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4* Changes in version 2.5 (????-??-??):
5
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6** Grammar symbol names can now contain non-initial dashes:
7
8 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and with
9 %define variables (e.g. push-pull), grammar symbol names may contain
10 dashes in any position except the beginning. This is a GNU
11 extension over POSIX Yacc. Thus, use of this extension is reported
12 by -Wyacc and rejected in Yacc mode (--yacc).
13
3b1977ea 14** Named references:
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15
16 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
17 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
18 actions code.
19
20 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
21 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
22 as named references:
23
24 if_stmt : 'if' cond_expr 'then' then_stmt ';'
25 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
26
27 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
28
29 stmt[res] : 'if' expr[cond] 'then' stmt[then] 'else' stmt[else] ';'
30 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
31
f840c05a 32 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
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33 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
34 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
35
f840c05a 36 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
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37 will help to stabilize them.
38
3b1977ea 39** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
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40
41 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
42 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
43 with the full language recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
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44 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction
45 in parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
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46 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
47 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
48 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
49 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
50
51 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
52 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
53 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
54 file with these directives:
55
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56 %define lr.type lalr
57 %define lr.type ielr
58 %define lr.type canonical-lr
34a6c2d1 59
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60 The default-reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
61 adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'. For details on both
62 of these features, see the new section `Tuning LR' in the Bison
63 manual.
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64
65 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
66 stabilize them.
67
6f04ee6c 68** LAC (Lookahead Correction) for syntax error handling:
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69
70 Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
71 upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
72 additional parser stack reductions before discovering the syntax
6f04ee6c 73 error. Such reductions can perform user semantic actions that are
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74 unexpected because they are based on an invalid token, and they
75 cause error recovery to begin in a different syntactic context than
76 the one in which the invalid token was encountered. Second, when
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77 verbose error messages are enabled (with %error-verbose or the
78 obsolete `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'), the expected token list in the
79 syntax error message can both contain invalid tokens and omit valid
80 tokens.
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81
82 The culprits for the above problems are %nonassoc, default
83 reductions in inconsistent states, and parser state merging. Thus,
84 IELR and LALR suffer the most. Canonical LR can suffer only if
85 %nonassoc is used or if default reductions are enabled for
86 inconsistent states.
87
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88 LAC is a new mechanism within the parsing algorithm that solves
89 these problems for canonical LR, IELR, and LALR without sacrificing
90 %nonassoc, default reductions, or state merging. When LAC is in
91 use, canonical LR and IELR behave almost exactly the same for both
92 syntactically acceptable and syntactically unacceptable input.
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93 While LALR still does not support the full language-recognition
94 power of canonical LR and IELR, LAC at least enables LALR's syntax
95 error handling to correctly reflect LALR's language-recognition
96 power.
97
98 Currently, LAC is only supported for deterministic parsers in C.
99 You can enable LAC with the following directive:
100
101 %define parse.lac full
102
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103 See the new section `LAC' in the Bison manual for additional
104 details including a few caveats.
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105
106 LAC is an experimental feature. More user feedback will help to
107 stabilize it.
108
6ee881f6 109** %define improvements:
f37495f6 110
3b1977ea 111*** Can now be invoked via the command line:
4ecd3681 112
34d41938 113 Each of these command-line options
4ecd3681 114
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115 -D NAME[=VALUE]
116 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
117
118 -F NAME[=VALUE]
119 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
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120
121 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
122
34d41938 123 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
4ecd3681 124
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125 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
126 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
127 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
128 details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
4ecd3681 129
3b1977ea 130*** Variables renamed:
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131
132 The following %define variables
133
134 api.push_pull
135 lr.keep_unreachable_states
136
137 have been renamed to
138
139 api.push-pull
140 lr.keep-unreachable-states
141
142 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
143 for backward compatibility.
144
3b1977ea 145*** Values no longer need to be quoted in grammar file:
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146
147 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
148 within quotations marks. For example,
149
150 %define api.push-pull "push"
151
152 can be rewritten as
153
154 %define api.push-pull push
155
6ee881f6 156*** Unrecognized variables are now errors not warnings.
c046698e 157
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158*** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
159
160** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now errors not warnings.
161
162** Character literals not of length one:
163
164 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
165 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
166 the following grammar to be the same token:
167
168 exp: exp '++'
169 | exp '+' exp
170 ;
171
172 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
173 some future release, Bison will start reporting an error instead.
174
175** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions:
176
177 Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
178 altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
179 determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
180 error or upon parser return. This bug has been fixed.
181
182** C++ parsers use YYRHSLOC:
183
184 Similarly to the C parsers, the C++ parsers now define the YYRHSLOC
185 macro and use it in the default YYLLOC_DEFAULT. You are encouraged
186 to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has "first"
187 and "last" members, instead of
188
189 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
190 do \
191 if (N) \
192 { \
193 (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
194 (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
195 } \
196 else \
197 { \
198 (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
199 } \
200 while (false)
201
202 use:
203
204 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
205 do \
206 if (N) \
207 { \
208 (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
209 (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
210 } \
211 else \
212 { \
213 (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
214 } \
215 while (false)
216
217** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
218
219 The default implementation of YYLLOC_DEFAULT used to be issued in
220 the header file. It is now output in the implementation file, after
221 the user %code sections so that its #ifndef guard does not try to
222 override the user's YYLLOC_DEFAULT if provided.
c046698e 223
3b1977ea 224** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it:
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225
226 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
227 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. More recently, it was
228 a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers. As
229 promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
230 semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
231 no longer implement YYFAIL at all. For further details, including a
232 discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
233 being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
234
3b1977ea 235** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action:
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236
237 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
238 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
239 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
240 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
241
242 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
243
244 instead of
245
246 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
247
248 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
249 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
250 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
251 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
252 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
253 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
254 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
255
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256** Verbose syntax error message fixes:
257
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258 When %error-verbose or the obsolete `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
259 specified, syntax error messages produced by the generated parser
260 include the unexpected token as well as a list of expected tokens.
261 The effect of %nonassoc on these verbose messages has been corrected
262 in two ways, but a more complete fix requires LAC, described above:
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263
264*** When %nonassoc is used, there can exist parser states that accept no
265 tokens, and so the parser does not always require a lookahead token
266 in order to detect a syntax error. Because no unexpected token or
267 expected tokens can then be reported, the verbose syntax error
268 message described above is suppressed, and the parser instead
269 reports the simpler message, "syntax error". Previously, this
270 suppression was sometimes erroneously triggered by %nonassoc when a
271 lookahead was actually required. Now verbose messages are
272 suppressed only when all previous lookaheads have already been
273 shifted or discarded.
274
275*** Previously, the list of expected tokens erroneously included tokens
276 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
277 were resolved with %nonassoc in the current parser state. Such
278 tokens are now properly omitted from the list.
279
280*** Expected token lists are still often wrong due to state merging
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281 (from LALR or IELR) and default reductions, which can both add
282 invalid tokens and subtract valid tokens. Canonical LR almost
283 completely fixes this problem by eliminating state merging and
284 default reductions. However, there is one minor problem left even
285 when using canonical LR and even after the fixes above. That is,
286 if the resolution of a conflict with %nonassoc appears in a later
287 parser state than the one at which some syntax error is
288 discovered, the conflicted token is still erroneously included in
289 the expected token list. Bison's new LAC implementation,
290 described above, eliminates this problem and the need for
291 canonical LR. However, LAC is still experimental and is disabled
292 by default.
1fa30307 293
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294** Java skeleton fixes:
295
296*** A location handling bug has been fixed.
297
298*** The top element of each of the value stack and location stack is now
299 cleared when popped so that it can be garbage collected.
77768165 300
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301*** Parser traces now print the top element of the stack.
302
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303** -W/--warnings fixes:
304
305*** Bison now properly recognizes the "no-" versions of categories:
306
307 For example, given the following command line, Bison now enables all
308 warnings except warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
309
310 bison -Wall,no-yacc gram.y
311
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312*** The "none" category no longer disables a preceding "error":
313
314 For example, for the following command line, Bison now reports
315 errors instead of warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
316
317 bison -Werror,none,yacc gram.y
318
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319*** The "none" category now disables all Bison warnings.
320
321 Previously, the "none" category disabled only Bison warnings for
322 which there existed a specific -W/--warning category. However,
323 given the following command line, Bison is now guaranteed to
324 suppress all warnings:
325
326 bison -Wnone gram.y
327
7527c744 328* Changes in version 2.4.3 (2010-08-05):
7a9c3cb3 329
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330** Bison now obeys -Werror and --warnings=error for warnings about
331 grammar rules that are useless in the parser due to conflicts.
332
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333** Problems with spawning M4 on at least FreeBSD 8 and FreeBSD 9 have
334 been fixed.
335
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336** Failures in the test suite for GCC 4.5 have been fixed.
337
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338** Failures in the test suite for some versions of Sun Studio C++ have
339 been fixed.
340
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341** Contrary to Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, it has been decided that
342 warnings about undefined %prec identifiers will not be converted to
343 errors in Bison 2.5. They will remain warnings, which should be
344 sufficient for POSIX while avoiding backward compatibility issues.
345
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346** Minor documentation fixes.
347
ea66d039 348* Changes in version 2.4.2 (2010-03-20):
8defe11b 349
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350** Some portability problems that resulted in failures and livelocks
351 in the test suite on some versions of at least Solaris, AIX, HP-UX,
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352 RHEL4, and Tru64 have been addressed. As a result, fatal Bison
353 errors should no longer cause M4 to report a broken pipe on the
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354 affected platforms.
355
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356** `%prec IDENTIFIER' requires IDENTIFIER to be defined separately.
357
358 POSIX specifies that an error be reported for any identifier that does
359 not appear on the LHS of a grammar rule and that is not defined by
360 %token, %left, %right, or %nonassoc. Bison 2.3b and later lost this
361 error report for the case when an identifier appears only after a
362 %prec directive. It is now restored. However, for backward
363 compatibility with recent Bison releases, it is only a warning for
364 now. In Bison 2.5 and later, it will return to being an error.
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365 [Between the 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 releases, it was decided that this
366 warning will not be converted to an error in Bison 2.5.]
2c203528 367
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368** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
369
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370** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
371 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
372 avoided.
af2ffe5c 373
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374** %code is now a permanent feature.
375
376 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
377
378 %{CODE%}
379
380 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
381 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
382
383 %code {CODE}
384 %code requires {CODE}
385 %code provides {CODE}
386 %code top {CODE}
387
388 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
389 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
390 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
391 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
392 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
393
394 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
395 is still considered experimental.
396
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397** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
398
399 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
400 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. Previously, it was
401 documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers. YYFAIL is no longer
402 documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
403 Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
404 specified by POSIX.
405
406 Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
407 induce a syntax error. The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
408 that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
409 error so that you don't have to. However, there are several other
410 subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
411 inherent flaws when %error-verbose or `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
412 used. For a more detailed discussion, see:
413
414 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
415
416 The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
417 deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it. However,
418 because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
419 Bison features compatible with it. Thus, during parser generation,
420 Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
421 rule action. In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
422 %error-verbose and `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'. Eventually, YYFAIL will
423 be removed altogether.
424
425 There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
426 be a false positive. Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
427 Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
428 preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
429 To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
430 epilogue (that is, after the second `%%') in the Bison input file. In
431 this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
432 C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
433 phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
434 2.4.2 is not necessary.
435
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436** Internationalization.
437
438 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
439 message translations were not installed although supported by the
440 host system.
441
41930e7a 442* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
c9ba9e59 443
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444** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
445 declarations have been fixed.
446
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447** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
448
449 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
450 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
451
452 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
453
454 instead of
455
456 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
457
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458 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
459 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
460 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
461 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
462 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
463 feature.
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464
465** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 466
d6fb461d 467* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 468
d6fb461d 469** %language is an experimental feature.
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470
471 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
472 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
473 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
474 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
475 in future releases.
7bd1665a 476
d6fb461d 477** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 478
d6fb461d 479** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
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480 fixed.
481
d6fb461d 482* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 483
d6fb461d 484** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
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485 are now deprecated:
486
487 %define NAME "VALUE"
488
d6fb461d 489** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
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490
491 %define api.pure
492
493 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
494 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
495
d6fb461d 496** Push Parsing
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497
498 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
ef1b4273 499 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
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500 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
501 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
502 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
503
504 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
505 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
506
507 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
508
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509 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
510 feedback will help to stabilize it.
511
d6fb461d 512** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
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513 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
514 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 515
d6fb461d 516** Java
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517
518 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
519 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
520 %skeleton to select it.
521
522 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
523
524 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
525 feedback will help to stabilize it.
526
d6fb461d 527** %language
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528
529 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
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530 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
531 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
532 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 533
d6fb461d 534** XML Automaton Report
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535
536 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
537 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
538 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
c373bf8b 539
d6fb461d 540** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
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541 %defines. For example:
542
543 %defines "parser.h"
544
d6fb461d 545** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
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546 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
547 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
548 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 549
d6fb461d 550** Unreachable State Removal
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551
552 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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553 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
554 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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555
556 1. Removes unreachable states.
557
558 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
559 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
560 directives in existing grammar files.
561
562 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 563 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 564
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565 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
566
567 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
568
569 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
570 for further discussion.
571
d6fb461d 572** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
b1cc23c4 573
c373bf8b 574 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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575 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
576 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
577 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
578 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
579 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
580 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
581 code.
582
d6fb461d 583** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
59da312b 584 name.
1bb2bd75 585
d6fb461d 586** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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587 deprecated:
588
589 %file-prefix "parser"
590 %name-prefix "c_"
591 %output "parser.c"
592
d6fb461d 593** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
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594
595 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
8e0a5e9e
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596 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
597 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
598 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
599 it:
600
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601 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
602 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
603 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
604 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 605
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606 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
607 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
8e0a5e9e
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608 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
609 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
610
611 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
612 determine whether they should become permanent features.
613
d6fb461d 614** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
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615
616 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
617 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
618 about unused $2 in:
619
620 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
621
622 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
623 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
624
625 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
626
627 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
628 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
629 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
630
59da312b 631 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
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632 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
633
d6fb461d 634** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
c373bf8b
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635
636 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
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637 %printer's:
638
639 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
640 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
641 declared semantic type tags.
642
3ebecc24 643 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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644 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
645 type tags.
646
647 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 648 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
12e35840
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649 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
650 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
651
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652 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
653 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
654 features.
655
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656 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
657 details.
658
d6fb461d 659** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
ab7f29f8
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660 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
661 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
662
d6fb461d 663** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
b1cc23c4
JD
664 completely removed from Bison.
665
d6fb461d 666* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 667
d6fb461d 668** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
ddc8ede1
PE
669 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
670 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
671 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
672 and is required by POSIX.
673
d6fb461d 674** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
cd48d21d
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675 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
676
d6fb461d 677** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
ec5479ce
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678
679 For example:
680
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681 %union { char *string; }
682 %token <string> STRING1
683 %token <string> STRING2
684 %type <string> string1
685 %type <string> string2
686 %union { char character; }
687 %token <character> CHR
688 %type <character> chr
689 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
690 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
691 %destructor { } <character>
692
693 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
694 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
695 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
696 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
697 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 698
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699 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
700 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
701 future versions.]
702
d6fb461d 703** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
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704 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
705 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
706 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
707 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
708
d6fb461d 709** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 710 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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711
712 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
713 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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714 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
715 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 716 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 717
34f98f46 718 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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719 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
720 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
721 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
722 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
723 after the token definitions.
724
725 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
726 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
727
d6fb461d 728** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
34f98f46
JD
729 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
730 %after-header.
731
732 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
733 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
734 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
735 convenient for you:
736
737 %before-header {
738 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
739 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
740 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
741 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
742 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
743 }
744 %start-header {
745 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
746 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
747 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
748 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
9bc0dd67
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749 }
750 %union {
34f98f46
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751 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
752 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
753 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 754 }
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755 %end-header {
756 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
757 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
758 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
759 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
760 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 761 }
34f98f46
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762 %after-header {
763 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
764 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
765 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
766 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
767 * Bison-generated definitions. */
768 }
769
770 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
771 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 772
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773 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
774 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
775
d6fb461d 776** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
9e6e7ed2
PE
777 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
778 in a future release.
742e4900 779
d6fb461d 780* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 781
d6fb461d 782** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
4ad3ed84
PE
783 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
784
d6fb461d 785** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
4ad3ed84
PE
786 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
787
d6fb461d 788* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 789
d6fb461d 790** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
193d7c70
PE
791 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
792 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 793
d6fb461d 794** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 795
d6fb461d 796** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 797
d6fb461d 798** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
d6ca7905
PE
799 their contents together.
