projects / bison.git / blame
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| 66a69320 JT |
1 | Frequently Asked Questions about Bison: |
| 2 | ||
| 3 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| 4 | ||
| 5 | Q1. Is Bison Y2K compliant? | |
| 6 | ||
| 7 | A1. If you're looking for a guarantee or certification, I can't | |
| 8 | provide it. With a little thought you can answer this one for | |
| 9 | yourself, though. (Hint: does a parser generator rely on the | |
| 10 | date or time for anything?) If you're still confused, see | |
| 11 | http://www.gnu.org/software/year2000.html for more information. | |
| 12 | ||
| 13 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| 14 | ||
| 15 | Q2. I'm having trouble using Bison. Where can I find help? | |
| 16 | ||
| 17 | A2. First, read the fine manual which comes with bison. Beyond that, | |
| 18 | you can send mail to <help-bison@gnu.org>. This mailing list is | |
| 19 | intended to be populated with people who are willing to answer | |
| 20 | questions about using and installing Bison. Please keep in mind | |
| 21 | that (most of) the people on the list have aspects of their lives | |
| 22 | which are not related to Bison (!), so you may not receive an | |
| 23 | answer to your question right away. This can be frustrating, but | |
| 24 | please try not to honk them off; remember that any help they | |
| 25 | provide is purely voluntary and out of the kindness of their | |
| 26 | hearts. | |
| 27 | ||
| 28 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| 29 | ||
| 30 | Q3. I found a bug. What should I include in the bug report? | |
| 31 | ||
| 32 | A3. Before you send a bug report, make sure you are using the latest | |
| 33 | version. Check ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/bison/ or one of its | |
| 34 | mirrors. Be sure to include the version number in your bug | |
| 35 | report. If the bug is present in the latest version but not in a | |
| 36 | previous version, try to determine the most recent version which | |
| 37 | did not contain the bug. | |
| 38 | ||
| 39 | If the bug is parser-related, you should include the smallest | |
| 0f3e47c1 JT |
40 | grammar you can which demonstrates the bug. The grammar file |
| 41 | should also be complete (i.e., I should be able to run it through | |
| 42 | Bison without having to edit or add anything). The smaller and | |
| 66a69320 JT |
43 | simpler the grammar, the easier it will be to fix the bug. |
| 44 | ||
| 45 | Include information about your compilation environment, including | |
| 46 | your operating system's name and version and your compiler's name | |
| 47 | and version. If you have trouble compiling, you should also | |
| 48 | include a transcript of the build session, starting with the | |
| 49 | invocation of `configure'. Depending on the nature of the bug, | |
| 50 | you may be asked to send additional files as well (such as | |
| 51 | `config.h' or `config.cache'). | |
| 52 | ||
| 53 | Patches are most welcome, but not required. That is, do not | |
| 54 | hesitate to send a bug report just because you can not provide a | |
| 55 | fix. | |
| 56 | ||
| 57 | Send bug reports to <bug-bison@gnu.org>. | |
| 58 | ||
| 59 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| 60 | ||
| 61 | Q4. Will Bison ever have C++ support? | |
| 62 | ||
| 63 | A4. Yes, it's in the works. I will need beta testers, however (and | |
| 64 | people haven't exactly been lining up for the task). When this | |
| 65 | feature is ready to be tested, it will be announced on the | |
| 66 | bug-bison mailing list. If you're interested in testing C++ | |
| 67 | support when it becomes available, please consider subscribing to | |
| 68 | the list, especially if you are willing to beta test other | |
| 69 | releases as well. | |
| 70 | ||
| 71 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| 72 | ||
| 73 | Q5. What is involved in being a beta tester? | |
| 74 | ||
| 75 | A5. It's not terribly involved. Basically, you would download a test | |
| 76 | release, compile it, and use it to build and run a parser or two. | |
| 0f3e47c1 | 77 | After that, you would submit either a bug report or a message |
| 66a69320 JT |
78 | saying that everything is okay. It is important to report |
| 79 | successes as well as failures because test releases eventually | |
| 80 | become mainstream releases, but only if they are adequately | |
| 81 | tested. If no one tests, development is essentially halted. | |
| 82 | ||
| 83 | Beta testers are particularly needed for operating systems to | |
| 84 | which I do not have access. I currently have easy access to | |
| 85 | Linux (x86 glibc 2.1), Solaris (SPARC) 2.6 and 2.7, and HP-UX | |
| 86 | 10.20. Reports about other operating systems are especially | |
| 87 | welcome. | |
| 88 | ||
| 89 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| 90 | ||
| 91 | Q6. How do I join the help-bison and bug-bison mailing lists? | |
| 92 | ||
| 93 | A6. See http://www.gnu.org/ (the section about "GNU mailing lists") | |
| 94 | for more information. | |
| 95 | ||
| 96 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |