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1Bison News
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4Changes in version 2.3a+ (????-??-??):
5
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6* The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
7 are now deprecated:
8
9 %define NAME "VALUE"
10
11* The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
12
13 %define api.pure
14
15 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
16 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
17
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18* Push Parsing
19
20 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
ef1b4273 21 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
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22 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
23 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
24 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
25
26 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
27 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
28
29 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
30
31* The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
32 not VCG format.
33
34* An experimental directive %language specifies the language of the
35 generated parser, which can be C (the default) or C++. This
36 directive affects the skeleton used, and the names of the generated
37 files if the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
38
39* The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
40 %defines. For example:
41
42 %defines "parser.h"
43
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44* When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
45 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
46 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
47 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 48
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49* Unreachable State Removal
50
51 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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52 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
53 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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54
55 1. Removes unreachable states.
56
57 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
58 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
59 directives in existing grammar files.
60
61 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 62 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 63
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64 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
65
66 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
67
68 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
69 for further discussion.
70
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71* Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
72
73 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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74 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
75 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
76 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
77 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
78 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
79 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
80 code.
81
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82* --report-file=FILE is a new flag to override the default `.output' file name.
83
16dc6a9e 84* The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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85 deprecated:
86
87 %file-prefix "parser"
88 %name-prefix "c_"
89 %output "parser.c"
90
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91* An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
92
93 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
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94 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
95 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
96 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
97 it:
98
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99 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
100 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
101 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
102 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 103
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104 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
105 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
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106 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
107 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
108
109 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
110 determine whether they should become permanent features.
111
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112* Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
113
114 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
115 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
116 about unused $2 in:
117
118 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
119
120 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
121 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
122
123 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
124
125 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
126 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
127 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
128
129 To enable these warnings, specify the flag `--warnings=midrule-values' or
130 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
131
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132* Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
133
134 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
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135 %printer's:
136
137 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
138 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
139 declared semantic type tags.
140
3ebecc24 141 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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142 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
143 type tags.
144
145 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 146 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
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147 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
148 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
149
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150 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
151 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
152 features.
153
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154 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
155 details.
156
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157* %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
158 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
159 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
160
21fe08ca 161Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 162
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163* Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
164 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
165 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
166 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
167 and is required by POSIX.
168
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169* Locations columns and lines start at 1.
170 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
171
b2a0b7ca 172* You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
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173
174 For example:
175
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176 %union { char *string; }
177 %token <string> STRING1
178 %token <string> STRING2
179 %type <string> string1
180 %type <string> string2
181 %union { char character; }
182 %token <character> CHR
183 %type <character> chr
184 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
185 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
186 %destructor { } <character>
187
188 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
189 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
190 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
191 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
192 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 193
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194 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
195 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
196 future versions.]
197
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198* Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
199 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
200 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
201 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
202 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
203
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204* Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
205 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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206
207 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
208 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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209 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
210 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 211 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 212
34f98f46 213 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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214 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
215 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
216 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
217 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
218 after the token definitions.
219
220 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
221 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
222
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223* Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
224 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
225 %after-header.
226
227 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
228 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
229 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
230 convenient for you:
231
232 %before-header {
233 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
234 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
235 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
236 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
237 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
238 }
239 %start-header {
240 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
241 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
242 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
243 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
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244 }
245 %union {
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246 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
247 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
248 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 249 }
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250 %end-header {
251 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
252 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
253 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
254 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
255 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 256 }
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257 %after-header {
258 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
259 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
260 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
261 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
262 * Bison-generated definitions. */
263 }
264
265 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
266 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 267
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268 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
269 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
270
742e4900 271* The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
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272 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
273 in a future release.
742e4900 274
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275Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
276
277* GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
278 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
279
280* It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
281 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
282
ab8d9dc5 283Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
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284
285* The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
286 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
287 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 288
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289* %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
290
291* The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 292
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293* Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
294 their contents together.
295
affac613 296* New warning: unused values
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297 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
298 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 299
8f3596a6 300 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
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301 | exp "+" exp
302 ;
affac613 303
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304 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
305 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 306 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 307
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308 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
309 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
310 | exp "+" exp
311 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 312 ;
affac613 313
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314 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
315 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
316 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 317
8f3596a6 318 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
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319 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
320 ;
321
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322 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
323 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
324
325 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
326
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327 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
328 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 329
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330* %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
331 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
332 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
333 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 334
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335* %expect, %expect-rr
336 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
337 instead of warnings.
338
4b367315 339* GLR, YACC parsers.
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340 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
341 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 342
302c0aee 343* Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 344
b50d2359 345* %require "VERSION"
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346 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
347 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 348
fb9712a9 349* lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
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350 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
351 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
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352 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
353 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
354
355 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
356 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
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357 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
358 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 359
b50d2359 360 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 361 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 362
302c0aee 363* DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 364\f
1bd0deda 365Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 366
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367* The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
368
a7db4add 369* Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
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370 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
371 language is still English. For details, please see the new
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372 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
373 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
374 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 375
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376* Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
377 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
378 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
379 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
380
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381* Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
382 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
383 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
384
a7db4add 385* When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
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386 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
387 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
388 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
389 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 390\f
82de6b0d 391Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 392
82de6b0d 393* Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 394
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395 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
396 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
397 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
398 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
399 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 400
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401 - Error token location.
402 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
403 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
404 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
405 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 406
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407 - Semicolon changes:
408 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
409 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 410
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411 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
412 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
413 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
414 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 415
82de6b0d 416 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 417
82de6b0d 418* New features
1452af69 419
82de6b0d 420 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 421
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422 - New directive: %initial-action.
423 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
424 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 425
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426 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
427 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 428
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429 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
430 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 431
82de6b0d 432 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 433 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 434
82de6b0d 435 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 436
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437 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
438 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 439
82de6b0d 440* Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 441
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442 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
443 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
444 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
445 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
446 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
447 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 448
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449 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
450 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 451
82de6b0d 452 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 453\f
dc546b0f 454Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 455
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456* The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
457 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 458
dc546b0f 459* syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 460
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461 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
462 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 463
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464 - %destructor
465 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
466 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 467
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468 - %error-verbose
469 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 470
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471 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
472 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 473
dc546b0f 474* POSIX conformance
d1de5372 475
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476 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
477 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
478 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 479
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480 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
481 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
482 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
483 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
484 be consistent.
74724a70 485
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486 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
487 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 488
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489 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
490 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 491
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492 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
493 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 494
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495 - Yacc command and library now available
496 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
497 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
498 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
499 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 500
dc546b0f 501 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 502
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503 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
504 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
505 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 506
dc546b0f 507* Other compatibility issues
886a425c 508
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509 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
510 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
511 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
512 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
513 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
514 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 515
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516 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
517 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 518
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519 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
520 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 521
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522 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
523 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
524 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 525
dc546b0f 526* GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 527
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528 - GLR and inline
529 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
530 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 531
dc546b0f
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532 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
533 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 534
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535* Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
536 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
537 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 538
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539* #line in output files
540 - --no-line works properly.
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541
542* Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
543 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
544 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
545 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 546\f
5c16c6b1 547Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5
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548
549* Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
550
b7195100 551* Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 552
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553* GLR parsers
554 Fix spurious parse errors.
555
556* Pure parsers
557 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
558 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
559
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560* Type Clashes
561 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
562 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
563
564 untyped: ... typed;
565
566 but the converse remains an error:
567
568 typed: ... untyped;
569
570* Values of mid-rule actions
571 The following code:
572
573 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
574
575 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
576 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 577\f
420f93c8 578Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 579
676385e2
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580* GLR parsing
581 The declaration
582 %glr-parser
583 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
584 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 585 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
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586 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
587
7933f2b5 588 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
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589 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
590
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591* Output Directory
592 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 593 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
8c165d89
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594 now creates `bar.c'.
595
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596* Undefined token
597 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 598 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 599
77714df2 600* Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 601 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
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602 no longer the case.
603
23c5a174 604* Error token
e88dbdbf 605 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
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606 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
607 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
608 will be mapped onto another number.
609
217598da 610* Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 611 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
217598da
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612 error recovery is possible.
613
614* End token
615 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
616
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617* Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
618 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
619 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
620 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
621 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
622 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
623 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
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624 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
625 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 626
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627* Traces
628 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
629
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630* Larger grammars
631 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
632 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
633 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
634 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 635
77714df2 636* Explicit initial rule
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637 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
638 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
639 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 640
77714df2 641* Useless rules
643a5994 642 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 643 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 644
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645* Useless rules, useless nonterminals
646 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
647
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648* Rules never reduced
649 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
650 reported.