800
d6fb461d 801** New warning: unused values
4d7bc38c
PE
802 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
803 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 804
8f3596a6 805 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
721be13c
PE
806 | exp "+" exp
807 ;
affac613 808
8f3596a6
AD
809 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
810 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 811 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 812
4e26c69e
PE
813 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
814 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
815 | exp "+" exp
816 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 817 ;
affac613 818
4e26c69e
PE
819 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
820 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
821 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 822
8f3596a6 823 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
721be13c
PE
824 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
825 ;
826
84866159
AD
827 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
828 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
829
830 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
831
721be13c
PE
832 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
833 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 834
d6fb461d 835** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
9d9b8b70
PE
836 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
837 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
838 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 839
d6fb461d 840** %expect, %expect-rr
035aa4a0
PE
841 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
842 instead of warnings.
843
d6fb461d 844** GLR, YACC parsers.
4e26c69e
PE
845 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
846 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 847
d6fb461d 848** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 849
d6fb461d 850** %require "VERSION"
4e26c69e
PE
851 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
852 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 853
d6fb461d 854** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
e14d0ab6
AD
855 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
856 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
fb9712a9
AD
857 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
858 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
859
860 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
861 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
b50d2359
AD
862 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
863 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 864
b50d2359 865 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 866 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 867
d6fb461d 868** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 869\f
d6fb461d 870* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 871
d6fb461d 872** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 873
d6fb461d 874** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
baf785db
PE
875 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
876 language is still English. For details, please see the new
0410a6e0
PE
877 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
878 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
879 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 880
d6fb461d 881** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
1a059451
PE
882 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
883 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
884 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
885
d6fb461d 886** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
258b75ca
PE
887 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
888 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
889
d6fb461d 890** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
72f000b0
PE
891 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
892 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
893 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
894 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 895\f
d6fb461d 896* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 897
d6fb461d 898** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 899
82de6b0d
PE
900 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
901 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
902 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
903 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
904 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 905
82de6b0d
PE
906 - Error token location.
907 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
908 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
909 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
910 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 911
82de6b0d
PE
912 - Semicolon changes:
913 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
914 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 915
82de6b0d
PE
916 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
917 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
918 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
919 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 920
82de6b0d 921 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 922
d6fb461d 923** New features
1452af69 924
82de6b0d 925 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 926
82de6b0d
PE
927 - New directive: %initial-action.
928 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
929 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 930
82de6b0d
PE
931 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
932 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 933
82de6b0d
PE
934 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
935 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 936
82de6b0d 937 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 938 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 939
82de6b0d 940 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 941
82de6b0d
PE
942 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
943 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 944
d6fb461d 945** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 946
82de6b0d
PE
947 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
948 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
949 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
950 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
951 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
952 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 953
82de6b0d
PE
954 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
955 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 956
82de6b0d 957 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 958\f
d6fb461d 959* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 960
d6fb461d 961** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 962 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 963
d6fb461d 964** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 965
dc546b0f
PE
966 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
967 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 968
dc546b0f
PE
969 - %destructor
970 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
971 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 972
dc546b0f
PE
973 - %error-verbose
974 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 975
dc546b0f
PE
976 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
977 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 978
d6fb461d 979** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 980
dc546b0f
PE
981 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
982 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
983 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 984
dc546b0f
PE
985 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
986 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
987 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
988 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
989 be consistent.
74724a70 990
dc546b0f
PE
991 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
992 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 993
dc546b0f
PE
994 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
995 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 996
dc546b0f
PE
997 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
998 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 999
dc546b0f
PE
1000 - Yacc command and library now available
1001 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
1002 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
1003 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
1004 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 1005
dc546b0f 1006 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 1007
dc546b0f
PE
1008 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
1009 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
1010 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 1011
d6fb461d 1012** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 1013
dc546b0f
PE
1014 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
1015 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
1016 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
1017 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
1018 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
1019 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 1020
dc546b0f
PE
1021 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
1022 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 1023
dc546b0f
PE
1024 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
1025 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 1026
dc546b0f
PE
1027 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
1028 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
1029 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 1030
d6fb461d 1031** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 1032
dc546b0f
PE
1033 - GLR and inline
1034 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
1035 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 1036
dc546b0f
PE
1037 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
1038 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 1039
d6fb461d 1040** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
dc546b0f
PE
1041 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
1042 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 1043
d6fb461d 1044** #line in output files
dc546b0f 1045 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 1046
d6fb461d 1047** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
1048 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
1049 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
1050 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 1051\f
d6fb461d 1052* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 1053
d6fb461d 1054** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 1055
d6fb461d 1056** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 1057
d6fb461d 1058** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1059 Fix spurious parse errors.
1060
d6fb461d 1061** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1062 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
1063 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
1064
d6fb461d 1065** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
1066 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
1067 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
1068
1069 untyped: ... typed;
1070
1071 but the converse remains an error:
1072
1073 typed: ... untyped;
1074
d6fb461d 1075** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
1076 The following code:
1077
1078 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
1079
1080 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
1081 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 1082\f
d6fb461d 1083* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 1084
d6fb461d 1085** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
1086 The declaration
1087 %glr-parser
1088 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
1089 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 1090 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
1091 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
1092
7933f2b5 1093 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
1094 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
1095
d6fb461d 1096** Output Directory
8c165d89 1097 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 1098 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
8c165d89
AD
1099 now creates `bar.c'.
1100
d6fb461d 1101** Undefined token
007a50a4 1102 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 1103 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 1104
d6fb461d 1105** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 1106 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
1107 no longer the case.
1108
d6fb461d 1109** Error token
e88dbdbf 1110 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
1111 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
1112 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
1113 will be mapped onto another number.
1114
d6fb461d 1115** Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 1116 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
217598da
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1117 error recovery is possible.
1118
d6fb461d 1119** End token
217598da
AD
1120 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
1121
d6fb461d 1122** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
1123 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
1124 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
1125 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
1126 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
1127 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
1128 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
1129 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
1130 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 1131
d6fb461d 1132** Traces
5504898e
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1133 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
1134
d6fb461d 1135** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
1136 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
1137 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
1138 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
1139 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 1140
d6fb461d 1141** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
1142 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
1143 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
1144 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 1145
d6fb461d 1146** Useless rules
643a5994 1147 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 1148 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 1149
d6fb461d 1150** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
1151 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
1152
d6fb461d 1153** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
1154 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
1155 reported.
1156
d6fb461d 1157** Incorrect `Token not used'
11652ab3
AD
1158 On a grammar such as
1159
1160 %token useless useful
1161 %%
1162 exp: '0' %prec useful;
1163
1164 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
1165 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
1166
d6fb461d 1167** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 1168 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 1169
d6fb461d 1170** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
1171 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
1172 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
1173 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
1174 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 1175
d6fb461d 1176** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
1177 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
1178 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 1179 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 1180 For instance
7bd6c77e 1181 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 1182 or
7bd6c77e 1183 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 1184
d6fb461d 1185** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
1186 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
1187
d6fb461d 1188** New translations
a861a339 1189 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
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1190 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
1191
d6fb461d 1192** Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 1193 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 1194
d6fb461d 1195** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
1196 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
1197 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 1198 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 1199
d6fb461d 1200** Reports
ec3bc396
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1201 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
1202 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
1203 - itemset
1204 complete the core item sets with their closure
9e6e7ed2
PE
1205 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
1206 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
1207 - solved
1208 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
1209 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
1210 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 1211
d6fb461d 1212** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
1213 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
1214 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
1215
1216 %type <foo> bar
1217 %%
1218 bar: '0' {} '0';
1219
1220 This is fixed.
a861a339 1221
d6fb461d 1222** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 1223\f
d6fb461d 1224* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 1225
d6fb461d 1226** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
1227 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
1228 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
1229 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
1230
1231 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
1232 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
1233 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
1234 kludge will be disabled.
1235
1236 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
1237 extended.
76551463 1238\f
d6fb461d 1239* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 1240
d6fb461d 1241** File name clashes are detected
76551463
AD
1242 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
1243 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
1244
d6fb461d 1245** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
1246 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1247 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1248 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1249 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1250 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1251
d6fb461d 1252** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
1253 many portability hassles.
1254
d6fb461d 1255** DJGPP support added.
76551463 1256
d6fb461d 1257** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 1258\f
d6fb461d 1259* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 1260
d6fb461d 1261** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
1262 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1263 under some conditions.
1264
d6fb461d 1265** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
1266 As is done with $n.
1267\f
d6fb461d 1268* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 1269
d6fb461d 1270** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 1271
d6fb461d 1272** Portability fixes
76551463 1273
d6fb461d 1274** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 1275\f
d6fb461d 1276* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 1277
d6fb461d 1278** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 1279
d6fb461d 1280** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1281 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1282 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1283 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
1284 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
1285
d6fb461d 1286** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
1287 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1288 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1289
1290 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1291 problems as on AIX.
1292
d6fb461d 1293** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 1294
d6fb461d 1295** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
1296 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1297
d6fb461d 1298** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
1299 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1300 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1301 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1302
d6fb461d 1303** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 1304 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 1305 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 1306
d6fb461d 1307** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
1308 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1309
d6fb461d 1310** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
1311 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1312
d6fb461d 1313** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
1314 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1315
d6fb461d 1316** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1317 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1318 any warning.
1319
d6fb461d 1320** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 1321
d6fb461d 1322** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 1323
d6fb461d 1324** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 1325
d6fb461d 1326** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
1327 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1328 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1329 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1330
d6fb461d 1331** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
1332 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1333 previous allocations were not freed.
1334
d6fb461d 1335** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
1336 Some newlines were missing.
1337 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1338
d6fb461d 1339** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
1340 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1341
d6fb461d 1342** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1343 Was not used.
1344 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1345
d6fb461d 1346** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 1347
d6fb461d 1348** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 1349
d6fb461d 1350** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 1351
d6fb461d 1352** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
1353 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1354
d6fb461d 1355** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 1356
d6fb461d 1357** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
1358 New.
1359
d6fb461d 1360** --output
52d1aeee
MA
1361 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
1362\f
d6fb461d 1363* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 1364
d6fb461d 1365** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
fdac0091 1366 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
1367 argument.
1368
d6fb461d 1369** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
1370 experiment.
1371
d6fb461d 1372** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 1373\f
d6fb461d 1374* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 1375
d6fb461d 1376** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
1377 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1378 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
1379 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
1380
d6fb461d 1381** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 1382
d6fb461d 1383** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 1384
d6fb461d 1385** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 1386
d6fb461d 1387** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 1388
d6fb461d 1389** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 1390
d6fb461d 1391** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 1392
d6fb461d 1393** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 1394
d6fb461d 1395** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
cd5bd6ac 1396
d6fb461d 1397** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
62ab6972 1398
d6fb461d 1399** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
1400 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1401
d6fb461d 1402** New directives.
4ecbf796
MA
1403 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
1404 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2 1405
d6fb461d 1406** @$
f987e9d2 1407 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 1408\f
d6fb461d 1409* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 1410
d6fb461d 1411** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 1412
d6fb461d 1413** Added NLS.
d2e00347 1414
d6fb461d 1415** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 1416
d6fb461d 1417** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 1418\f
d6fb461d 1419* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 1420
d6fb461d 1421** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
1422 some systems has been fixed.
1423\f
d6fb461d 1424* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 1425
d6fb461d 1426** Bison now uses automake.
4be07551 1427
d6fb461d 1428** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 1429
d6fb461d 1430** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 1431
d6fb461d 1432** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 1433
d6fb461d 1434** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 1435
d6fb461d 1436** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 1437
d6fb461d 1438** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 1439 not provide alloca().
4be07551 1440\f
d6fb461d 1441* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 1442
d6fb461d 1443** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 1444the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 1445
d6fb461d 1446** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5
RS
1447example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1448of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1449
d6fb461d 1450** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
1451and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1452table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1453purposes.
1454
d6fb461d 1455** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
1456directives in the parser file.
1457
d6fb461d 1458** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
1459Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1460
d6fb461d 1461** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
1462the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1463The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1464a switch statement body.
1465\f
d6fb461d 1466* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 1467
4d019228
DM
1468The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1469passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1470actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1471by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 1472
6780ca7a 1473Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 1474\f
d6fb461d 1475* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
1476
1477--help option added.
6780ca7a 1478\f
d6fb461d 1479* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
1480
1481Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
AD
1482
1483Local Variables:
1484mode: outline
1485End:
76551463
AD
1486
1487-----
1488
ea0a7676 1489Copyright (C) 1995-2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 1490
8defe11b 1491This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
76551463 1492
f16b0819 1493This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 1494it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
1495the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1496(at your option) any later version.
76551463 1497
f16b0819 1498This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
1499but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1500MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1501GNU General Public License for more details.
1502
1503You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1504along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.