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ed7658fe 1GNU Bison NEWS
3af4feb2 2
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3* Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?]
4
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5** Bug fixes
6
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7*** %empty is used in reports
8
9 Empty right-hand sides are denoted by '%empty' in all the reports (text,
10 dot, XML and formats derived from it).
11
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12*** YYERROR and variants
13
14 When C++ variant support is enabled, an error triggered via YYERROR, but
15 not caught via error recovery, resulted in a double deletion.
6d94eebb 16
c2ecada3 17* Noteworthy changes in release 3.0.1 (2013-11-12) [stable]
e386b50f 18
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19** Bug fixes
20
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21*** Errors in caret diagnostics
22
23 On some platforms, some errors could result in endless diagnostics.
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24
25*** Fixes of the -Werror option
26
27 Options such as "-Werror -Wno-error=foo" were still turning "foo"
28 diagnostics into errors instead of warnings. This is fixed.
29
30 Actually, for consistency with GCC, "-Wno-error=foo -Werror" now also
31 leaves "foo" diagnostics as warnings. Similarly, with "-Werror=foo
32 -Wno-error", "foo" diagnostics are now errors.
e386b50f 33
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34*** GLR Predicates
35
36 As demonstrated in the documentation, one can now leave spaces between
37 "%?" and its "{".
38
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39*** Installation
40
41 The yacc.1 man page is no longer installed if --disable-yacc was
42 specified.
43
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44*** Fixes in the test suite
45
46 Bugs and portability issues.
47
534497f5 48* Noteworthy changes in release 3.0 (2013-07-25) [stable]
facb910c 49
8458a411 50** WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!
597afd73 51
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52 Like other GNU packages, Bison will start using some of the C99 features
53 for its own code, especially the definition of variables after statements.
54 The generated C parsers still aim at C90.
55
8458a411 56** Backward incompatible changes
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57
58*** Obsolete features
59
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60 Support for YYFAIL is removed (deprecated in Bison 2.4.2): use YYERROR.
61
62 Support for yystype and yyltype is removed (deprecated in Bison 1.875):
63 use YYSTYPE and YYLTYPE.
64
65 Support for YYLEX_PARAM and YYPARSE_PARAM is removed (deprecated in Bison
66 1.875): use %lex-param, %parse-param, or %param.
47db7ed1 67
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68 Missing semicolons at the end of actions are no longer added (as announced
69 in the release 2.5).
70
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71*** Use of YACC='bison -y'
72
73 TL;DR: With Autoconf <= 2.69, pass -Wno-yacc to (AM_)YFLAGS if you use
74 Bison extensions.
75
76 Traditional Yacc generates 'y.tab.c' whatever the name of the input file.
77 Therefore Makefiles written for Yacc expect 'y.tab.c' (and possibly
78 'y.tab.h' and 'y.outout') to be generated from 'foo.y'.
79
80 To this end, for ages, AC_PROG_YACC, Autoconf's macro to look for an
81 implementation of Yacc, was using Bison as 'bison -y'. While it does
82 ensure compatible output file names, it also enables warnings for
83 incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc. In other words, 'bison -y' triggers
84 warnings for Bison extensions.
85
86 Autoconf 2.70+ fixes this incompatibility by using YACC='bison -o y.tab.c'
87 (which also generates 'y.tab.h' and 'y.output' when needed).
88 Alternatively, disable Yacc warnings by passing '-Wno-yacc' to your Yacc
89 flags (YFLAGS, or AM_YFLAGS with Automake).
90
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91** Bug fixes
92
c21e515e 93*** The epilogue is no longer affected by internal #defines (glr.c)
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94
95 The glr.c skeleton uses defines such as #define yylval (yystackp->yyval) in
96 generated code. These weren't properly undefined before the inclusion of
97 the user epilogue, so functions such as the following were butchered by the
98 preprocessor expansion:
99
100 int yylex (YYSTYPE *yylval);
101
6c7022f7 102 This is fixed: yylval, yynerrs, yychar, and yylloc are now valid
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103 identifiers for user-provided variables.
104
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105*** stdio.h is no longer needed when locations are enabled (yacc.c)
106
107 Changes in Bison 2.7 introduced a dependency on FILE and fprintf when
108 locations are enabled. This is fixed.
109
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110*** Warnings about useless %pure-parser/%define api.pure are restored
111
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112** Diagnostics reported by Bison
113
114 Most of these features were contributed by Théophile Ranquet and Victor
115 Santet.
73370a9d 116
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117*** Carets
118
119 Version 2.7 introduced caret errors, for a prettier output. These are now
120 activated by default. The old format can still be used by invoking Bison
121 with -fno-caret (or -fnone).
122
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123 Some error messages that reproduced excerpts of the grammar are now using
124 the caret information only. For instance on:
125
126 %%
127 exp: 'a' | 'a';
128
129 Bison 2.7 reports:
130
131 in.y: warning: 1 reduce/reduce conflict [-Wconflicts-rr]
132 in.y:2.12-14: warning: rule useless in parser due to conflicts: exp: 'a' [-Wother]
133
134 Now bison reports:
135
136 in.y: warning: 1 reduce/reduce conflict [-Wconflicts-rr]
137 in.y:2.12-14: warning: rule useless in parser due to conflicts [-Wother]
138 exp: 'a' | 'a';
139 ^^^
140
141 and "bison -fno-caret" reports:
142
143 in.y: warning: 1 reduce/reduce conflict [-Wconflicts-rr]
144 in.y:2.12-14: warning: rule useless in parser due to conflicts [-Wother]
145
1048a1c9 146*** Enhancements of the -Werror option
518e8830 147
1048a1c9 148 The -Werror=CATEGORY option is now recognized, and will treat specified
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149 warnings as errors. The warnings need not have been explicitly activated
150 using the -W option, this is similar to what GCC 4.7 does.
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151
152 For example, given the following command line, Bison will treat both
d949eefd 153 warnings related to POSIX Yacc incompatibilities and S/R conflicts as
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154 errors (and only those):
155
156 $ bison -Werror=yacc,error=conflicts-sr input.y
157
158 If no categories are specified, -Werror will make all active warnings into
159 errors. For example, the following line does the same the previous example:
160
161 $ bison -Werror -Wnone -Wyacc -Wconflicts-sr input.y
162
163 (By default -Wconflicts-sr,conflicts-rr,deprecated,other is enabled.)
164
165 Note that the categories in this -Werror option may not be prefixed with
166 "no-". However, -Wno-error[=CATEGORY] is valid.
167
168 Note that -y enables -Werror=yacc. Therefore it is now possible to require
169 Yacc-like behavior (e.g., always generate y.tab.c), but to report
170 incompatibilities as warnings: "-y -Wno-error=yacc".
518e8830 171
46bdb8ec 172*** The display of warnings is now richer
73370a9d 173
46bdb8ec 174 The option that controls a given warning is now displayed:
73370a9d 175
46bdb8ec 176 foo.y:4.6: warning: type clash on default action: <foo> != <bar> [-Wother]
73370a9d 177
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178 In the case of warnings treated as errors, the prefix is changed from
179 "warning: " to "error: ", and the suffix is displayed, in a manner similar
d949eefd 180 to GCC, as [-Werror=CATEGORY].
1048a1c9 181
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182 For instance, where the previous version of Bison would report (and exit
183 with failure):
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184
185 bison: warnings being treated as errors
46bdb8ec 186 input.y:1.1: warning: stray ',' treated as white space
1048a1c9 187
46bdb8ec 188 it now reports:
1048a1c9 189
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190 input.y:1.1: error: stray ',' treated as white space [-Werror=other]
191
192*** Deprecated constructs
193
194 The new 'deprecated' warning category flags obsolete constructs whose
195 support will be discontinued. It is enabled by default. These warnings
196 used to be reported as 'other' warnings.
197
73370a9d 198*** Useless semantic types
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199
200 Bison now warns about useless (uninhabited) semantic types. Since
201 semantic types are not declared to Bison (they are defined in the opaque
202 %union structure), it is %printer/%destructor directives about useless
203 types that trigger the warning:
204
205 %token <type1> term
206 %type <type2> nterm
207 %printer {} <type1> <type3>
208 %destructor {} <type2> <type4>
209 %%
210 nterm: term { $$ = $1; };
211
212 3.28-34: warning: type <type3> is used, but is not associated to any symbol
213 4.28-34: warning: type <type4> is used, but is not associated to any symbol
214
31557b9e 215*** Undefined but unused symbols
b921d92f 216
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217 Bison used to raise an error for undefined symbols that are not used in
218 the grammar. This is now only a warning.
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219
220 %printer {} symbol1
221 %destructor {} symbol2
31557b9e 222 %type <type> symbol3
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223 %%
224 exp: "a";
225
73370a9d 226*** Useless destructors or printers
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227
228 Bison now warns about useless destructors or printers. In the following
229 example, the printer for <type1>, and the destructor for <type2> are
230 useless: all symbols of <type1> (token1) already have a printer, and all
231 symbols of type <type2> (token2) already have a destructor.
232
233 %token <type1> token1
234 <type2> token2
235 <type3> token3
236 <type4> token4
237 %printer {} token1 <type1> <type3>
238 %destructor {} token2 <type2> <type4>
239
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240*** Conflicts
241
242 The warnings and error messages about shift/reduce and reduce/reduce
243 conflicts have been normalized. For instance on the following foo.y file:
244
245 %glr-parser
246 %%
247 exp: exp '+' exp | '0' | '0';
248
249 compare the previous version of bison:
250
251 $ bison foo.y
252 foo.y: conflicts: 1 shift/reduce, 2 reduce/reduce
253 $ bison -Werror foo.y
254 bison: warnings being treated as errors
255 foo.y: conflicts: 1 shift/reduce, 2 reduce/reduce
256
257 with the new behavior:
258
259 $ bison foo.y
260 foo.y: warning: 1 shift/reduce conflict [-Wconflicts-sr]
261 foo.y: warning: 2 reduce/reduce conflicts [-Wconflicts-rr]
262 $ bison -Werror foo.y
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263 foo.y: error: 1 shift/reduce conflict [-Werror=conflicts-sr]
264 foo.y: error: 2 reduce/reduce conflicts [-Werror=conflicts-rr]
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265
266 When %expect or %expect-rr is used, such as with bar.y:
267
268 %expect 0
269 %glr-parser
270 %%
271 exp: exp '+' exp | '0' | '0';
272
273 Former behavior:
274
275 $ bison bar.y
276 bar.y: conflicts: 1 shift/reduce, 2 reduce/reduce
277 bar.y: expected 0 shift/reduce conflicts
278 bar.y: expected 0 reduce/reduce conflicts
279
280 New one:
281
282 $ bison bar.y
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283 bar.y: error: shift/reduce conflicts: 1 found, 0 expected
284 bar.y: error: reduce/reduce conflicts: 2 found, 0 expected
d87ea54c 285
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286** Incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc
287
288 The 'yacc' category is no longer part of '-Wall', enable it explicitly
289 with '-Wyacc'.
290
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291** Additional yylex/yyparse arguments
292
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293 The new directive %param declares additional arguments to both yylex and
294 yyparse. The %lex-param, %parse-param, and %param directives support one
295 or more arguments. Instead of
2055a44e 296
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297 %lex-param {arg1_type *arg1}
298 %lex-param {arg2_type *arg2}
299 %parse-param {arg1_type *arg1}
300 %parse-param {arg2_type *arg2}
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301
302 one may now declare
303
e436fa67 304 %param {arg1_type *arg1} {arg2_type *arg2}
2055a44e 305
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306** Types of values for %define variables
307
308 Bison used to make no difference between '%define foo bar' and '%define
309 foo "bar"'. The former is now called a 'keyword value', and the latter a
310 'string value'. A third kind was added: 'code values', such as '%define
311 foo {bar}'.
312
313 Keyword variables are used for fixed value sets, e.g.,
314
315 %define lr.type lalr
316
317 Code variables are used for value in the target language, e.g.,
318
319 %define api.value.type {struct semantic_type}
320
321 String variables are used remaining cases, e.g. file names.
322
2a6b66c5 323** Variable api.token.prefix
99c08fb6 324
2a6b66c5 325 The variable api.token.prefix changes the way tokens are identified in
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326 the generated files. This is especially useful to avoid collisions
327 with identifiers in the target language. For instance
328
e436fa67 329 %token FILE for ERROR
630a0218 330 %define api.token.prefix {TOK_}
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331 %%
332 start: FILE for ERROR;
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333
334 will generate the definition of the symbols TOK_FILE, TOK_for, and
335 TOK_ERROR in the generated sources. In particular, the scanner must
336 use these prefixed token names, although the grammar itself still
337 uses the short names (as in the sample rule given above).
338
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339** Variable api.value.type
340
341 This new %define variable supersedes the #define macro YYSTYPE. The use
342 of YYSTYPE is discouraged. In particular, #defining YYSTYPE *and* either
343 using %union or %defining api.value.type results in undefined behavior.
344
345 Either define api.value.type, or use "%union":
346
347 %union
348 {
349 int ival;
350 char *sval;
351 }
352 %token <ival> INT "integer"
353 %token <sval> STRING "string"
354 %printer { fprintf (yyo, "%d", $$); } <ival>
355 %destructor { free ($$); } <sval>
356
357 /* In yylex(). */
358 yylval.ival = 42; return INT;
359 yylval.sval = "42"; return STRING;
360
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361 The %define variable api.value.type supports both keyword and code values.
362
363 The keyword value 'union' means that the user provides genuine types, not
435575cb 364 union member names such as "ival" and "sval" above (WARNING: will fail if
1fa19a76 365 -y/--yacc/%yacc is enabled).
6574576c 366
435575cb 367 %define api.value.type union
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368 %token <int> INT "integer"
369 %token <char *> STRING "string"
370 %printer { fprintf (yyo, "%d", $$); } <int>
371 %destructor { free ($$); } <char *>
372
373 /* In yylex(). */
374 yylval.INT = 42; return INT;
375 yylval.STRING = "42"; return STRING;
376
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377 The keyword value variant is somewhat equivalent, but for C++ special
378 provision is made to allow classes to be used (more about this below).
6574576c 379
435575cb 380 %define api.value.type variant
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381 %token <int> INT "integer"
382 %token <std::string> STRING "string"
383
630a0218 384 Code values (in braces) denote user defined types. This is where YYSTYPE
435575cb 385 used to be used.
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386
387 %code requires
388 {
389 struct my_value
390 {
391 enum
392 {
393 is_int, is_string
394 } kind;
395 union
396 {
397 int ival;
398 char *sval;
399 } u;
400 };
401 }
435575cb 402 %define api.value.type {struct my_value}
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403 %token <u.ival> INT "integer"
404 %token <u.sval> STRING "string"
405 %printer { fprintf (yyo, "%d", $$); } <u.ival>
406 %destructor { free ($$); } <u.sval>
407
408 /* In yylex(). */
409 yylval.u.ival = 42; return INT;
410 yylval.u.sval = "42"; return STRING;
411
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412** Variable parse.error
413
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414 This variable controls the verbosity of error messages. The use of the
415 %error-verbose directive is deprecated in favor of "%define parse.error
416 verbose".
31b850d2 417
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418** Renamed %define variables
419
420 The following variables have been renamed for consistency. Backward
421 compatibility is ensured, but upgrading is recommended.
422
423 lr.default-reductions -> lr.default-reduction
424 lr.keep-unreachable-states -> lr.keep-unreachable-state
425 namespace -> api.namespace
426 stype -> api.value.type
427
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428** Semantic predicates
429
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430 Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
431
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432 The new, experimental, semantic-predicate feature allows actions of the
433 form "%?{ BOOLEAN-EXPRESSION }", which cause syntax errors (as for
ca2a6d15 434 YYERROR) if the expression evaluates to 0, and are evaluated immediately
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435 in GLR parsers, rather than being deferred. The result is that they allow
436 the programmer to prune possible parses based on the values of run-time
437 expressions.
ca2a6d15 438
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439** The directive %expect-rr is now an error in non GLR mode
440
441 It used to be an error only if used in non GLR mode, _and_ if there are
442 reduce/reduce conflicts.
443
5202b6ac 444** Tokens are numbered in their order of appearance
93561c21 445
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446 Contributed by Valentin Tolmer.
447
448 With '%token A B', A had a number less than the one of B. However,
449 precedence declarations used to generate a reversed order. This is now
450 fixed, and introducing tokens with any of %token, %left, %right,
451 %precedence, or %nonassoc yields the same result.
452
453 When mixing declarations of tokens with a litteral character (e.g., 'a')
454 or with an identifier (e.g., B) in a precedence declaration, Bison
455 numbered the litteral characters first. For example
456
457 %right A B 'c' 'd'
458
459 would lead to the tokens declared in this order: 'c' 'd' A B. Again, the
460 input order is now preserved.
461
462 These changes were made so that one can remove useless precedence and
463 associativity declarations (i.e., map %nonassoc, %left or %right to
464 %precedence, or to %token) and get exactly the same output.
93561c21 465
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466** Useless precedence and associativity
467
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468 Contributed by Valentin Tolmer.
469
1282c124 470 When developing and maintaining a grammar, useless associativity and
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471 precedence directives are common. They can be a nuisance: new ambiguities
472 arising are sometimes masked because their conflicts are resolved due to
473 the extra precedence or associativity information. Furthermore, it can
474 hinder the comprehension of a new grammar: one will wonder about the role
475 of a precedence, where in fact it is useless. The following changes aim
476 at detecting and reporting these extra directives.
477
478*** Precedence warning category
479
480 A new category of warning, -Wprecedence, was introduced. It flags the
481 useless precedence and associativity directives.
482
483*** Useless associativity
484
485 Bison now warns about symbols with a declared associativity that is never
486 used to resolve conflicts. In that case, using %precedence is sufficient;
487 the parsing tables will remain unchanged. Solving these warnings may raise
488 useless precedence warnings, as the symbols no longer have associativity.
489 For example:
490
491 %left '+'
492 %left '*'
493 %%
494 exp:
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495 "number"
496 | exp '+' "number"
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497 | exp '*' exp
498 ;
499
500 will produce a
501
502 warning: useless associativity for '+', use %precedence [-Wprecedence]
503 %left '+'
504 ^^^
505
506*** Useless precedence
507
508 Bison now warns about symbols with a declared precedence and no declared
509 associativity (i.e., declared with %precedence), and whose precedence is
510 never used. In that case, the symbol can be safely declared with %token
511 instead, without modifying the parsing tables. For example:
512
513 %precedence '='
514 %%
1282c124 515 exp: "var" '=' "number";
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516
517 will produce a
518
519 warning: useless precedence for '=' [-Wprecedence]
520 %precedence '='
521 ^^^
522
523*** Useless precedence and associativity
524
525 In case of both useless precedence and associativity, the issue is flagged
526 as follows:
527
528 %nonassoc '='
529 %%
1282c124 530 exp: "var" '=' "number";
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531
532 The warning is:
533
534 warning: useless precedence and associativity for '=' [-Wprecedence]
535 %nonassoc '='
536 ^^^
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537
538** Empty rules
539
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540 With help from Joel E. Denny and Gabriel Rassoul.
541
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542 Empty rules (i.e., with an empty right-hand side) can now be explicitly
543 marked by the new %empty directive. Using %empty on a non-empty rule is
544 an error. The new -Wempty-rule warning reports empty rules without
545 %empty. On the following grammar:
546
547 %%
548 s: a b c;
549 a: ;
550 b: %empty;
551 c: 'a' %empty;
552
553 bison reports:
554
555 3.4-5: warning: empty rule without %empty [-Wempty-rule]
556 a: {}
557 ^^
558 5.8-13: error: %empty on non-empty rule
559 c: 'a' %empty {};
560 ^^^^^^
cc2235ac 561
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562** Java skeleton improvements
563
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564 The constants for token names were moved to the Lexer interface. Also, it
565 is possible to add code to the parser's constructors using "%code init"
566 and "%define init_throws".
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567 Contributed by Paolo Bonzini.
568
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569 The Java skeleton now supports push parsing.
570 Contributed by Dennis Heimbigner.
571
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572** C++ skeletons improvements
573
574*** The parser header is no longer mandatory (lalr1.cc, glr.cc)
575
576 Using %defines is now optional. Without it, the needed support classes
577 are defined in the generated parser, instead of additional files (such as
578 location.hh, position.hh and stack.hh).
579
580*** Locations are no longer mandatory (lalr1.cc, glr.cc)
581
582 Both lalr1.cc and glr.cc no longer require %location.
583
584*** syntax_error exception (lalr1.cc)
585
586 The C++ parser features a syntax_error exception, which can be
587 thrown from the scanner or from user rules to raise syntax errors.
588 This facilitates reporting errors caught in sub-functions (e.g.,
589 rejecting too large integral literals from a conversion function
590 used by the scanner, or rejecting invalid combinations from a
591 factory invoked by the user actions).
592
593*** %define api.value.type variant
594
595 This is based on a submission from Michiel De Wilde. With help
596 from Théophile Ranquet.
