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4* Changes in version 2.5.1 (????-??-??):
5
b2bc8a1b 6* Changes in version 2.5 (2011-05-14):
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8** Grammar symbol names can now contain non-initial dashes:
9
10 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and with
11 %define variables (e.g. push-pull), grammar symbol names may contain
12 dashes in any position except the beginning. This is a GNU
13 extension over POSIX Yacc. Thus, use of this extension is reported
14 by -Wyacc and rejected in Yacc mode (--yacc).
15
3b1977ea 16** Named references:
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17
18 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
19 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
20 actions code.
21
22 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
23 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
24 as named references:
25
ac3297d5 26 if_stmt : "if" cond_expr "then" then_stmt ';'
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27 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
28
29 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
30
ac3297d5 31 stmt[res] : "if" expr[cond] "then" stmt[then] "else" stmt[else] ';'
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32 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
33
f840c05a 34 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
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35 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
36 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
37
f840c05a 38 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
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39 will help to stabilize them.
40
3b1977ea 41** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
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42
43 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
44 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
723206df 45 with the full language-recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
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46 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction
47 in parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
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48 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
49 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
50 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
51 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
52
53 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
54 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
55 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
56 file with these directives:
57
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58 %define lr.type lalr
59 %define lr.type ielr
60 %define lr.type canonical-lr
34a6c2d1 61
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62 The default-reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
63 adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'. For details on both
64 of these features, see the new section `Tuning LR' in the Bison
65 manual.
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66
67 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
68 stabilize them.
69
6f04ee6c 70** LAC (Lookahead Correction) for syntax error handling:
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71
72 Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
73 upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
74 additional parser stack reductions before discovering the syntax
6f04ee6c 75 error. Such reductions can perform user semantic actions that are
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76 unexpected because they are based on an invalid token, and they
77 cause error recovery to begin in a different syntactic context than
78 the one in which the invalid token was encountered. Second, when
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79 verbose error messages are enabled (with %error-verbose or the
80 obsolete `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'), the expected token list in the
81 syntax error message can both contain invalid tokens and omit valid
82 tokens.
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83
84 The culprits for the above problems are %nonassoc, default
85 reductions in inconsistent states, and parser state merging. Thus,
86 IELR and LALR suffer the most. Canonical LR can suffer only if
87 %nonassoc is used or if default reductions are enabled for
88 inconsistent states.
89
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90 LAC is a new mechanism within the parsing algorithm that solves
91 these problems for canonical LR, IELR, and LALR without sacrificing
92 %nonassoc, default reductions, or state merging. When LAC is in
93 use, canonical LR and IELR behave almost exactly the same for both
94 syntactically acceptable and syntactically unacceptable input.
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95 While LALR still does not support the full language-recognition
96 power of canonical LR and IELR, LAC at least enables LALR's syntax
97 error handling to correctly reflect LALR's language-recognition
98 power.
99
100 Currently, LAC is only supported for deterministic parsers in C.
101 You can enable LAC with the following directive:
102
103 %define parse.lac full
104
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105 See the new section `LAC' in the Bison manual for additional
106 details including a few caveats.
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107
108 LAC is an experimental feature. More user feedback will help to
109 stabilize it.
110
6ee881f6 111** %define improvements:
f37495f6 112
3b1977ea 113*** Can now be invoked via the command line:
4ecd3681 114
34d41938 115 Each of these command-line options
4ecd3681 116
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117 -D NAME[=VALUE]
118 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
119
120 -F NAME[=VALUE]
121 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
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122
123 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
124
34d41938 125 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
4ecd3681 126
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127 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
128 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
129 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
ac3297d5 130 details, see the section `Bison Options' in the Bison manual.
4ecd3681 131
3b1977ea 132*** Variables renamed:
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133
134 The following %define variables
135
136 api.push_pull
137 lr.keep_unreachable_states
138
139 have been renamed to
140
141 api.push-pull
142 lr.keep-unreachable-states
143
144 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
145 for backward compatibility.
146
723206df 147*** Values no longer need to be quoted in the grammar file:
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148
149 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
150 within quotations marks. For example,
151
152 %define api.push-pull "push"
153
154 can be rewritten as
155
156 %define api.push-pull push
157
6ee881f6 158*** Unrecognized variables are now errors not warnings.
c046698e 159
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160*** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
161
162** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now errors not warnings.
163
164** Character literals not of length one:
165
166 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
167 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
168 the following grammar to be the same token:
169
170 exp: exp '++'
171 | exp '+' exp
172 ;
173
174 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
175 some future release, Bison will start reporting an error instead.
176
177** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions:
178
179 Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
180 altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
181 determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
182 error or upon parser return. This bug has been fixed.
183
184** C++ parsers use YYRHSLOC:
185
186 Similarly to the C parsers, the C++ parsers now define the YYRHSLOC
187 macro and use it in the default YYLLOC_DEFAULT. You are encouraged
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188 to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has `first'
189 and `last' members, instead of
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190
191 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
192 do \
193 if (N) \
194 { \
195 (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
196 (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
197 } \
198 else \
199 { \
200 (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
201 } \
202 while (false)
203
204 use:
205
206 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
207 do \
208 if (N) \
209 { \
210 (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
211 (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
212 } \
213 else \
214 { \
215 (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
216 } \
217 while (false)
218
219** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
220
221 The default implementation of YYLLOC_DEFAULT used to be issued in
222 the header file. It is now output in the implementation file, after
223 the user %code sections so that its #ifndef guard does not try to
224 override the user's YYLLOC_DEFAULT if provided.
c046698e 225
3b1977ea 226** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it:
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227
228 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
229 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. More recently, it was
230 a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers. As
231 promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
232 semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
233 no longer implement YYFAIL at all. For further details, including a
234 discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
235 being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
236
3b1977ea 237** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action:
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238
239 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
240 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
241 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
242 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
243
244 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
245
246 instead of
247
248 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
249
250 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
251 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
252 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
253 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
254 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
255 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
256 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
257
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258** Verbose syntax error message fixes:
259
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260 When %error-verbose or the obsolete `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
261 specified, syntax error messages produced by the generated parser
262 include the unexpected token as well as a list of expected tokens.
263 The effect of %nonassoc on these verbose messages has been corrected
264 in two ways, but a more complete fix requires LAC, described above:
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265
266*** When %nonassoc is used, there can exist parser states that accept no
267 tokens, and so the parser does not always require a lookahead token
268 in order to detect a syntax error. Because no unexpected token or
269 expected tokens can then be reported, the verbose syntax error
270 message described above is suppressed, and the parser instead
ac3297d5 271 reports the simpler message, `syntax error'. Previously, this
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272 suppression was sometimes erroneously triggered by %nonassoc when a
273 lookahead was actually required. Now verbose messages are
274 suppressed only when all previous lookaheads have already been
275 shifted or discarded.
276
277*** Previously, the list of expected tokens erroneously included tokens
278 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
279 were resolved with %nonassoc in the current parser state. Such
280 tokens are now properly omitted from the list.
281
282*** Expected token lists are still often wrong due to state merging
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283 (from LALR or IELR) and default reductions, which can both add
284 invalid tokens and subtract valid tokens. Canonical LR almost
285 completely fixes this problem by eliminating state merging and
286 default reductions. However, there is one minor problem left even
287 when using canonical LR and even after the fixes above. That is,
288 if the resolution of a conflict with %nonassoc appears in a later
289 parser state than the one at which some syntax error is
290 discovered, the conflicted token is still erroneously included in
291 the expected token list. Bison's new LAC implementation,
292 described above, eliminates this problem and the need for
293 canonical LR. However, LAC is still experimental and is disabled
294 by default.
1fa30307 295
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296** Java skeleton fixes:
297
298*** A location handling bug has been fixed.
299
300*** The top element of each of the value stack and location stack is now
301 cleared when popped so that it can be garbage collected.