651
77714df2 652* Incorrect `Token not used'
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653 On a grammar such as
654
655 %token useless useful
656 %%
657 exp: '0' %prec useful;
658
659 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
660 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
661
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662* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
663 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 664
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665* Default locations
666 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
667 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
668 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
669 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 670
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671* Token end-of-file
672 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
673 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 674 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 675 For instance
7bd6c77e 676 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 677 or
7bd6c77e 678 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
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679
680* Semantic parser
681 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
682
a861a339
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683* New translations
684 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
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685 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
686
77714df2 687* Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 688 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 689
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690* Token definitions as enums
691 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
692 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 693 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 694
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695* Reports
696 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
697 produces additional information:
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698 - itemset
699 complete the core item sets with their closure
9e6e7ed2
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700 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
701 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
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702 - solved
703 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
704 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
705 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 706
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707* Type clashes
708 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
709 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
710
711 %type <foo> bar
712 %%
713 bar: '0' {} '0';
714
715 This is fixed.
a861a339
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716
717* GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 718\f
76551463
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719Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
720
721* C Skeleton
722 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
723 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
724 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
725
726 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
727 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
728 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
729 kludge will be disabled.
730
731 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
732 extended.
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733\f
734Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
735
736* File name clashes are detected
737 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
738 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
739
740* A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
741 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
742 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
743 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
744 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
745 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
746
747* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
748 many portability hassles.
749
750* DJGPP support added.
751
752* Fix test suite portability problems.
753\f
754Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
755
756* Fix C++ issues
757 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
758 under some conditions.
759
760* Catch invalid @n
761 As is done with $n.
762\f
763Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
764
765* Fix Yacc output file names
766
767* Portability fixes
768
769* Italian, Dutch translations
770\f
52d1aeee
MA
771Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
772
773* Many Bug Fixes
774
775* GNU Gettext and %expect
776 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
777 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
778 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
779 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
780
781* Use of alloca in parsers
782 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
783 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
784
785 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
786 problems as on AIX.
787
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788* yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
789
52d1aeee
MA
790* When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
791 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
792
793* User Actions
794 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
795 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
796 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
797
798* Better C++ compliance
799 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 800 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee
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801
802* Reduced Grammars
803 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
804
805* 64 bit hosts
806 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
807
808* Error messages
809 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
810
811* %expect
812 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
813 any warning.
814
815* The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
816
817* Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
818
819* Swedish translation
820
821* Parse errors
822 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
823 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
824 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
825
826* Fixed parser memory leaks.
827 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
828 previous allocations were not freed.
829
830* Fixed verbose output file.
831 Some newlines were missing.
832 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
833
834* Fixed conflict report.
835 Option -v was needed to get the result.
836
837* %expect
838 Was not used.
839 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
840
841* Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
842
843* Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
844
845* Fixed some typos in the documentation.
846
847* %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
848 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
849
850* doc/refcard.tex is updated.
851
852* %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
853 New.
854
855* --output
856 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
857\f
76551463 858Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 859
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PE
860* `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
861 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
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862 argument.
863
864* `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
865 experiment.
866
f987e9d2
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867* Portability fixes.
868\f
9f4503d6 869Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e
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870
871* The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
872 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
873 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
874 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
875
876* Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 877
f2b5126e
PB
878* The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
879
f1c63ced 880* The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 881
f87a2205
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882* Russian translation added.
883
884* NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
885
886* Added the old Bison reference card.
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887
888* Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 889
cd5bd6ac
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890* Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
891
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892* `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
893
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894* Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
895 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
896
6deb4447 897* New directives.
4ecbf796
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898 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
899 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2
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900
901* @$
902 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 903\f
9f4503d6 904Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347
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905
906* Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
907
908* Added NLS.
909
910* Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
911
912* There is now a FAQ.
913\f
5c31c3c2
JT
914Changes in version 1.27:
915
916* The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
917 some systems has been fixed.
918\f
919Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551
JT
920
921* Bison now uses automake.
922
923* New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
924
925* Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
926
927* Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
928
929* A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1
JT
930
931* Problems when closing files should now be reported.
932
933* Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
934 not provide alloca().
4be07551 935\f
9f4503d6 936Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5
RS
937
938* Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
939the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 940
df8878c5
RS
941* Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
942example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
943of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
944
945* The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
946and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
947table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
948purposes.
949
950* The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
951directives in the parser file.
952
953* The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
954Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
955
956* The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
957the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
958The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
959a switch statement body.
960\f
6780ca7a
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961Changes in version 1.23:
962
4d019228
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963The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
964passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
965actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
966by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 967
6780ca7a 968Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a
DM
969\f
970Changes in version 1.22:
971
972--help option added.
6780ca7a
DM
973\f
974Changes in version 1.20:
975
976Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
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977
978Local Variables:
979mode: outline
980End:
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981
982-----
983
d6ca7905 984Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
ab7f29f8 9852004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 986
75eb3bc4 987This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler.
76551463 988
f16b0819 989This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 990it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
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991the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
992(at your option) any later version.
76551463 993
f16b0819 994This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
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995but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
996MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
997GNU General Public License for more details.
998
999You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1000along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.