597
598 In this mode, complex C++ objects can be used as semantic values. For
599 instance:
600
601 %token <::std::string> TEXT;
602 %token <int> NUMBER;
603 %token SEMICOLON ";"
604 %type <::std::string> item;
605 %type <::std::list<std::string>> list;
606 %%
607 result:
608 list { std::cout << $1 << std::endl; }
609 ;
610
611 list:
6240346a 612 %empty { /* Generates an empty string list. */ }
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613 | list item ";" { std::swap ($$, $1); $$.push_back ($2); }
614 ;
615
616 item:
617 TEXT { std::swap ($$, $1); }
618 | NUMBER { $$ = string_cast ($1); }
619 ;
620
621*** %define api.token.constructor
622
623 When variants are enabled, Bison can generate functions to build the
624 tokens. This guarantees that the token type (e.g., NUMBER) is consistent
625 with the semantic value (e.g., int):
626
627 parser::symbol_type yylex ()
628 {
629 parser::location_type loc = ...;
630 ...
631 return parser::make_TEXT ("Hello, world!", loc);
632 ...
633 return parser::make_NUMBER (42, loc);
634 ...
635 return parser::make_SEMICOLON (loc);
636 ...
637 }
638
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639*** C++ locations
640
641 There are operator- and operator-= for 'location'. Negative line/column
642 increments can no longer underflow the resulting value.
643
1f5542fe 644* Noteworthy changes in release 2.7.1 (2013-04-15) [stable]
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646** Bug fixes
647
648*** Fix compiler attribute portability (yacc.c)
649
650 With locations enabled, __attribute__ was used unprotected.
0a7b8559 651
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652*** Fix some compiler warnings (lalr1.cc)
653
c13bb348 654* Noteworthy changes in release 2.7 (2012-12-12) [stable]
effd30c0 655
edf9a06f 656** Bug fixes
7bada535 657
edf9a06f 658 Warnings about uninitialized yylloc in yyparse have been fixed.
7bada535 659
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660 Restored C90 compliance (yet no report was ever made).
661
d4fe9e88 662** Diagnostics are improved
7bada535 663
8458a411
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664 Contributed by Théophile Ranquet.
665
d4fe9e88 666*** Changes in the format of error messages
7bada535 667
d4fe9e88 668 This used to be the format of many error reports:
1f1bd572 669
d4fe9e88
AD
670 input.y:2.7-12: %type redeclaration for exp
671 input.y:1.7-12: previous declaration
1f1bd572 672
d4fe9e88 673 It is now:
1f1bd572 674
d4fe9e88
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675 input.y:2.7-12: error: %type redeclaration for exp
676 input.y:1.7-12: previous declaration
cbaea010 677
d4fe9e88 678*** New format for error reports: carets
cbaea010 679
d4fe9e88 680 Caret errors have been added to Bison:
cbaea010 681
d4fe9e88
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682 input.y:2.7-12: error: %type redeclaration for exp
683 %type <sval> exp
684 ^^^^^^
685 input.y:1.7-12: previous declaration
686 %type <ival> exp
687 ^^^^^^
cbaea010 688
d4fe9e88 689 or
cbaea010 690
7bada535 691 input.y:3.20-23: error: ambiguous reference: '$exp'
fb6040f0 692 exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
7bada535 693 ^^^^
fb6040f0
TR
694 input.y:3.1-3: refers to: $exp at $$
695 exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
696 ^^^
697 input.y:3.6-8: refers to: $exp at $1
698 exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
699 ^^^
700 input.y:3.14-16: refers to: $exp at $3
701 exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
702 ^^^
7bada535 703
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704 The default behavior for now is still not to display these unless
705 explicitly asked with -fcaret (or -fall). However, in a later release, it
d4fe9e88
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706 will be made the default behavior (but may still be deactivated with
707 -fno-caret).
d3e4409a 708
1f1bd572 709** New value for %define variable: api.pure full
d3e4409a 710
1f1bd572 711 The %define variable api.pure requests a pure (reentrant) parser. However,
d4fe9e88
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712 for historical reasons, using it in a location-tracking Yacc parser
713 resulted in a yyerror function that did not take a location as a
714 parameter. With this new value, the user may request a better pure parser,
715 where yyerror does take a location as a parameter (in location-tracking
716 parsers).
1f1bd572
TR
717
718 The use of "%define api.pure true" is deprecated in favor of this new
719 "%define api.pure full".
d3e4409a 720
7287be84 721** New %define variable: api.location.type (glr.cc, lalr1.cc, lalr1.java)
db8ab2be
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722
723 The %define variable api.location.type defines the name of the type to use
724 for locations. When defined, Bison no longer generates the position.hh
725 and location.hh files, nor does the parser will include them: the user is
726 then responsible to define her type.
727
728 This can be used in programs with several parsers to factor their location
7287be84
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729 and position files: let one of them generate them, and the others just use
730 them.
db8ab2be
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731
732 This feature was actually introduced, but not documented, in Bison 2.5,
733 under the name "location_type" (which is maintained for backward
734 compatibility).
735
7287be84
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736 For consistency, lalr1.java's %define variables location_type and
737 position_type are deprecated in favor of api.location.type and
738 api.position.type.
739
d4fe9e88
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740** Exception safety (lalr1.cc)
741
742 The parse function now catches exceptions, uses the %destructors to
743 release memory (the lookahead symbol and the symbols pushed on the stack)
744 before re-throwing the exception.
745
746 This feature is somewhat experimental. User feedback would be
747 appreciated.
748
9c16d399 749** Graph improvements in DOT and XSLT
fc4fdd62 750
8458a411
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751 Contributed by Théophile Ranquet.
752
fc4fdd62
TR
753 The graphical presentation of the states is more readable: their shape is
754 now rectangular, the state number is clearly displayed, and the items are
755 numbered and left-justified.
756
757 The reductions are now explicitly represented as transitions to other
758 diamond shaped nodes.
759
9c16d399
TR
760 These changes are present in both --graph output and xml2dot.xsl XSLT
761 processing, with minor (documented) differences.
762
d4fe9e88 763** %language is no longer an experimental feature.
fb4c8a7c 764
d4fe9e88
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765 The introduction of this feature, in 2.4, was four years ago. The
766 --language option and the %language directive are no longer experimental.
fb4c8a7c 767
53e2cd1e
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768** Documentation
769
770 The sections about shift/reduce and reduce/reduce conflicts resolution
771 have been fixed and extended.
9d2423f5 772
d4fe9e88
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773 Although introduced more than four years ago, XML and Graphviz reports
774 were not properly documented.
775
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776 The translation of mid-rule actions is now described.
777
9d3f7eaf 778* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.5 (2012-11-07) [stable]
6f1360bd 779
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780 We consider compiler warnings about Bison generated parsers to be bugs.
781 Rather than working around them in your own project, please consider
782 reporting them to us.
783
784** Bug fixes
785
786 Warnings about uninitialized yylval and/or yylloc for push parsers with a
787 pure interface have been fixed for GCC 4.0 up to 4.8, and Clang 2.9 to
788 3.2.
789
790 Other issues in the test suite have been addressed.
6f1360bd 791
1282c124 792 Null characters are correctly displayed in error messages.
95066e92 793
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794 When possible, yylloc is correctly initialized before calling yylex. It
795 is no longer necessary to initialize it in the %initial-action.
796
0ac15849 797* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.4 (2012-10-23) [stable]
a4eb820f 798
468455e1 799 Bison 2.6.3's --version was incorrect. This release fixes this issue.
a4eb820f 800
6eb8f74f 801* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.3 (2012-10-22) [stable]
933ec544 802
6b4cb804
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803** Bug fixes
804
a1a77e1f 805 Bugs and portability issues in the test suite have been fixed.
6b4cb804
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806
807 Some errors in translations have been addressed, and --help now directs
808 users to the appropriate place to report them.
809
810 Stray Info files shipped by accident are removed.
811
812 Incorrect definitions of YY_, issued by yacc.c when no parser header is
813 generated, are removed.
9c26b8fc 814
a2b3f101
TR
815 All the generated headers are self-contained.
816
c9d5bcc9
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817** Header guards (yacc.c, glr.c, glr.cc)
818
819 In order to avoid collisions, the header guards are now
820 YY_<PREFIX>_<FILE>_INCLUDED, instead of merely <PREFIX>_<FILE>.
821 For instance the header generated from
822
823 %define api.prefix "calc"
824 %defines "lib/parse.h"
825
826 will use YY_CALC_LIB_PARSE_H_INCLUDED as guard.
827
c12c4c50 828** Fix compiler warnings in the generated parser (yacc.c, glr.c)
321d3e35
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829
830 The compilation of pure parsers (%define api.pure) can trigger GCC
831 warnings such as:
832
833 input.c: In function 'yyparse':
834 input.c:1503:12: warning: 'yylval' may be used uninitialized in this
835 function [-Wmaybe-uninitialized]
836 *++yyvsp = yylval;
837 ^
838
839 This is now fixed; pragmas to avoid these warnings are no longer needed.
840
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841 Warnings from clang ("equality comparison with extraneous parentheses" and
842 "function declared 'noreturn' should not return") have also been
843 addressed.
844
e1eeecd3 845* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.2 (2012-08-03) [stable]
9c26b8fc 846
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847** Bug fixes
848
849 Buffer overruns, complaints from Flex, and portability issues in the test
850 suite have been fixed.
851
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852** Spaces in %lex- and %parse-param (lalr1.cc, glr.cc)
853
854 Trailing end-of-lines in %parse-param or %lex-param would result in
855 invalid C++. This is fixed.
9c26b8fc 856
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857** Spurious spaces and end-of-lines
858
859 The generated files no longer end (nor start) with empty lines.
860
77b214ef 861* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.1 (2012-07-30) [stable]
a4107f24 862
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863 Bison no longer executes user-specified M4 code when processing a grammar.
864
e20e6a50
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865** Future Changes
866
867 In addition to the removal of the features announced in Bison 2.6, the
868 next major release will remove the "Temporary hack for adding a semicolon
869 to the user action", as announced in the release 2.5. Instead of:
870
871 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
872
873 write:
874
875 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
876
8617d87e
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877** Bug fixes
878
0e164d43
AD
879*** Type names are now properly escaped.
880
881*** glr.cc: set_debug_level and debug_level work as expected.
a4107f24 882
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883*** Stray @ or $ in actions
884
885 While Bison used to warn about stray $ or @ in action rules, it did not
886 for other actions such as printers, destructors, or initial actions. It
887 now does.
888
cd735a8c 889** Type names in actions
4982f078
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890
891 For consistency with rule actions, it is now possible to qualify $$ by a
cd735a8c 892 type-name in destructors, printers, and initial actions. For instance:
4982f078
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893
894 %printer { fprintf (yyo, "(%d, %f)", $<ival>$, $<fval>$); } <*> <>;
895
896 will display two values for each typed and untyped symbol (provided
cd735a8c 897 that YYSTYPE has both "ival" and "fval" fields).
60aa04a2 898
1505e8bb 899* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6 (2012-07-19) [stable]
0f11eec2 900
d0a30438 901** Future changes
9553083c 902
55d1006f
AD
903 The next major release of Bison will drop support for the following
904 deprecated features. Please report disagreements to bug-bison@gnu.org.
0f11eec2 905
aaf61036 906*** K&R C parsers
55d1006f
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907
908 Support for generating parsers in K&R C will be removed. Parsers
242cc08e 909 generated for C support ISO C90, and are tested with ISO C99 and ISO C11
55d1006f
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910 compilers.
911
258cddbc 912*** Features deprecated since Bison 1.875
0f11eec2 913
258cddbc
AD
914 The definitions of yystype and yyltype will be removed; use YYSTYPE and
915 YYLTYPE.
0f11eec2 916
258cddbc
AD
917 YYPARSE_PARAM and YYLEX_PARAM, deprecated in favor of %parse-param and
918 %lex-param, will no longer be supported.
919
920 Support for the preprocessor symbol YYERROR_VERBOSE will be removed, use
921 %error-verbose.
55d1006f
AD
922
923*** The generated header will be included (yacc.c)
0f11eec2
AD
924
925 Instead of duplicating the content of the generated header (definition of
55d1006f
AD
926 YYSTYPE, yyparse declaration etc.), the generated parser will include it,
927 as is already the case for GLR or C++ parsers. This change is deferred
928 because existing versions of ylwrap (e.g., Automake 1.12.1) do not support
929 it.
0f11eec2 930
c2425191 931** Generated Parser Headers
56ca3d8f 932
258cddbc 933*** Guards (yacc.c, glr.c, glr.cc)
c3e9f08f
AD
934
935 The generated headers are now guarded, as is already the case for C++
242cc08e 936 parsers (lalr1.cc). For instance, with --defines=foo.h:
c3e9f08f 937
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AD
938 #ifndef YY_FOO_H
939 # define YY_FOO_H
940 ...
941 #endif /* !YY_FOO_H */
c3e9f08f 942
258cddbc 943*** New declarations (yacc.c, glr.c)
56ca3d8f
AD
944
945 The generated header now declares yydebug and yyparse. Both honor
946 --name-prefix=bar_, and yield
947
e29f0771 948 int bar_parse (void);
56ca3d8f
AD
949
950 rather than
951
e29f0771
AD
952 #define yyparse bar_parse
953 int yyparse (void);
56ca3d8f
AD
954
955 in order to facilitate the inclusion of several parser headers inside a
956 single compilation unit.
c3e9f08f 957
258cddbc
AD
958*** Exported symbols in C++
959
960 The symbols YYTOKEN_TABLE and YYERROR_VERBOSE, which were defined in the
961 header, are removed, as they prevent the possibility of including several
962 generated headers from a single compilation unit.
963
694af10c
AD
964*** YYLSP_NEEDED
965
966 For the same reasons, the undocumented and unused macro YYLSP_NEEDED is no
967 longer defined.
968
4b3847c3
AD
969** New %define variable: api.prefix
970
971 Now that the generated headers are more complete and properly protected
972 against multiple inclusions, constant names, such as YYSTYPE are a
973 problem. While yyparse and others are properly renamed by %name-prefix,
974 YYSTYPE, YYDEBUG and others have never been affected by it. Because it
975 would introduce backward compatibility issues in projects not expecting
976 YYSTYPE to be renamed, instead of changing the behavior of %name-prefix,
977 it is deprecated in favor of a new %define variable: api.prefix.
978
979 The following examples compares both:
980
981 %name-prefix "bar_" | %define api.prefix "bar_"
982 %token <ival> FOO %token <ival> FOO
983 %union { int ival; } %union { int ival; }
984 %% %%
985 exp: 'a'; exp: 'a';
986
987 bison generates:
988
989 #ifndef BAR_FOO_H #ifndef BAR_FOO_H
990 # define BAR_FOO_H # define BAR_FOO_H
991
992 /* Enabling traces. */ /* Enabling traces. */
5f108727
AD
993 # ifndef YYDEBUG | # ifndef BAR_DEBUG
994 > # if defined YYDEBUG
995 > # if YYDEBUG
996 > # define BAR_DEBUG 1
997 > # else
998 > # define BAR_DEBUG 0
999 > # endif
1000 > # else
1001 # define YYDEBUG 0 | # define BAR_DEBUG 0
1002 > # endif
1003 # endif | # endif
1004
1005 # if YYDEBUG | # if BAR_DEBUG
4b3847c3
AD
1006 extern int bar_debug; extern int bar_debug;
1007 # endif # endif
1008
1009 /* Tokens. */ /* Tokens. */
1010 # ifndef YYTOKENTYPE | # ifndef BAR_TOKENTYPE
1011 # define YYTOKENTYPE | # define BAR_TOKENTYPE
1012 enum yytokentype { | enum bar_tokentype {
1013 FOO = 258 FOO = 258
1014 }; };
1015 # endif # endif
1016
1017 #if ! defined YYSTYPE \ | #if ! defined BAR_STYPE \
1018 && ! defined YYSTYPE_IS_DECLARED | && ! defined BAR_STYPE_IS_DECLARED
1019 typedef union YYSTYPE | typedef union BAR_STYPE
1020 { {
1021 int ival; int ival;
1022 } YYSTYPE; | } BAR_STYPE;
1023 # define YYSTYPE_IS_DECLARED 1 | # define BAR_STYPE_IS_DECLARED 1
1024 #endif #endif
1025
1026 extern YYSTYPE bar_lval; | extern BAR_STYPE bar_lval;
1027
1028 int bar_parse (void); int bar_parse (void);
1029
1030 #endif /* !BAR_FOO_H */ #endif /* !BAR_FOO_H */
1031
dfaac272 1032* Noteworthy changes in release 2.5.1 (2012-06-05) [stable]
df6e3db0 1033
debe2c03 1034** Future changes:
765e1bd4 1035
e4ab1254 1036 The next major release will drop support for generating parsers in K&R C.
041308d0 1037
466b4cf2 1038** yacc.c: YYBACKUP works as expected.
ef51bfa7 1039
d834eca0 1040** glr.c improvements:
041308d0 1041
d834eca0 1042*** Location support is eliminated when not requested:
041308d0 1043
e4ab1254
AD
1044 GLR parsers used to include location-related code even when locations were
1045 not requested, and therefore not even usable.
378e917c 1046
d834eca0 1047*** __attribute__ is preserved:
d115aad9 1048
e4ab1254
AD
1049 __attribute__ is no longer disabled when __STRICT_ANSI__ is defined (i.e.,
1050 when -std is passed to GCC).
041308d0 1051
466b4cf2 1052** lalr1.java: several fixes:
041308d0 1053
e4ab1254
AD
1054 The Java parser no longer throws ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException if the
1055 first token leads to a syntax error. Some minor clean ups.
041308d0 1056
22172d47 1057** Changes for C++:
ef51bfa7 1058
22172d47 1059*** C++11 compatibility:
ef51bfa7 1060
e4ab1254
AD
1061 C and C++ parsers use "nullptr" instead of "0" when __cplusplus is 201103L
1062 or higher.
936c88d1 1063
22172d47
AD
1064*** Header guards
1065
1066 The header files such as "parser.hh", "location.hh", etc. used a constant
1067 name for preprocessor guards, for instance:
1068
e29f0771
AD
1069 #ifndef BISON_LOCATION_HH
1070 # define BISON_LOCATION_HH
1071 ...
1072 #endif // !BISON_LOCATION_HH
22172d47
AD
1073
1074 The inclusion guard is now computed from "PREFIX/FILE-NAME", where lower
1075 case characters are converted to upper case, and series of
1076 non-alphanumerical characters are converted to an underscore.
1077
1078 With "bison -o lang++/parser.cc", "location.hh" would now include:
1079
e29f0771
AD
1080 #ifndef YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
1081 # define YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
1082 ...
1083 #endif // !YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
22172d47
AD
1084
1085*** C++ locations:
936c88d1 1086
e4ab1254
AD
1087 The position and location constructors (and their initialize methods)
1088 accept new arguments for line and column. Several issues in the
1089 documentation were fixed.
936c88d1 1090
466b4cf2
AD
1091** liby is no longer asking for "rpl_fprintf" on some platforms.
1092
7e508a2b
AD
1093** Changes in the manual:
1094
1095*** %printer is documented
1096
e4ab1254
AD
1097 The "%printer" directive, supported since at least Bison 1.50, is finally
1098 documented. The "mfcalc" example is extended to demonstrate it.
7e508a2b 1099
e4ab1254
AD
1100 For consistency with the C skeletons, the C++ parsers now also support
1101 "yyoutput" (as an alias to "debug_stream ()").
7e508a2b
AD
1102
1103*** Several improvements have been made:
466b4cf2 1104
e4ab1254
AD
1105 The layout for grammar excerpts was changed to a more compact scheme.
1106 Named references are motivated. The description of the automaton
1107 description file (*.output) is updated to the current format. Incorrect
1108 index entries were fixed. Some other errors were fixed.
466b4cf2 1109
86b08b49
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1110** Building bison:
1111
1112*** Conflicting prototypes with recent/modified Flex.
466b4cf2 1113
e4ab1254
AD
1114 Fixed build problems with the current, unreleased, version of Flex, and
1115 some modified versions of 2.5.35, which have modified function prototypes.
466b4cf2 1116
8ef26c2a
AD
1117*** Warnings during the build procedure have been eliminated.
1118
1119*** Several portability problems in the test suite have been fixed:
466b4cf2 1120
e4ab1254
AD
1121 This includes warnings with some compilers, unexpected behavior of tools
1122 such as diff, warning messages from the test suite itself, etc.
466b4cf2 1123
91aadcc7 1124*** The install-pdf target works properly:
8ef26c2a 1125
e4ab1254
AD
1126 Running "make install-pdf" (or -dvi, -html, -info, and -ps) no longer
1127 halts in the middle of its course.
8ef26c2a 1128
28801043 1129* Changes in version 2.5 (2011-05-14):
50cca368 1130
82f3355e
JD
1131** Grammar symbol names can now contain non-initial dashes:
1132
1133 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and with
1134 %define variables (e.g. push-pull), grammar symbol names may contain
1135 dashes in any position except the beginning. This is a GNU
1136 extension over POSIX Yacc. Thus, use of this extension is reported
1137 by -Wyacc and rejected in Yacc mode (--yacc).
1138
f1b238df 1139** Named references:
66381412
AR
1140
1141 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
1142 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
1143 actions code.
1144
1145 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
1146 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
1147 as named references:
1148
4b568fc0 1149 if_stmt : "if" cond_expr "then" then_stmt ';'
66381412
AR
1150 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
1151
1152 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
1153
4b568fc0 1154 stmt[res] : "if" expr[cond] "then" stmt[then] "else" stmt[else] ';'
66381412
AR
1155 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
1156
5b1ff423 1157 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
66381412
AR
1158 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
1159 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
1160
5b1ff423 1161 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
66381412 1162 will help to stabilize them.
2bd435c3 1163 Contributed by Alex Rozenman.
66381412 1164
f1b238df 1165** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
eb45ef3b
JD
1166
1167 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
1168 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
7262f54f 1169 with the full language-recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
f1b238df
JD
1170 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction
1171 in parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
eb45ef3b
JD
1172 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
1173 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
1174 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
1175 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
1176
1177 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
1178 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
1179 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
1180 file with these directives:
1181
cf499cff
JD
1182 %define lr.type lalr
1183 %define lr.type ielr
1184 %define lr.type canonical-lr
eb45ef3b 1185
7fceb615 1186 The default-reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
e4ab1254
AD
1187 adjusted using "%define lr.default-reductions". For details on both
1188 of these features, see the new section "Tuning LR" in the Bison
7fceb615 1189 manual.
eb45ef3b
JD
1190
1191 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
1192 stabilize them.
1193
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1194** LAC (Lookahead Correction) for syntax error handling
1195
1196 Contributed by Joel E. Denny.
fcf834f9
JD
1197
1198 Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
1199 upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
1200 additional parser stack reductions before discovering the syntax
7fceb615 1201 error. Such reductions can perform user semantic actions that are
fcf834f9
JD
1202 unexpected because they are based on an invalid token, and they
1203 cause error recovery to begin in a different syntactic context than
1204 the one in which the invalid token was encountered. Second, when
7fceb615 1205 verbose error messages are enabled (with %error-verbose or the
e4ab1254 1206 obsolete "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE"), the expected token list in the
7fceb615
JD
1207 syntax error message can both contain invalid tokens and omit valid
1208 tokens.
fcf834f9
JD
1209
1210 The culprits for the above problems are %nonassoc, default
1211 reductions in inconsistent states, and parser state merging. Thus,
1212 IELR and LALR suffer the most. Canonical LR can suffer only if
1213 %nonassoc is used or if default reductions are enabled for
1214 inconsistent states.
1215
7fceb615
JD
1216 LAC is a new mechanism within the parsing algorithm that solves
1217 these problems for canonical LR, IELR, and LALR without sacrificing
1218 %nonassoc, default reductions, or state merging. When LAC is in
1219 use, canonical LR and IELR behave almost exactly the same for both
1220 syntactically acceptable and syntactically unacceptable input.
fcf834f9
JD
1221 While LALR still does not support the full language-recognition
1222 power of canonical LR and IELR, LAC at least enables LALR's syntax
1223 error handling to correctly reflect LALR's language-recognition
1224 power.
1225
1226 Currently, LAC is only supported for deterministic parsers in C.
1227 You can enable LAC with the following directive:
1228
1229 %define parse.lac full
1230
e4ab1254 1231 See the new section "LAC" in the Bison manual for additional
7fceb615 1232 details including a few caveats.
fcf834f9
JD
1233
1234 LAC is an experimental feature. More user feedback will help to
1235 stabilize it.
1236
d397d9f0 1237** %define improvements:
cf499cff 1238
f1b238df 1239*** Can now be invoked via the command line:
50cca368 1240
de5ab940 1241 Each of these command-line options
50cca368 1242
de5ab940
JD
1243 -D NAME[=VALUE]
1244 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
1245
1246 -F NAME[=VALUE]
1247 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
50cca368
JD
1248
1249 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
1250
de5ab940 1251 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
50cca368 1252
de5ab940
JD
1253 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
1254 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
1255 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
e4ab1254 1256 details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
50cca368 1257
f1b238df 1258*** Variables renamed:
67212941
JD
1259
1260 The following %define variables
1261
1262 api.push_pull
1263 lr.keep_unreachable_states
1264
1265 have been renamed to
1266
1267 api.push-pull
1268 lr.keep-unreachable-states
1269
1270 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
1271 for backward compatibility.
1272
7262f54f 1273*** Values no longer need to be quoted in the grammar file:
cf499cff
JD
1274
1275 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
1276 within quotations marks. For example,
1277
1278 %define api.push-pull "push"
1279
1280 can be rewritten as
1281
1282 %define api.push-pull push
1283
d397d9f0 1284*** Unrecognized variables are now errors not warnings.
cdf3f113 1285
d397d9f0
JD
1286*** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
1287
1288** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now errors not warnings.
1289
1290** Character literals not of length one:
1291
1292 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
1293 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
1294 the following grammar to be the same token:
1295
1296 exp: exp '++'
1297 | exp '+' exp
1298 ;
1299
1300 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
1301 some future release, Bison will start reporting an error instead.
1302
1303** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions:
1304
1305 Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
1306 altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
1307 determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
1308 error or upon parser return. This bug has been fixed.
1309
1310** C++ parsers use YYRHSLOC:
1311
1312 Similarly to the C parsers, the C++ parsers now define the YYRHSLOC
1313 macro and use it in the default YYLLOC_DEFAULT. You are encouraged
e4ab1254
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1314 to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has "first"
1315 and "last" members, instead of
d397d9f0 1316
e29f0771
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1317 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
1318 do \
1319 if (N) \
1320 { \
1321 (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
1322 (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
1323 } \
1324 else \
1325 { \
1326 (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
1327 } \
1328 while (false)
d397d9f0
JD
1329
1330 use:
1331
e29f0771
AD
1332 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
1333 do \
1334 if (N) \
1335 { \
1336 (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
1337 (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
1338 } \
1339 else \
1340 { \
1341 (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
1342 } \
1343 while (false)
d397d9f0
JD
1344
1345** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
1346
1347 The default implementation of YYLLOC_DEFAULT used to be issued in
1348 the header file. It is now output in the implementation file, after
1349 the user %code sections so that its #ifndef guard does not try to
1350 override the user's YYLLOC_DEFAULT if provided.
cdf3f113 1351
f1b238df 1352** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it:
4395a9ff
JD
1353
1354 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
1355 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. More recently, it was
1356 a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers. As
1357 promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
1358 semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
1359 no longer implement YYFAIL at all. For further details, including a
1360 discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
1361 being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
1362
f1b238df 1363** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action:
197b82ba
JD
1364
1365 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
1366 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
1367 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
1368 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
1369
1370 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
1371
1372 instead of
1373
1374 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
1375
1376 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
1377 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
1378 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
1379 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
1380 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
1381 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
1382 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
1383
d2060f06
JD
1384** Verbose syntax error message fixes:
1385
e4ab1254 1386 When %error-verbose or the obsolete "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE" is
7fceb615
JD
1387 specified, syntax error messages produced by the generated parser
1388 include the unexpected token as well as a list of expected tokens.
1389 The effect of %nonassoc on these verbose messages has been corrected
1390 in two ways, but a more complete fix requires LAC, described above:
d2060f06
JD
1391
1392*** When %nonassoc is used, there can exist parser states that accept no
1393 tokens, and so the parser does not always require a lookahead token
1394 in order to detect a syntax error. Because no unexpected token or
1395 expected tokens can then be reported, the verbose syntax error
1396 message described above is suppressed, and the parser instead
e4ab1254 1397 reports the simpler message, "syntax error". Previously, this
d2060f06
JD
1398 suppression was sometimes erroneously triggered by %nonassoc when a
1399 lookahead was actually required. Now verbose messages are
1400 suppressed only when all previous lookaheads have already been
1401 shifted or discarded.
1402
1403*** Previously, the list of expected tokens erroneously included tokens
1404 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
1405 were resolved with %nonassoc in the current parser state. Such
1406 tokens are now properly omitted from the list.
1407
1408*** Expected token lists are still often wrong due to state merging
fcf834f9
JD
1409 (from LALR or IELR) and default reductions, which can both add
1410 invalid tokens and subtract valid tokens. Canonical LR almost
1411 completely fixes this problem by eliminating state merging and
1412 default reductions. However, there is one minor problem left even
1413 when using canonical LR and even after the fixes above. That is,
1414 if the resolution of a conflict with %nonassoc appears in a later
1415 parser state than the one at which some syntax error is
1416 discovered, the conflicted token is still erroneously included in
1417 the expected token list. Bison's new LAC implementation,
1418 described above, eliminates this problem and the need for
1419 canonical LR. However, LAC is still experimental and is disabled
1420 by default.
53f036ce 1421
1a33f4f6
JD
1422** Java skeleton fixes:
1423
1424*** A location handling bug has been fixed.
1425
1426*** The top element of each of the value stack and location stack is now
1427 cleared when popped so that it can be garbage collected.
6771a463 1428
02803d55
JD
1429*** Parser traces now print the top element of the stack.
1430
86408959
JD
1431** -W/--warnings fixes:
1432
e4ab1254 1433*** Bison now properly recognizes the "no-" versions of categories:
86408959
JD
1434
1435 For example, given the following command line, Bison now enables all
1436 warnings except warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
1437
1438 bison -Wall,no-yacc gram.y
1439
786743d5
JD
1440*** Bison now treats S/R and R/R conflicts like other warnings:
1441
1442 Previously, conflict reports were independent of Bison's normal
1443 warning system. Now, Bison recognizes the warning categories
e4ab1254 1444 "conflicts-sr" and "conflicts-rr". This change has important
786743d5
JD
1445 consequences for the -W and --warnings command-line options. For
1446 example:
1447
1448 bison -Wno-conflicts-sr gram.y # S/R conflicts not reported
1449 bison -Wno-conflicts-rr gram.y # R/R conflicts not reported
1450 bison -Wnone gram.y # no conflicts are reported
1451 bison -Werror gram.y # any conflict is an error
1452
1453 However, as before, if the %expect or %expect-rr directive is
1454 specified, an unexpected number of conflicts is an error, and an
1455 expected number of conflicts is not reported, so -W and --warning
1456 then have no effect on the conflict report.
1457
e4ab1254 1458*** The "none" category no longer disables a preceding "error":
bf0e44e8
JD
1459
1460 For example, for the following command line, Bison now reports
1461 errors instead of warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
1462
1463 bison -Werror,none,yacc gram.y
1464
e4ab1254 1465*** The "none" category now disables all Bison warnings:
c39014ae 1466
e4ab1254 1467 Previously, the "none" category disabled only Bison warnings for
c39014ae
JD
1468 which there existed a specific -W/--warning category. However,
1469 given the following command line, Bison is now guaranteed to
1470 suppress all warnings:
1471
1472 bison -Wnone gram.y
1473
1f36f544
JD
1474** Precedence directives can now assign token number 0:
1475
1476 Since Bison 2.3b, which restored the ability of precedence
1477 directives to assign token numbers, doing so for token number 0 has
1478 produced an assertion failure. For example:
1479
1480 %left END 0
1481
1482 This bug has been fixed.
1483
64877e5e 1484* Changes in version 2.4.3 (2010-08-05):
8b9e021f 1485
2bfcac9a
JD
1486** Bison now obeys -Werror and --warnings=error for warnings about
1487 grammar rules that are useless in the parser due to conflicts.