77768165 302
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303*** Parser traces now print the top element of the stack.
304
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305** -W/--warnings fixes:
306
ac3297d5 307*** Bison now properly recognizes the `no-' versions of categories:
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308
309 For example, given the following command line, Bison now enables all
310 warnings except warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
311
312 bison -Wall,no-yacc gram.y
313
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314*** Bison now treats S/R and R/R conflicts like other warnings:
315
316 Previously, conflict reports were independent of Bison's normal
317 warning system. Now, Bison recognizes the warning categories
ac3297d5 318 `conflicts-sr' and `conflicts-rr'. This change has important
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319 consequences for the -W and --warnings command-line options. For
320 example:
321
322 bison -Wno-conflicts-sr gram.y # S/R conflicts not reported
323 bison -Wno-conflicts-rr gram.y # R/R conflicts not reported
324 bison -Wnone gram.y # no conflicts are reported
325 bison -Werror gram.y # any conflict is an error
326
327 However, as before, if the %expect or %expect-rr directive is
328 specified, an unexpected number of conflicts is an error, and an
329 expected number of conflicts is not reported, so -W and --warning
330 then have no effect on the conflict report.
331
ac3297d5 332*** The `none' category no longer disables a preceding `error':
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333
334 For example, for the following command line, Bison now reports
335 errors instead of warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
336
337 bison -Werror,none,yacc gram.y
338
b2bc8a1b 339*** The `none' category now disables all Bison warnings:
8ffd7912 340
ac3297d5 341 Previously, the `none' category disabled only Bison warnings for
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342 which there existed a specific -W/--warning category. However,
343 given the following command line, Bison is now guaranteed to
344 suppress all warnings:
345
346 bison -Wnone gram.y
347
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348** Precedence directives can now assign token number 0:
349
350 Since Bison 2.3b, which restored the ability of precedence
351 directives to assign token numbers, doing so for token number 0 has
352 produced an assertion failure. For example:
353
354 %left END 0
355
356 This bug has been fixed.
357
7527c744 358* Changes in version 2.4.3 (2010-08-05):
7a9c3cb3 359
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360** Bison now obeys -Werror and --warnings=error for warnings about
361 grammar rules that are useless in the parser due to conflicts.
362
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363** Problems with spawning M4 on at least FreeBSD 8 and FreeBSD 9 have
364 been fixed.
365
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366** Failures in the test suite for GCC 4.5 have been fixed.
367
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368** Failures in the test suite for some versions of Sun Studio C++ have
369 been fixed.
370
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371** Contrary to Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, it has been decided that
372 warnings about undefined %prec identifiers will not be converted to
373 errors in Bison 2.5. They will remain warnings, which should be
374 sufficient for POSIX while avoiding backward compatibility issues.
375
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376** Minor documentation fixes.
377
ea66d039 378* Changes in version 2.4.2 (2010-03-20):
8defe11b 379
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380** Some portability problems that resulted in failures and livelocks
381 in the test suite on some versions of at least Solaris, AIX, HP-UX,
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382 RHEL4, and Tru64 have been addressed. As a result, fatal Bison
383 errors should no longer cause M4 to report a broken pipe on the
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384 affected platforms.
385
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386** `%prec IDENTIFIER' requires IDENTIFIER to be defined separately.
387
388 POSIX specifies that an error be reported for any identifier that does
389 not appear on the LHS of a grammar rule and that is not defined by
390 %token, %left, %right, or %nonassoc. Bison 2.3b and later lost this
391 error report for the case when an identifier appears only after a
392 %prec directive. It is now restored. However, for backward
393 compatibility with recent Bison releases, it is only a warning for
394 now. In Bison 2.5 and later, it will return to being an error.
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395 [Between the 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 releases, it was decided that this
396 warning will not be converted to an error in Bison 2.5.]
2c203528 397
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398** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
399
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400** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
401 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
402 avoided.
af2ffe5c 403
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404** %code is now a permanent feature.
405
406 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
407
408 %{CODE%}
409
410 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
411 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
412
413 %code {CODE}
414 %code requires {CODE}
415 %code provides {CODE}
416 %code top {CODE}
417
418 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
419 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
420 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
421 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
422 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
423
424 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
425 is still considered experimental.
426
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427** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
428
429 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
430 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. Previously, it was
431 documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers. YYFAIL is no longer
432 documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
433 Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
434 specified by POSIX.
435
436 Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
437 induce a syntax error. The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
438 that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
439 error so that you don't have to. However, there are several other
440 subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
441 inherent flaws when %error-verbose or `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
442 used. For a more detailed discussion, see:
443
444 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
445
446 The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
447 deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it. However,
448 because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
449 Bison features compatible with it. Thus, during parser generation,
450 Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
451 rule action. In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
452 %error-verbose and `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'. Eventually, YYFAIL will
453 be removed altogether.
454
455 There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
456 be a false positive. Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
457 Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
458 preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
459 To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
460 epilogue (that is, after the second `%%') in the Bison input file. In
461 this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
462 C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
463 phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
464 2.4.2 is not necessary.
465
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466** Internationalization.
467
468 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
469 message translations were not installed although supported by the
470 host system.
471
41930e7a 472* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
c9ba9e59 473
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474** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
475 declarations have been fixed.
476
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477** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
478
479 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
480 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
481
482 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
483
484 instead of
485
486 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
487
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488 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
489 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
490 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
491 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
492 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
493 feature.
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494
495** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 496
d6fb461d 497* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 498
d6fb461d 499** %language is an experimental feature.
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500
501 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
502 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
503 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
504 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
505 in future releases.
7bd1665a 506
d6fb461d 507** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 508
d6fb461d 509** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
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510 fixed.
511
d6fb461d 512* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 513
d6fb461d 514** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
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515 are now deprecated:
516
517 %define NAME "VALUE"
518
d6fb461d 519** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
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520
521 %define api.pure
522
523 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
524 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
525
d6fb461d 526** Push Parsing
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527
528 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
ef1b4273 529 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
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530 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
531 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
532 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
533
534 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
535 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
536
537 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
538
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539 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
540 feedback will help to stabilize it.
541
d6fb461d 542** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
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543 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
544 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 545
d6fb461d 546** Java
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547
548 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
549 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
550 %skeleton to select it.
551
552 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
553
554 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
555 feedback will help to stabilize it.
556
d6fb461d 557** %language
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558
559 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
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560 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
561 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
562 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 563
d6fb461d 564** XML Automaton Report
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565
566 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
567 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
568 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
c373bf8b 569
d6fb461d 570** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
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571 %defines. For example:
572
573 %defines "parser.h"
574
d6fb461d 575** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
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576 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
577 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
578 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 579
d6fb461d 580** Unreachable State Removal
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581
582 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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583 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
584 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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585
586 1. Removes unreachable states.
587
588 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
589 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
590 directives in existing grammar files.
591
592 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 593 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 594
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595 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
596
597 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
598
599 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
600 for further discussion.
601
d6fb461d 602** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
b1cc23c4 603
c373bf8b 604 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
88c78747
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605 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
606 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
607 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
608 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
609 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
610 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
611 code.
612
d6fb461d 613** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
59da312b 614 name.
1bb2bd75 615
d6fb461d 616** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
02975b9a
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617 deprecated:
618
619 %file-prefix "parser"
620 %name-prefix "c_"
621 %output "parser.c"
622
d6fb461d 623** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
c373bf8b
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624
625 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
8e0a5e9e
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626 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
627 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
628 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
629 it:
630
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631 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
632 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
633 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
634 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 635
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636 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
637 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
8e0a5e9e
JD
638 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
639 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
640
641 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
642 determine whether they should become permanent features.
643
d6fb461d 644** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
17bd8a73
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645
646 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
647 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
648 about unused $2 in:
649
650 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
651
652 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
653 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
654
655 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
656
657 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
658 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
659 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
660
59da312b 661 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
17bd8a73
JD
662 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
663
d6fb461d 664** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
c373bf8b
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665
666 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
12e35840
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667 %printer's:
668
669 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
670 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
671 declared semantic type tags.
672
3ebecc24 673 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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674 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
675 type tags.
676
677 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 678 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
12e35840
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679 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
680 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
681
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682 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
683 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
684 features.
685
12e35840
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686 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
687 details.
688
d6fb461d 689** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
ab7f29f8
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690 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
691 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
692
d6fb461d 693** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
b1cc23c4
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694 completely removed from Bison.
695
d6fb461d 696* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 697
d6fb461d 698** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
ddc8ede1
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699 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
700 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
701 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
702 and is required by POSIX.
703
d6fb461d 704** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
cd48d21d
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705 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
706
d6fb461d 707** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
ec5479ce
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708
709 For example:
710
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711 %union { char *string; }
712 %token <string> STRING1
713 %token <string> STRING2
714 %type <string> string1
715 %type <string> string2
716 %union { char character; }
717 %token <character> CHR
718 %type <character> chr
719 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
720 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
721 %destructor { } <character>
722
723 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
724 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
725 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
726 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
727 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 728
85894313
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729 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
730 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
731 future versions.]
732
d6fb461d 733** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
b931235e
JD
734 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
735 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
736 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
737 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
738
d6fb461d 739** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 740 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
9bc0dd67
JD
741
742 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
743 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
34f98f46
JD
744 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
745 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 746 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 747
34f98f46 748 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
9bc0dd67
JD
749 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
750 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
751 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
752 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
753 after the token definitions.
754
755 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
756 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
757
d6fb461d 758** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
34f98f46
JD
759 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
760 %after-header.
761
762 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
763 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
764 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
765 convenient for you:
766
767 %before-header {
768 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
769 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
770 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
771 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
772 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
773 }
774 %start-header {
775 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
776 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
777 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
778 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
9bc0dd67
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779 }
780 %union {
34f98f46
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781 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
782 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
783 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 784 }
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785 %end-header {
786 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
787 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
788 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
789 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
790 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 791 }
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JD
792 %after-header {
793 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
794 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
795 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
796 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
797 * Bison-generated definitions. */
798 }
799
800 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
801 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 802
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JD
803 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
804 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
805
d6fb461d 806** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
9e6e7ed2
PE
807 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
808 in a future release.
742e4900 809
d6fb461d 810* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 811
d6fb461d 812** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
4ad3ed84
PE
813 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
814
d6fb461d 815** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
4ad3ed84
PE
816 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
817
d6fb461d 818* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 819
d6fb461d 820** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
193d7c70
PE
821 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
822 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 823
d6fb461d 824** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 825
d6fb461d 826** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 827
d6fb461d 828** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
d6ca7905
PE
829 their contents together.
830
d6fb461d 831** New warning: unused values
4d7bc38c
PE
832 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
833 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 834
8f3596a6 835 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
721be13c
PE
836 | exp "+" exp
837 ;
affac613 838
8f3596a6
AD
839 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
840 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 841 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 842
4e26c69e
PE
843 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
844 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
845 | exp "+" exp
846 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 847 ;
affac613 848
4e26c69e
PE
849 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
850 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
851 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 852
8f3596a6 853 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
721be13c
PE
854 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
855 ;
856
84866159
AD
857 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
858 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
859
860 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
861
721be13c
PE
862 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
863 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 864
d6fb461d 865** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
9d9b8b70
PE
866 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
867 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
868 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 869
d6fb461d 870** %expect, %expect-rr
035aa4a0
PE
871 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
872 instead of warnings.
873
d6fb461d 874** GLR, YACC parsers.
4e26c69e
PE
875 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
876 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 877
d6fb461d 878** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 879
d6fb461d 880** %require "VERSION"
4e26c69e
PE
881 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
882 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 883
d6fb461d 884** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
e14d0ab6
AD
885 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
886 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
fb9712a9
AD
887 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
888 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
889
890 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
891 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
b50d2359
AD
892 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
893 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 894
b50d2359 895 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 896 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 897
d6fb461d 898** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 899\f
d6fb461d 900* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 901
d6fb461d 902** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 903
d6fb461d 904** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
baf785db
PE
905 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
906 language is still English. For details, please see the new
0410a6e0
PE
907 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
908 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
909 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 910
d6fb461d 911** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
1a059451
PE
912 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
913 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
914 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
915
d6fb461d 916** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
258b75ca
PE
917 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
918 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
919
d6fb461d 920** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
72f000b0
PE
921 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
922 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
923 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
924 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 925\f
d6fb461d 926* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 927
d6fb461d 928** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 929
82de6b0d
PE
930 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
931 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
932 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
933 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
934 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 935
82de6b0d
PE
936 - Error token location.
937 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
938 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
939 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
940 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 941
82de6b0d
PE
942 - Semicolon changes:
943 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
944 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 945
82de6b0d
PE
946 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
947 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
948 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
949 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 950
82de6b0d 951 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 952
d6fb461d 953** New features
1452af69 954
82de6b0d 955 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 956
82de6b0d
PE
957 - New directive: %initial-action.
958 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
959 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 960
82de6b0d
PE
961 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
962 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 963
82de6b0d
PE
964 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
965 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 966
82de6b0d 967 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 968 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 969
82de6b0d 970 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 971
82de6b0d
PE
972 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
973 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 974
d6fb461d 975** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 976
82de6b0d
PE
977 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
978 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
979 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
980 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
981 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
982 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 983
82de6b0d
PE
984 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
985 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 986
82de6b0d 987 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 988\f
d6fb461d 989* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 990
d6fb461d 991** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 992 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 993
d6fb461d 994** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 995
dc546b0f
PE
996 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
997 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 998
dc546b0f
PE
999 - %destructor
1000 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
1001 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 1002
dc546b0f
PE
1003 - %error-verbose
1004 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 1005
dc546b0f
PE
1006 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
1007 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 1008
d6fb461d 1009** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 1010
dc546b0f
PE
1011 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
1012 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
1013 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 1014
dc546b0f
PE
1015 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
1016 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
1017 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
1018 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
1019 be consistent.
74724a70 1020
dc546b0f
PE
1021 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
1022 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 1023
dc546b0f
PE
1024 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
1025 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 1026
dc546b0f
PE
1027 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
1028 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 1029
dc546b0f
PE
1030 - Yacc command and library now available
1031 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
1032 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
1033 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
1034 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 1035
dc546b0f 1036 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 1037
dc546b0f
PE
1038 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
1039 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
1040 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 1041
d6fb461d 1042** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 1043
dc546b0f
PE
1044 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
1045 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
1046 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
1047 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
1048 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
1049 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 1050
dc546b0f
PE
1051 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
1052 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 1053
dc546b0f
PE
1054 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
1055 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 1056
dc546b0f
PE
1057 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
1058 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
1059 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 1060
d6fb461d 1061** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 1062
dc546b0f
PE
1063 - GLR and inline
1064 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
1065 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 1066
dc546b0f
PE
1067 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
1068 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 1069
d6fb461d 1070** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
dc546b0f
PE
1071 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
1072 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 1073
d6fb461d 1074** #line in output files
dc546b0f 1075 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 1076
d6fb461d 1077** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
1078 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
1079 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
1080 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 1081\f
d6fb461d 1082* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 1083
d6fb461d 1084** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 1085
d6fb461d 1086** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 1087
d6fb461d 1088** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1089 Fix spurious parse errors.
1090
d6fb461d 1091** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1092 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
1093 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
1094
d6fb461d 1095** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
1096 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
1097 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
1098
1099 untyped: ... typed;
1100
1101 but the converse remains an error:
1102
1103 typed: ... untyped;
1104
d6fb461d 1105** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
1106 The following code:
1107
1108 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
1109
1110 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
1111 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 1112\f
d6fb461d 1113* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 1114
d6fb461d 1115** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
1116 The declaration
1117 %glr-parser
1118 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
1119 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 1120 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
1121 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
1122
7933f2b5 1123 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
1124 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
1125
d6fb461d 1126** Output Directory
8c165d89 1127 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 1128 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
8c165d89
AD
1129 now creates `bar.c'.
1130
d6fb461d 1131** Undefined token
007a50a4 1132 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 1133 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 1134
d6fb461d 1135** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 1136 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
1137 no longer the case.
1138
d6fb461d 1139** Error token
e88dbdbf 1140 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
1141 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
1142 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
1143 will be mapped onto another number.
1144
d6fb461d 1145** Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 1146 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
217598da
AD
1147 error recovery is possible.
1148
d6fb461d 1149** End token
217598da
AD
1150 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
1151
d6fb461d 1152** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
1153 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
1154 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
1155 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
1156 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
1157 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
1158 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
1159 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
1160 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 1161
d6fb461d 1162** Traces
5504898e
AD
1163 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
1164
d6fb461d 1165** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
1166 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
1167 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
1168 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
1169 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 1170
d6fb461d 1171** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
1172 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
1173 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
1174 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 1175
d6fb461d 1176** Useless rules
643a5994 1177 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 1178 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 1179
d6fb461d 1180** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
1181 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
1182
d6fb461d 1183** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
1184 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
1185 reported.
1186
d6fb461d 1187** Incorrect `Token not used'
11652ab3
AD
1188 On a grammar such as
1189
1190 %token useless useful
1191 %%
1192 exp: '0' %prec useful;
1193
1194 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
1195 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
1196
d6fb461d 1197** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 1198 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 1199
d6fb461d 1200** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
1201 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
1202 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
1203 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
1204 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 1205
d6fb461d 1206** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
1207 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
1208 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 1209 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 1210 For instance
7bd6c77e 1211 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 1212 or
7bd6c77e 1213 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 1214
d6fb461d 1215** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
1216 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
1217
d6fb461d 1218** New translations
a861a339 1219 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
1220 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
1221
d6fb461d 1222** Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 1223 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 1224
d6fb461d 1225** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
1226 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
1227 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 1228 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 1229
d6fb461d 1230** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
1231 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
1232 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
1233 - itemset
1234 complete the core item sets with their closure
9e6e7ed2
PE
1235 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
1236 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
1237 - solved
1238 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
1239 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
1240 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 1241
d6fb461d 1242** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
1243 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
1244 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
1245
1246 %type <foo> bar
1247 %%
1248 bar: '0' {} '0';
1249
1250 This is fixed.
a861a339 1251
d6fb461d 1252** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 1253\f
d6fb461d 1254* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 1255
d6fb461d 1256** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
1257 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
1258 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
1259 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
1260
1261 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
1262 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
1263 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
1264 kludge will be disabled.
1265
1266 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
1267 extended.
76551463 1268\f
d6fb461d 1269* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 1270
d6fb461d 1271** File name clashes are detected
76551463
AD
1272 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
1273 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
1274
d6fb461d 1275** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
1276 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1277 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1278 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1279 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1280 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1281
d6fb461d 1282** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
1283 many portability hassles.
1284
d6fb461d 1285** DJGPP support added.
76551463 1286
d6fb461d 1287** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 1288\f
d6fb461d 1289* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 1290
d6fb461d 1291** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
1292 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1293 under some conditions.
1294
d6fb461d 1295** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
1296 As is done with $n.
1297\f
d6fb461d 1298* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 1299
d6fb461d 1300** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 1301
d6fb461d 1302** Portability fixes
76551463 1303
d6fb461d 1304** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 1305\f
d6fb461d 1306* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 1307
d6fb461d 1308** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 1309
d6fb461d 1310** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1311 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1312 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1313 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
1314 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
1315
d6fb461d 1316** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
1317 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1318 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1319
1320 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1321 problems as on AIX.
1322
d6fb461d 1323** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 1324
d6fb461d 1325** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
1326 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1327
d6fb461d 1328** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
1329 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1330 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1331 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1332
d6fb461d 1333** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 1334 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 1335 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 1336
d6fb461d 1337** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
1338 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1339
d6fb461d 1340** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
1341 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1342
d6fb461d 1343** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
1344 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1345
d6fb461d 1346** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1347 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1348 any warning.
1349
d6fb461d 1350** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 1351
d6fb461d 1352** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 1353
d6fb461d 1354** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 1355
d6fb461d 1356** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
1357 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1358 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1359 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1360
d6fb461d 1361** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
1362 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1363 previous allocations were not freed.
1364
d6fb461d 1365** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
1366 Some newlines were missing.
1367 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1368
d6fb461d 1369** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
1370 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1371
d6fb461d 1372** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1373 Was not used.
1374 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1375
d6fb461d 1376** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 1377
d6fb461d 1378** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 1379
d6fb461d 1380** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 1381
d6fb461d 1382** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
1383 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1384
d6fb461d 1385** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 1386
d6fb461d 1387** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
1388 New.
1389
d6fb461d 1390** --output
52d1aeee
MA
1391 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
1392\f
d6fb461d 1393* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 1394
d6fb461d 1395** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
fdac0091 1396 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
1397 argument.
1398
d6fb461d 1399** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
1400 experiment.
1401
d6fb461d 1402** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 1403\f
d6fb461d 1404* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 1405
d6fb461d 1406** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
1407 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1408 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
1409 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
1410
d6fb461d 1411** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 1412
d6fb461d 1413** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 1414
d6fb461d 1415** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 1416
d6fb461d 1417** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 1418
d6fb461d 1419** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 1420
d6fb461d 1421** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 1422
d6fb461d 1423** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 1424
d6fb461d 1425** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
cd5bd6ac 1426
d6fb461d 1427** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
62ab6972 1428
d6fb461d 1429** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
1430 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1431
d6fb461d 1432** New directives.
4ecbf796
MA
1433 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
1434 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2 1435
d6fb461d 1436** @$
f987e9d2 1437 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 1438\f
d6fb461d 1439* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 1440
d6fb461d 1441** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 1442
d6fb461d 1443** Added NLS.
d2e00347 1444
d6fb461d 1445** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 1446
d6fb461d 1447** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 1448\f
d6fb461d 1449* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 1450
d6fb461d 1451** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
1452 some systems has been fixed.
1453\f
d6fb461d 1454* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 1455
d6fb461d 1456** Bison now uses automake.
4be07551 1457
d6fb461d 1458** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 1459
d6fb461d 1460** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 1461
d6fb461d 1462** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 1463
d6fb461d 1464** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 1465
d6fb461d 1466** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 1467
d6fb461d 1468** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 1469 not provide alloca().
4be07551 1470\f
d6fb461d 1471* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 1472
d6fb461d 1473** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 1474the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 1475
d6fb461d 1476** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5
RS
1477example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1478of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1479
d6fb461d 1480** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
1481and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1482table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1483purposes.
1484
d6fb461d 1485** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
1486directives in the parser file.
1487
d6fb461d 1488** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
1489Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1490
d6fb461d 1491** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
1492the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1493The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1494a switch statement body.
1495\f
d6fb461d 1496* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 1497
4d019228
DM
1498The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1499passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1500actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1501by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 1502
6780ca7a 1503Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 1504\f
d6fb461d 1505* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
1506
1507--help option added.
6780ca7a 1508\f
d6fb461d 1509* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
1510
1511Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
AD
1512
1513Local Variables:
1514mode: outline
1515End:
76551463
AD
1516
1517-----
1518
ea0a7676 1519Copyright (C) 1995-2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 1520
8defe11b 1521This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
76551463 1522
f16b0819 1523This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 1524it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
1525the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1526(at your option) any later version.
76551463 1527
f16b0819 1528This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
1529but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1530MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1531GNU General Public License for more details.
1532
1533You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1534along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.