972** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 973
82de6b0d
PE
974 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
975 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
976 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
977 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
978 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
979 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 980
82de6b0d
PE
981 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
982 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 983
82de6b0d 984 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 985\f
402b123d 986* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 987
402b123d 988** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 989 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 990
402b123d 991** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 992
dc546b0f
PE
993 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
994 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 995
dc546b0f
PE
996 - %destructor
997 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
998 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 999
dc546b0f
PE
1000 - %error-verbose
1001 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 1002
dc546b0f
PE
1003 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
1004 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 1005
402b123d 1006** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 1007
dc546b0f
PE
1008 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
1009 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
1010 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 1011
dc546b0f
PE
1012 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
1013 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
1014 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
1015 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
1016 be consistent.
74724a70 1017
dc546b0f
PE
1018 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
1019 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 1020
dc546b0f
PE
1021 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
1022 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 1023
dc546b0f
PE
1024 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
1025 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 1026
dc546b0f
PE
1027 - Yacc command and library now available
1028 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
1029 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
1030 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
1031 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 1032
dc546b0f 1033 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 1034
dc546b0f
PE
1035 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
1036 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
1037 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 1038
402b123d 1039** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 1040
dc546b0f
PE
1041 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
1042 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
1043 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
1044 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
1045 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
1046 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 1047
dc546b0f
PE
1048 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
1049 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 1050
dc546b0f
PE
1051 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
1052 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 1053
dc546b0f
PE
1054 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
1055 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
1056 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 1057
402b123d 1058** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 1059
dc546b0f
PE
1060 - GLR and inline
1061 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
1062 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 1063
dc546b0f
PE
1064 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
1065 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 1066
402b123d 1067** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
dc546b0f
PE
1068 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
1069 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 1070
402b123d 1071** #line in output files
dc546b0f 1072 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 1073
402b123d 1074** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
1075 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
1076 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
1077 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 1078\f
402b123d 1079* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 1080
402b123d 1081** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 1082
402b123d 1083** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 1084
402b123d 1085** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1086 Fix spurious parse errors.
1087
402b123d 1088** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1089 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
1090 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
1091
402b123d 1092** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
1093 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
1094 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
1095
1096 untyped: ... typed;
1097
1098 but the converse remains an error:
1099
1100 typed: ... untyped;
1101
402b123d 1102** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
1103 The following code:
1104
1105 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
1106
1107 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
1108 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 1109\f
402b123d 1110* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 1111
402b123d 1112** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
1113 The declaration
1114 %glr-parser
1115 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
1116 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 1117 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
1118 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
1119
7933f2b5 1120 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
1121 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
1122
402b123d 1123** Output Directory
8c165d89 1124 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 1125 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
8c165d89
AD
1126 now creates `bar.c'.
1127
402b123d 1128** Undefined token
007a50a4 1129 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 1130 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 1131
402b123d 1132** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 1133 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
1134 no longer the case.
1135
402b123d 1136** Error token
e88dbdbf 1137 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
1138 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
1139 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
1140 will be mapped onto another number.
1141
402b123d 1142** Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 1143 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
217598da
AD
1144 error recovery is possible.
1145
402b123d 1146** End token
217598da
AD
1147 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
1148
402b123d 1149** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
1150 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
1151 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
1152 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
1153 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
1154 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
1155 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
1156 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
1157 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 1158
402b123d 1159** Traces
5504898e
AD
1160 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
1161
402b123d 1162** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
1163 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
1164 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
1165 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
1166 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 1167
402b123d 1168** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
1169 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
1170 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
1171 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 1172
402b123d 1173** Useless rules
643a5994 1174 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 1175 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 1176
402b123d 1177** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
1178 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
1179
402b123d 1180** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
1181 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
1182 reported.
1183
402b123d 1184** Incorrect `Token not used'
11652ab3
AD
1185 On a grammar such as
1186
1187 %token useless useful
1188 %%
1189 exp: '0' %prec useful;
1190
1191 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
1192 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
1193
402b123d 1194** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 1195 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 1196
402b123d 1197** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
1198 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
1199 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
1200 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
1201 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 1202
402b123d 1203** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
1204 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
1205 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 1206 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 1207 For instance
7bd6c77e 1208 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 1209 or
7bd6c77e 1210 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 1211
402b123d 1212** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
1213 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
1214
402b123d 1215** New translations
a861a339 1216 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
1217 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
1218
402b123d 1219** Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 1220 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 1221
402b123d 1222** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
1223 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
1224 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 1225 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 1226
402b123d 1227** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
1228 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
1229 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
1230 - itemset
1231 complete the core item sets with their closure
9e6e7ed2
PE
1232 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
1233 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
1234 - solved
1235 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
1236 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
1237 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 1238
402b123d 1239** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
1240 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
1241 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
1242
1243 %type <foo> bar
1244 %%
1245 bar: '0' {} '0';
1246
1247 This is fixed.
a861a339 1248
402b123d 1249** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 1250\f
402b123d 1251* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 1252
402b123d 1253** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
1254 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
1255 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
1256 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
1257
1258 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
1259 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
1260 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
1261 kludge will be disabled.
1262
1263 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
1264 extended.
76551463 1265\f
402b123d 1266* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 1267
402b123d 1268** File name clashes are detected
76551463
AD
1269 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
1270 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
1271
402b123d 1272** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
1273 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1274 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1275 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1276 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1277 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1278
402b123d 1279** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
1280 many portability hassles.
1281
402b123d 1282** DJGPP support added.
76551463 1283
402b123d 1284** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 1285\f
402b123d 1286* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 1287
402b123d 1288** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
1289 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1290 under some conditions.
1291
402b123d 1292** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
1293 As is done with $n.
1294\f
402b123d 1295* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 1296
402b123d 1297** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 1298
402b123d 1299** Portability fixes
76551463 1300
402b123d 1301** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 1302\f
402b123d 1303* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 1304
402b123d 1305** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 1306
402b123d 1307** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1308 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1309 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1310 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
1311 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
1312
402b123d 1313** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
1314 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1315 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1316
1317 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1318 problems as on AIX.
1319
402b123d 1320** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 1321
402b123d 1322** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
1323 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1324
402b123d 1325** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
1326 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1327 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1328 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1329
402b123d 1330** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 1331 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 1332 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 1333
402b123d 1334** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
1335 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1336
402b123d 1337** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
1338 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1339
402b123d 1340** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
1341 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1342
402b123d 1343** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1344 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1345 any warning.
1346
402b123d 1347** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 1348
402b123d 1349** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 1350
402b123d 1351** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 1352
402b123d 1353** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
1354 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1355 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1356 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1357
402b123d 1358** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
1359 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1360 previous allocations were not freed.
1361
402b123d 1362** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
1363 Some newlines were missing.
1364 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1365
402b123d 1366** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
1367 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1368
402b123d 1369** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1370 Was not used.
1371 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1372
402b123d 1373** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 1374
402b123d 1375** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 1376
402b123d 1377** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 1378
402b123d 1379** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
1380 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1381
402b123d 1382** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 1383
402b123d 1384** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
1385 New.
1386
402b123d 1387** --output
52d1aeee
MA
1388 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
1389\f
402b123d 1390* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 1391
402b123d 1392** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
fdac0091 1393 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
1394 argument.
1395
402b123d 1396** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
1397 experiment.
1398
402b123d 1399** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 1400\f
402b123d 1401* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 1402
402b123d 1403** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
1404 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1405 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
1406 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
1407
402b123d 1408** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 1409
402b123d 1410** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 1411
402b123d 1412** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 1413
402b123d 1414** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 1415
402b123d 1416** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 1417
402b123d 1418** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 1419
402b123d 1420** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 1421
402b123d 1422** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
cd5bd6ac 1423
402b123d 1424** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
62ab6972 1425
402b123d 1426** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
1427 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1428
402b123d 1429** New directives.
4ecbf796
MA
1430 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
1431 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2 1432
402b123d 1433** @$
f987e9d2 1434 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 1435\f
402b123d 1436* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 1437
402b123d 1438** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 1439
402b123d 1440** Added NLS.
d2e00347 1441
402b123d 1442** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 1443
402b123d 1444** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 1445\f
402b123d 1446* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 1447
402b123d 1448** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
1449 some systems has been fixed.
1450\f
402b123d 1451* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 1452
402b123d 1453** Bison now uses automake.
4be07551 1454
402b123d 1455** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 1456
402b123d 1457** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 1458
402b123d 1459** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 1460
402b123d 1461** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 1462
402b123d 1463** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 1464
402b123d 1465** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 1466 not provide alloca().
4be07551 1467\f
402b123d 1468* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 1469
402b123d 1470** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 1471the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 1472
402b123d 1473** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5
RS
1474example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1475of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1476
402b123d 1477** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
1478and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1479table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1480purposes.
1481
402b123d 1482** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
1483directives in the parser file.
1484
402b123d 1485** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
1486Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1487
402b123d 1488** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
1489the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1490The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1491a switch statement body.
1492\f
402b123d 1493* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 1494
4d019228
DM
1495The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1496passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1497actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1498by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 1499
6780ca7a 1500Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 1501\f
402b123d 1502* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
1503
1504--help option added.
6780ca7a 1505\f
402b123d 1506* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
1507
1508Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
AD
1509
1510Local Variables:
1511mode: outline
1512End:
76551463
AD
1513
1514-----
1515
575619af 1516Copyright (C) 1995-2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 1517
74553c98 1518This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
76551463 1519
f16b0819 1520This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 1521it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
1522the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1523(at your option) any later version.
76551463 1524
f16b0819 1525This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
1526but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1527MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1528GNU General Public License for more details.
1529
1530You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1531along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.