1488
8b9e021f
JD
1489** Problems with spawning M4 on at least FreeBSD 8 and FreeBSD 9 have
1490 been fixed.
1491
4ad3921d
JD
1492** Failures in the test suite for GCC 4.5 have been fixed.
1493
06cb07d5
JD
1494** Failures in the test suite for some versions of Sun Studio C++ have
1495 been fixed.
1496
9b5049bd
JD
1497** Contrary to Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, it has been decided that
1498 warnings about undefined %prec identifiers will not be converted to
1499 errors in Bison 2.5. They will remain warnings, which should be
1500 sufficient for POSIX while avoiding backward compatibility issues.
1501
93d7dde9
JD
1502** Minor documentation fixes.
1503
e19a049c 1504* Changes in version 2.4.2 (2010-03-20):
74553c98 1505
f39ab286
JD
1506** Some portability problems that resulted in failures and livelocks
1507 in the test suite on some versions of at least Solaris, AIX, HP-UX,
e19a049c
JD
1508 RHEL4, and Tru64 have been addressed. As a result, fatal Bison
1509 errors should no longer cause M4 to report a broken pipe on the
f39ab286
JD
1510 affected platforms.
1511
e4ab1254 1512** "%prec IDENTIFIER" requires IDENTIFIER to be defined separately.
8bb3a2e7
JD
1513
1514 POSIX specifies that an error be reported for any identifier that does
1515 not appear on the LHS of a grammar rule and that is not defined by
1516 %token, %left, %right, or %nonassoc. Bison 2.3b and later lost this
1517 error report for the case when an identifier appears only after a
1518 %prec directive. It is now restored. However, for backward
1519 compatibility with recent Bison releases, it is only a warning for
1520 now. In Bison 2.5 and later, it will return to being an error.
9b5049bd
JD
1521 [Between the 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 releases, it was decided that this
1522 warning will not be converted to an error in Bison 2.5.]
8bb3a2e7 1523
d8911864
EB
1524** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
1525
a603c6e0
JD
1526** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
1527 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
1528 avoided.
c938d650 1529
98a345a2
JD
1530** %code is now a permanent feature.
1531
1532 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
1533
1534 %{CODE%}
1535
1536 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
1537 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
1538
1539 %code {CODE}
1540 %code requires {CODE}
1541 %code provides {CODE}
1542 %code top {CODE}
1543
1544 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
1545 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
1546 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
1547 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
1548 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
1549
1550 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
1551 is still considered experimental.
1552
1625df5b
JD
1553** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
1554
1555 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
1556 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. Previously, it was
1557 documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers. YYFAIL is no longer
1558 documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
1559 Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
1560 specified by POSIX.
1561
1562 Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
1563 induce a syntax error. The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
1564 that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
1565 error so that you don't have to. However, there are several other
1566 subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
e4ab1254 1567 inherent flaws when %error-verbose or "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE" is
1625df5b
JD
1568 used. For a more detailed discussion, see:
1569
1570 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
1571
1572 The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
1573 deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it. However,
1574 because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
1575 Bison features compatible with it. Thus, during parser generation,
1576 Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
1577 rule action. In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
e4ab1254 1578 %error-verbose and "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE". Eventually, YYFAIL will
1625df5b
JD
1579 be removed altogether.
1580
1581 There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
1582 be a false positive. Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
1583 Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
1584 preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
1585 To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
e4ab1254 1586 epilogue (that is, after the second "%%") in the Bison input file. In
1625df5b
JD
1587 this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
1588 C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
1589 phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
1590 2.4.2 is not necessary.
1591
2755de8f
AD
1592** Internationalization.
1593
1594 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
1595 message translations were not installed although supported by the
1596 host system.
1597
74553c98 1598* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
c9ba9e59 1599
0ea583d2
AD
1600** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
1601 declarations have been fixed.
1979121c 1602
0ea583d2
AD
1603** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
1604
1605 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
1606 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
1607
1608 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
1609
1610 instead of
1611
1612 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
1613
e4ab1254 1614 Some grammars still depend on this "feature". Bison 2.4.1 restores
0ea583d2
AD
1615 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
1616 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
1617 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
1618 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
1619 feature.
1620
1621** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 1622
402b123d 1623* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 1624
402b123d 1625** %language is an experimental feature.
ed4d67dc
JD
1626
1627 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
1628 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
1629 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
1630 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
1631 in future releases.
7bd1665a 1632
402b123d 1633** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 1634
402b123d 1635** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
241fda7a
JD
1636 fixed.
1637
402b123d 1638* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 1639
402b123d 1640** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
d9df47b6
JD
1641 are now deprecated:
1642
1643 %define NAME "VALUE"
1644
e4ab1254 1645** The directive "%pure-parser" is now deprecated in favor of:
d9df47b6
JD
1646
1647 %define api.pure
1648
1649 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
1650 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
1651
402b123d 1652** Push Parsing
c373bf8b
JD
1653
1654 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
e4ab1254
AD
1655 is, instead of invoking "yyparse", which pulls tokens from "yylex", you can
1656 push one token at a time to the parser using "yypush_parse", which will
c373bf8b
JD
1657 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
1658 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
1659
1660 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
1661 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
1662
e4ab1254 1663 See the new section "A Push Parser" in the Bison manual for details.
c373bf8b 1664
59da312b
JD
1665 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
1666 feedback will help to stabilize it.
1667
402b123d 1668** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
8e55b3aa
JD
1669 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
1670 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 1671
402b123d 1672** Java
59da312b
JD
1673
1674 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
e4ab1254 1675 "data/lalr1.java". Consider using the new %language directive instead of
59da312b
JD
1676 %skeleton to select it.
1677
e4ab1254 1678 See the new section "Java Parsers" in the Bison manual for details.
59da312b
JD
1679
1680 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
1681 feedback will help to stabilize it.
2bd435c3 1682 Contributed by Paolo Bonzini.
59da312b 1683
402b123d 1684** %language
59da312b
JD
1685
1686 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
d43f77e7
PB
1687 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
1688 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
1689 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 1690
402b123d 1691** XML Automaton Report
59da312b
JD
1692
1693 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
e4ab1254 1694 "--xml" option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
59da312b 1695 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
2bd435c3 1696 Contributed by Wojciech Polak.
c373bf8b 1697
402b123d 1698** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
c373bf8b
JD
1699 %defines. For example:
1700
1701 %defines "parser.h"
1702
402b123d 1703** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
d80fb37a
JD
1704 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
1705 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
1706 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 1707
402b123d 1708** Unreachable State Removal
c373bf8b
JD
1709
1710 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
31984206
JD
1711 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
1712 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
75ad86ee
JD
1713
1714 1. Removes unreachable states.
1715
1716 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
1717 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
1718 directives in existing grammar files.
1719
1720 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 1721 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 1722
31984206
JD
1723 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
1724
1725 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
1726
e4ab1254 1727 See the %define entry in the "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison manual
31984206
JD
1728 for further discussion.
1729
e4ab1254 1730** Lookahead Set Correction in the ".output" Report
b1cc23c4 1731
e4ab1254
AD
1732 When instructed to generate a ".output" file including lookahead sets
1733 (using "--report=lookahead", for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
88c78747
JD
1734 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
1735 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
1736 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
1737 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
e4ab1254 1738 bug affected only the ".output" file and not the generated parser source
88c78747
JD
1739 code.
1740
e4ab1254 1741** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default ".output" file
59da312b 1742 name.
1bb2bd75 1743
e4ab1254 1744** The "=" that used to be required in the following directives is now
02975b9a
JD
1745 deprecated:
1746
1747 %file-prefix "parser"
1748 %name-prefix "c_"
1749 %output "parser.c"
1750
e4ab1254 1751** An Alternative to "%{...%}" -- "%code QUALIFIER {CODE}"
c373bf8b
JD
1752
1753 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
8e0a5e9e
JD
1754 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
1755 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
1756 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
1757 it:
1758
e4ab1254
AD
1759 1. "%code {CODE}" replaces "%after-header {CODE}"
1760 2. "%code requires {CODE}" replaces "%start-header {CODE}"
1761 3. "%code provides {CODE}" replaces "%end-header {CODE}"
1762 4. "%code top {CODE}" replaces "%before-header {CODE}"
8e0a5e9e 1763
e4ab1254
AD
1764 See the %code entries in section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
1765 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section "Prologue
1766 Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
8e0a5e9e
JD
1767 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
1768
1769 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
1770 determine whether they should become permanent features.
1771
402b123d 1772** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
17bd8a73
JD
1773
1774 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
1775 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
1776 about unused $2 in:
1777
1778 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
1779
1780 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
1781 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
1782
1783 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
1784
1785 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
1786 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
1787 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
1788
e4ab1254
AD
1789 To enable these warnings, specify the option "--warnings=midrule-values" or
1790 "-W", which is a synonym for "--warnings=all".
17bd8a73 1791
e4ab1254 1792** Default %destructor or %printer with "<*>" or "<>"
c373bf8b
JD
1793
1794 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
12e35840
JD
1795 %printer's:
1796
e4ab1254 1797 1. Place "<*>" in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
12e35840
JD
1798 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
1799 declared semantic type tags.
1800
e4ab1254 1801 2. Place "<>" in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
12e35840
JD
1802 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
1803 type tags.
1804
e4ab1254
AD
1805 Bison no longer supports the "%symbol-default" notation from Bison 2.3a.
1806 "<*>" and "<>" combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
12e35840
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1807 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
1808 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
1809
85894313
JD
1810 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
1811 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
1812 features.
1813
e4ab1254 1814 See the section "Freeing Discarded Symbols" in the Bison manual for further
12e35840
JD
1815 details.
1816
402b123d 1817** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
e4ab1254 1818 by POSIX. However, see the end of section "Operator Precedence" in the Bison
ab7f29f8
JD
1819 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
1820
402b123d 1821** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
b1cc23c4
JD
1822 completely removed from Bison.
1823
402b123d 1824* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 1825
402b123d 1826** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
ddc8ede1
PE
1827 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
1828 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
1829 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
1830 and is required by POSIX.
1831
402b123d 1832** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
cd48d21d
AD
1833 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
1834
402b123d 1835** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
ec5479ce
JD
1836
1837 For example:
1838
b2a0b7ca
JD
1839 %union { char *string; }
1840 %token <string> STRING1
1841 %token <string> STRING2
1842 %type <string> string1
1843 %type <string> string2
1844 %union { char character; }
1845 %token <character> CHR
1846 %type <character> chr
1847 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
1848 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
1849 %destructor { } <character>
1850
1851 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
e4ab1254
AD
1852 semantic type tag other than "<character>", it passes its semantic value to
1853 "free". However, when the parser discards a "STRING1" or a "string1", it
1854 also prints its line number to "stdout". It performs only the second
1855 "%destructor" in this case, so it invokes "free" only once.
ec5479ce 1856
85894313
JD
1857 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
1858 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
1859 future versions.]
1860
e4ab1254
AD
1861** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with "-y",
1862 "--yacc", or "%yacc"), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
b931235e
JD
1863 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
1864 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
1865 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
1866
402b123d 1867** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 1868 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
9bc0dd67
JD
1869
1870 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
e4ab1254 1871 "%{ ... %}" syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
34f98f46
JD
1872 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
1873 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 1874 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 1875
34f98f46 1876 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
9bc0dd67
JD
1877 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
1878 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
1879 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
1880 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
1881 after the token definitions.
1882
1883 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
1884 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
1885
402b123d 1886** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
34f98f46
JD
1887 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
1888 %after-header.
1889
1890 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
1891 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
1892 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
1893 convenient for you:
1894
1895 %before-header {
1896 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
1897 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
1898 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
1899 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
e4ab1254 1900 * example is '#include "system.h"'. */
34f98f46
JD
1901 }
1902 %start-header {
1903 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
1904 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
1905 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
1906 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
9bc0dd67
JD
1907 }
1908 %union {
34f98f46
JD
1909 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
1910 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
1911 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 1912 }
34f98f46
JD
1913 %end-header {
1914 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
1915 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
1916 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
1917 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
1918 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 1919 }
34f98f46
JD
1920 %after-header {
1921 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
1922 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
1923 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
1924 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
1925 * Bison-generated definitions. */
1926 }
1927
1928 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
1929 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 1930
85894313
JD
1931 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
1932 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
1933
e4ab1254 1934** The option "--report=look-ahead" has been changed to "--report=lookahead".
9e6e7ed2
PE
1935 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
1936 in a future release.
742e4900 1937
402b123d 1938* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 1939
e4ab1254 1940** GLR grammars should now use "YYRECOVERING ()" instead of "YYRECOVERING",
4ad3ed84
PE
1941 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
1942
402b123d 1943** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
4ad3ed84
PE
1944 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
1945
402b123d 1946* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 1947
402b123d 1948** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
193d7c70
PE
1949 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
1950 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 1951
402b123d 1952** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 1953
402b123d 1954** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 1955
402b123d 1956** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
d6ca7905
PE
1957 their contents together.
1958
402b123d 1959** New warning: unused values
4d7bc38c
PE
1960 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
1961 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 1962
8f3596a6 1963 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
e9690142
JD
1964 | exp "+" exp
1965 ;
affac613 1966
8f3596a6
AD
1967 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
1968 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 1969 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 1970
4e26c69e 1971 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
e9690142
JD
1972 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
1973 | exp "+" exp
1974 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
1975 ;
affac613 1976
4e26c69e
PE
1977 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
1978 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
1979 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 1980
8f3596a6 1981 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
e9690142
JD
1982 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
1983 ;
721be13c 1984
84866159
AD
1985 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
1986 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
1987
1988 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
1989
721be13c
PE
1990 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
1991 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 1992
402b123d 1993** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
9d9b8b70
PE
1994 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
1995 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
1996 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 1997
402b123d 1998** %expect, %expect-rr
035aa4a0
PE
1999 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
2000 instead of warnings.
2001
402b123d 2002** GLR, YACC parsers.
4e26c69e
PE
2003 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
2004 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 2005
e4ab1254 2006** Bison now warns if it finds a stray "$" or "@" in an action.
ad6a9b97 2007
402b123d 2008** %require "VERSION"
4e26c69e
PE
2009 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
2010 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 2011
402b123d 2012** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
e14d0ab6
AD
2013 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
2014 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
e4ab1254
AD
2015 tokens are enumerations of the "yy::parser::token" struct, and the
2016 semantic values have the "yy::parser::semantic_type" type.
fb9712a9
AD
2017
2018 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
e4ab1254 2019 '%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
b50d2359
AD
2020 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
2021 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 2022
b50d2359 2023 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
e4ab1254 2024 fail using '%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 2025
402b123d 2026** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 2027\f
402b123d 2028* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 2029
402b123d 2030** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 2031
402b123d 2032** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
baf785db
PE
2033 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
2034 language is still English. For details, please see the new
0410a6e0
PE
2035 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
2036 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
2037 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 2038
402b123d 2039** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
1a059451
PE
2040 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
2041 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
2042 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
2043
402b123d 2044** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
258b75ca
PE
2045 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
2046 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
2047
402b123d 2048** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
72f000b0
PE
2049 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
2050 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
2051 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
2052 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 2053\f
402b123d 2054* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 2055
402b123d 2056** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 2057
82de6b0d
PE
2058 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
2059 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
2060 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
2061 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
2062 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 2063
82de6b0d
PE
2064 - Error token location.
2065 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
2066 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
2067 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
2068 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 2069
82de6b0d
PE
2070 - Semicolon changes:
2071 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
2072 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 2073
82de6b0d
PE
2074 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
2075 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
2076 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
2077 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 2078
82de6b0d 2079 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 2080
402b123d 2081** New features
1452af69 2082
82de6b0d 2083 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 2084
82de6b0d
PE
2085 - New directive: %initial-action.
2086 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
2087 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 2088
82de6b0d
PE
2089 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
2090 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 2091
e4ab1254 2092 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., "%token FOO 0x12d".
82de6b0d 2093 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 2094
e4ab1254 2095 - The option "--report=lookahead" was changed to "--report=look-ahead".
9e6e7ed2 2096 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 2097
82de6b0d 2098 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 2099
82de6b0d
PE
2100 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
2101 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 2102
402b123d 2103** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 2104
82de6b0d
PE
2105 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
2106 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
2107 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
2108 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
2109 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
2110 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 2111
82de6b0d
PE
2112 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
2113 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 2114
82de6b0d 2115 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 2116\f
402b123d 2117* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 2118
402b123d 2119** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 2120 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 2121
402b123d 2122** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 2123
dc546b0f
PE
2124 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
2125 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 2126
dc546b0f
PE
2127 - %destructor
2128 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
2129 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 2130
dc546b0f
PE
2131 - %error-verbose
2132 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 2133
dc546b0f
PE
2134 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
2135 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 2136
402b123d 2137** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 2138
dc546b0f
PE
2139 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
2140 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
2141 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 2142
e4ab1254
AD
2143 - "parse error" -> "syntax error"
2144 Bison now uniformly uses the term "syntax error"; formerly, the code
2145 and manual sometimes used the term "parse error" instead. POSIX
2146 requires "syntax error" in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
dc546b0f 2147 be consistent.
74724a70 2148
dc546b0f
PE
2149 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
2150 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 2151
dc546b0f
PE
2152 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
2153 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 2154
dc546b0f
PE
2155 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
2156 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 2157
dc546b0f 2158 - Yacc command and library now available
e4ab1254 2159 The Bison distribution now installs a "yacc" command, as POSIX requires.
dc546b0f
PE
2160 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
2161 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
2162 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 2163
dc546b0f 2164 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 2165
dc546b0f
PE
2166 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
2167 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
2168 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 2169
402b123d 2170** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 2171
e4ab1254
AD
2172 - %union directives can now have a tag before the "{", e.g., the
2173 directive "%union foo {...}" now generates the C code
2174 "typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;"; this is for Yacc compatibility.
2175 The default union tag is "YYSTYPE", for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
2176 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now "YYLTYPE" not "yyltype".
dc546b0f 2177 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 2178
e4ab1254 2179 - ";" is output before the terminating "}" of an action, for
dc546b0f 2180 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 2181
dc546b0f 2182 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
e4ab1254 2183 "conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce".
437c2d80 2184
e4ab1254 2185 - "yystype" and "yyltype" are now obsolescent macros instead of being
dc546b0f
PE
2186 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
2187 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 2188
402b123d 2189** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 2190
dc546b0f
PE
2191 - GLR and inline
2192 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
e4ab1254 2193 C keyword "inline".
959e5f51 2194
e4ab1254
AD
2195 - "parsing stack overflow..." -> "parser stack overflow"
2196 GLR parsers now report "parser stack overflow" as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 2197
18ad57b3
AD
2198** %parse-param and %lex-param
2199 The macros YYPARSE_PARAM and YYLEX_PARAM provide a means to pass
2200 additional context to yyparse and yylex. They suffer from several
2201 shortcomings:
2202
2203 - a single argument only can be added,
2204 - their types are weak (void *),
242cc08e 2205 - this context is not passed to ancillary functions such as yyerror,
18ad57b3
AD
2206 - only yacc.c parsers support them.
2207
2208 The new %parse-param/%lex-param directives provide a more precise control.
2209 For instance:
2210
2211 %parse-param {int *nastiness}
2212 %lex-param {int *nastiness}
2213 %parse-param {int *randomness}
2214
2215 results in the following signatures:
2216
2217 int yylex (int *nastiness);
2218 int yyparse (int *nastiness, int *randomness);
2219
2220 or, if both %pure-parser and %locations are used:
2221
2222 int yylex (YYSTYPE *lvalp, YYLTYPE *llocp, int *nastiness);
2223 int yyparse (int *nastiness, int *randomness);
2224
402b123d 2225** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
e4ab1254 2226 e.g., it generates a warning for "bison -d -o foo.h foo.y" since
dc546b0f 2227 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 2228
402b123d 2229** #line in output files
dc546b0f 2230 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 2231
402b123d 2232** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
2233 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
2234 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
2235 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 2236\f
402b123d 2237* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 2238
402b123d 2239** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 2240
402b123d 2241** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 2242
402b123d 2243** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
2244 Fix spurious parse errors.
2245
402b123d 2246** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
2247 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
2248 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
2249
402b123d 2250** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
2251 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
2252 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
2253
e9690142 2254 untyped: ... typed;
d90c934c
AD
2255
2256 but the converse remains an error:
2257
e9690142 2258 typed: ... untyped;
d90c934c 2259
402b123d 2260** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
2261 The following code:
2262
e9690142 2263 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
d90c934c
AD
2264
2265 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
2266 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 2267\f
402b123d 2268* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 2269
402b123d 2270** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
2271 The declaration
2272 %glr-parser
2273 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
2274 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 2275 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
2276 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
2277
7933f2b5 2278 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
2279 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
2280
402b123d 2281** Output Directory
8c165d89 2282 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e4ab1254
AD
2283 specified, running "bison foo/bar.y" created "foo/bar.c". It
2284 now creates "bar.c".
8c165d89 2285
402b123d 2286** Undefined token
007a50a4 2287 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 2288 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 2289
402b123d 2290** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 2291 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
2292 no longer the case.
2293
402b123d 2294** Error token
e88dbdbf 2295 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
2296 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
2297 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
2298 will be mapped onto another number.
2299
402b123d 2300** Verbose error messages
e4ab1254 2301 They no longer report "..., expecting error or..." for states where
217598da
AD
2302 error recovery is possible.
2303
402b123d 2304** End token
e4ab1254 2305 Defaults to "$end" instead of "$".
217598da 2306
402b123d 2307** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
2308 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
2309 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
2310 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
2311 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
2312 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
2313 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
2314 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
2315 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 2316
402b123d 2317** Traces
5504898e
AD
2318 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
2319
402b123d 2320** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
2321 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
2322 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
2323 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
2324 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 2325
402b123d 2326** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
2327 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
2328 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
2329 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 2330
402b123d 2331** Useless rules
643a5994 2332 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 2333 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 2334
402b123d 2335** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
2336 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
2337
402b123d 2338** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
2339 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
2340 reported.
2341
e4ab1254 2342** Incorrect "Token not used"
11652ab3
AD
2343 On a grammar such as
2344
e29f0771
AD
2345 %token useless useful
2346 %%
2347 exp: '0' %prec useful;
11652ab3
AD
2348
2349 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
e4ab1254 2350 bison reported both "useful" and "useless" as useless tokens.
11652ab3 2351
402b123d 2352** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 2353 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 2354
402b123d 2355** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
2356 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
2357 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
2358 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
2359 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 2360
402b123d 2361** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
2362 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
2363 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
e4ab1254 2364 error messages instead of "$end", which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 2365 For instance
e29f0771 2366 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 2367 or
e29f0771 2368 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 2369
402b123d 2370** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
2371 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
2372
402b123d 2373** New translations
a861a339 2374 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
2375 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
2376
402b123d 2377** Incorrect token definitions
e4ab1254
AD
2378 When given
2379 %token 'a' "A"
2380 bison used to output
2381 #define 'a' 65
b87f8b21 2382
402b123d 2383** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
2384 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
2385 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 2386 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 2387
402b123d 2388** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
2389 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
2390 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
2391 - itemset
2392 complete the core item sets with their closure
e4ab1254 2393 - lookahead [changed to "look-ahead" in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
9e6e7ed2 2394 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
2395 - solved
2396 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
2397 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
2398 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 2399
402b123d 2400** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
2401 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
2402 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
2403
e29f0771
AD
2404 %type <foo> bar
2405 %%
2406 bar: '0' {} '0';
9af3fbce
AD
2407
2408 This is fixed.
a861a339 2409
402b123d 2410** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 2411\f
402b123d 2412* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 2413
402b123d 2414** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
2415 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
2416 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
2417 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
2418
2419 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
2420 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
2421 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
2422 kludge will be disabled.
2423
2424 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
2425 extended.
76551463 2426\f
402b123d 2427* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 2428
402b123d 2429** File name clashes are detected
76551463 2430 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
e4ab1254 2431 fatal error: header and parser would both be named "foo.x"
76551463 2432
e4ab1254 2433** A missing ";" at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
2434 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
2435 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
2436 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
2437 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
2438 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
2439
402b123d 2440** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
2441 many portability hassles.
2442
402b123d 2443** DJGPP support added.
76551463 2444
402b123d 2445** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 2446\f
402b123d 2447* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 2448
402b123d 2449** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
2450 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
2451 under some conditions.
2452
402b123d 2453** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
2454 As is done with $n.
2455\f
402b123d 2456* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 2457
402b123d 2458** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 2459
402b123d 2460** Portability fixes
76551463 2461
402b123d 2462** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 2463\f
402b123d 2464* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 2465
402b123d 2466** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 2467
402b123d 2468** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
2469 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
2470 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
2471 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
e4ab1254 2472 does not trigger an error when the input file is named "plural.y".
52d1aeee 2473
402b123d 2474** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
2475 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
2476 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
2477
2478 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
2479 problems as on AIX.
2480
402b123d 2481** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 2482
402b123d 2483** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
2484 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
2485
402b123d 2486** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
2487 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
2488 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
2489 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
2490
402b123d 2491** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 2492 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 2493 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 2494
402b123d 2495** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
2496 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
2497
402b123d 2498** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
2499 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
2500
402b123d 2501** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
2502 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
2503
402b123d 2504** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
2505 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
2506 any warning.
2507
402b123d 2508** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 2509
402b123d 2510** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 2511
402b123d 2512** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 2513
402b123d 2514** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
2515 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
2516 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
2517 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
2518
402b123d 2519** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
2520 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
2521 previous allocations were not freed.
2522
402b123d 2523** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
2524 Some newlines were missing.
2525 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
2526
402b123d 2527** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
2528 Option -v was needed to get the result.
2529
402b123d 2530** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
2531 Was not used.
2532 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
2533
402b123d 2534** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 2535
402b123d 2536** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 2537
402b123d 2538** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 2539
402b123d 2540** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
2541 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
2542
402b123d 2543** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 2544
402b123d 2545** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
2546 New.
2547
402b123d 2548** --output
e4ab1254 2549 New, aliasing "--output-file".
52d1aeee 2550\f
402b123d 2551* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 2552
e4ab1254
AD
2553** "--defines" and "--graph" have now an optional argument which is the
2554 output file name. "-d" and "-g" do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
2555 argument.
2556
e4ab1254 2557** "%source_extension" and "%header_extension" are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
2558 experiment.
2559
402b123d 2560** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 2561\f
402b123d 2562* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 2563
402b123d 2564** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
2565 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
2566 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
e4ab1254 2567 "-Dconst=". Autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
342b8b6e 2568
e4ab1254 2569** Added "-g" and "--graph".
f87a2205 2570
402b123d 2571** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 2572
402b123d 2573** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 2574
402b123d 2575** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 2576
402b123d 2577** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 2578
402b123d 2579** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 2580
e4ab1254 2581** Added "--locations" and "%locations".
6deb4447 2582
e4ab1254 2583** Added "-S" and "--skeleton".
cd5bd6ac 2584
e4ab1254 2585** "%raw", "-r", "--raw" is disabled.
62ab6972 2586
402b123d 2587** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
2588 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
2589
402b123d 2590** New directives.
e4ab1254
AD
2591 "%yacc", "%fixed_output_files", "%defines", "%no_parser", "%verbose",
2592 "%debug", "%source_extension" and "%header_extension".
f987e9d2 2593
402b123d 2594** @$
f987e9d2 2595 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 2596\f
402b123d 2597* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 2598
402b123d 2599** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 2600
402b123d 2601** Added NLS.
d2e00347 2602
402b123d 2603** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 2604
402b123d 2605** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 2606\f
402b123d 2607* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 2608
402b123d 2609** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
2610 some systems has been fixed.
2611\f
402b123d 2612* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 2613
7e508a2b 2614** Bison now uses Automake.
4be07551 2615
402b123d 2616** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 2617
402b123d 2618** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 2619
402b123d 2620** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 2621
402b123d 2622** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 2623
402b123d 2624** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 2625
402b123d 2626** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 2627 not provide alloca().
4be07551 2628\f
402b123d 2629* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 2630
402b123d 2631** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 2632the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 2633
402b123d 2634** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5 2635example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
7e508a2b 2636of choosing a name like LESSEQ.
df8878c5 2637
402b123d 2638** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
2639and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
2640table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
2641purposes.
2642
402b123d 2643** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
2644directives in the parser file.
2645
402b123d 2646** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
2647Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
2648
402b123d 2649** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
2650the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
2651The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
2652a switch statement body.
2653\f
402b123d 2654* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 2655
4d019228
DM
2656The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
2657passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
2658actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
2659by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 2660
6780ca7a 2661Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 2662\f
402b123d 2663* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
2664
2665--help option added.
6780ca7a 2666\f
402b123d 2667* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
2668
2669Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6 2670
76551463
AD
2671-----
2672
7d6bad19 2673Copyright (C) 1995-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 2674
74553c98 2675This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
76551463 2676
f16b0819 2677This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 2678it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
2679the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2680(at your option) any later version.
76551463 2681
f16b0819 2682This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
2683but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2684MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2685GNU General Public License for more details.
2686
2687You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 2688along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
7e508a2b
AD
2689
2690 LocalWords: yacc YYBACKUP glr GCC lalr ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException nullptr
2691 LocalWords: cplusplus liby rpl fprintf mfcalc Wyacc stmt cond expr mk sym lr
2692 LocalWords: IELR ielr Lookahead YYERROR nonassoc LALR's api lookaheads yychar
2693 LocalWords: destructor lookahead YYRHSLOC YYLLOC Rhs ifndef YYFAIL cpp sr rr
2694 LocalWords: preprocessor initializer Wno Wnone Werror FreeBSD prec livelocks
2695 LocalWords: Solaris AIX UX RHEL Tru LHS gcc's Wundef YYENABLE NLS YYLTYPE VCG
2696 LocalWords: yyerror cpp's Wunused yylval yylloc prepend yyparse yylex yypush
2697 LocalWords: Graphviz xml nonterminals midrule destructor's YYSTYPE typedef ly
2698 LocalWords: CHR chr printf stdout namespace preprocessing enum pre include's
2699 LocalWords: YYRECOVERING nonfree destructors YYABORT YYACCEPT params enums de
2700 LocalWords: struct yystype DJGPP lex param Haible NUM alloca YYSTACK NUL goto
2701 LocalWords: YYMAXDEPTH Unescaped UCNs YYLTYPE's yyltype typedefs inline Yaccs
2702 LocalWords: Heriyanto Reenable dprec Hilfinger Eggert MYEOF Folle Menezes EOF
242cc08e 2703 LocalWords: Lackovic define's itemset Groff Gettext malloc NEWS'ed YYDEBUG YY
7e508a2b 2704 LocalWords: namespaces strerror const autoconfiguration Dconst Autoconf's FDL
242cc08e
AD
2705 LocalWords: Automake TMPDIR LESSEQ ylwrap endif yydebug YYTOKEN YYLSP ival hh
2706 LocalWords: extern YYTOKENTYPE TOKENTYPE yytokentype tokentype STYPE lval pdf
dcb366b1 2707 LocalWords: lang yyoutput dvi html ps POSIX lvalp llocp Wother nterm arg init
1282c124
AD
2708 LocalWords: TOK calc yyo fval Wconflicts parsers yystackp yyval yynerrs
2709 LocalWords: Théophile Ranquet Santet fno fnone stype associativity Tolmer
2710 LocalWords: Wprecedence Rassoul Wempty Paolo Bonzini parser's Michiel loc
2711 LocalWords: redeclaration sval fcaret reentrant XSLT xsl Wmaybe yyvsp Tedi
2712 LocalWords: pragmas noreturn untyped Rozenman unexpanded Wojciech Polak
6574576c 2713 LocalWords: Alexandre MERCHANTABILITY yytype
7e508a2b
AD
2714
2715Local Variables:
2716mode: outline
e4ab1254 2717fill-column: 76
7e508a2b 2718End: