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1Bison News
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4Changes in version 2.3a+ (????-??-??):
5
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6* Push Parsing
7
8 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
9 is, instead of invoking yyparse, which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
10 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
11 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
12 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
13
14 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
15 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
16
17 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
18
19* The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
20 not VCG format.
21
22* An experimental directive %language specifies the language of the
23 generated parser, which can be C (the default) or C++. This
24 directive affects the skeleton used, and the names of the generated
25 files if the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
26
27* The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
28 %defines. For example:
29
30 %defines "parser.h"
31
32* Unreachable State Removal
33
34 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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35 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
36 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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37
38 1. Removes unreachable states.
39
40 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
41 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
42 directives in existing grammar files.
43
44 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
45 "never reduced because of conflicts".
46
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47 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
48
49 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
50
51 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
52 for further discussion.
53
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54* Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
55
56 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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57 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
58 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
59 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
60 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
61 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
62 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
63 code.
64
16dc6a9e 65* The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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66 deprecated:
67
68 %file-prefix "parser"
69 %name-prefix "c_"
70 %output "parser.c"
71
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72* The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
73 are now deprecated:
74
75 %define NAME "VALUE"
76
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77* An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
78
79 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
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80 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
81 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
82 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
83 it:
84
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85 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
86 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
87 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
88 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 89
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90 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
91 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
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92 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
93 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
94
95 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
96 determine whether they should become permanent features.
97
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98* Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
99
100 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
101 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
102 about unused $2 in:
103
104 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
105
106 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
107 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
108
109 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
110
111 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
112 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
113 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
114
115 To enable these warnings, specify the flag `--warnings=midrule-values' or
116 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
117
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118* Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
119
120 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
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121 %printer's:
122
123 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
124 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
125 declared semantic type tags.
126
3ebecc24 127 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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128 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
129 type tags.
130
131 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 132 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
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133 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
134 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
135
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136 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
137 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
138 features.
139
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140 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
141 details.
142
21fe08ca 143Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 144
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145* Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
146 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
147 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
148 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
149 and is required by POSIX.
150
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151* Locations columns and lines start at 1.
152 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
153
b2a0b7ca 154* You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
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155
156 For example:
157
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158 %union { char *string; }
159 %token <string> STRING1
160 %token <string> STRING2
161 %type <string> string1
162 %type <string> string2
163 %union { char character; }
164 %token <character> CHR
165 %type <character> chr
166 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
167 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
168 %destructor { } <character>
169
170 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
171 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
172 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
173 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
174 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 175
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176 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
177 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
178 future versions.]
179
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180* Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
181 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
182 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
183 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
184 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
185
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186* Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
187 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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188
189 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
190 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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191 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
192 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 193 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 194
34f98f46 195 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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196 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
197 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
198 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
199 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
200 after the token definitions.
201
202 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
203 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
204
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205* Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
206 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
207 %after-header.
208
209 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
210 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
211 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
212 convenient for you:
213
214 %before-header {
215 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
216 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
217 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
218 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
219 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
220 }
221 %start-header {
222 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
223 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
224 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
225 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
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226 }
227 %union {
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228 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
229 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
230 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 231 }
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232 %end-header {
233 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
234 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
235 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
236 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
237 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 238 }
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239 %after-header {
240 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
241 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
242 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
243 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
244 * Bison-generated definitions. */
245 }
246
247 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
248 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 249
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250 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
251 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
252
742e4900 253* The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
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254 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
255 in a future release.
742e4900 256
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257Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
258
259* GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
260 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
261
262* It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
263 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
264
ab8d9dc5 265Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
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266
267* The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
268 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
269 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 270
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271* %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
272
273* The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 274
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275* Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
276 their contents together.
277
affac613 278* New warning: unused values
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279 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
280 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 281
8f3596a6 282 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
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283 | exp "+" exp
284 ;
affac613 285
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286 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
287 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 288 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 289
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290 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
291 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
292 | exp "+" exp
293 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 294 ;
affac613 295
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296 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
297 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
298 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 299
8f3596a6 300 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
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301 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
302 ;
303
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304 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
305 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
306
307 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
308
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309 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
310 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 311
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312* %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
313 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
314 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
315 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 316
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317* %expect, %expect-rr
318 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
319 instead of warnings.
320
4b367315 321* GLR, YACC parsers.
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322 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
323 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 324
302c0aee 325* Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 326
b50d2359 327* %require "VERSION"
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328 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
329 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 330
fb9712a9 331* lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
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332 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
333 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
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334 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
335 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
336
337 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
338 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
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339 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
340 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 341
b50d2359 342 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 343 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 344
302c0aee 345* DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 346\f
1bd0deda 347Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 348
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349* The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
350
a7db4add 351* Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
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352 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
353 language is still English. For details, please see the new
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354 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
355 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
356 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 357
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358* Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
359 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
360 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
361 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
362
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363* Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
364 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
365 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
366
a7db4add 367* When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
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368 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
369 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
370 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
371 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 372\f
82de6b0d 373Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 374
82de6b0d 375* Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 376
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377 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
378 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
379 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
380 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
381 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 382
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383 - Error token location.
384 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
385 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
386 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
387 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 388
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389 - Semicolon changes:
390 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
391 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 392
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393 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
394 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
395 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
396 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 397
82de6b0d 398 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 399
82de6b0d 400* New features
1452af69 401
82de6b0d 402 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 403
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404 - New directive: %initial-action.
405 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
406 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 407
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408 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
409 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 410
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411 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
412 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 413
82de6b0d 414 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 415 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 416
82de6b0d 417 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 418
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419 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
420 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 421
82de6b0d 422* Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 423
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424 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
425 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
426 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
427 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
428 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
429 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 430
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431 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
432 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 433
82de6b0d 434 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 435\f
dc546b0f 436Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 437
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438* The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
439 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 440
dc546b0f 441* syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 442
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443 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
444 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 445
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446 - %destructor
447 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
448 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 449
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450 - %error-verbose
451 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 452
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453 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
454 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 455
dc546b0f 456* POSIX conformance
d1de5372 457
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458 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
459 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
460 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 461
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462 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
463 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
464 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
465 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
466 be consistent.
74724a70 467
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468 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
469 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 470
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471 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
472 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 473
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474 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
475 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 476
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477 - Yacc command and library now available
478 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
479 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
480 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
481 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 482
dc546b0f 483 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 484
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485 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
486 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
487 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 488
dc546b0f 489* Other compatibility issues
886a425c 490
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491 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
492 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
493 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
494 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
495 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
496 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 497
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498 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
499 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 500
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501 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
502 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 503
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504 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
505 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
506 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 507
dc546b0f 508* GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 509
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510 - GLR and inline
511 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
512 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 513
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514 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
515 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 516
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517* Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
518 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
519 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 520
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521* #line in output files
522 - --no-line works properly.
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523
524* Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
525 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
526 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
527 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 528\f
5c16c6b1 529Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
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530
531* Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
532
b7195100 533* Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 534
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535* GLR parsers
536 Fix spurious parse errors.
537
538* Pure parsers
539 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
540 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
541
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542* Type Clashes
543 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
544 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
545
546 untyped: ... typed;
547
548 but the converse remains an error:
549
550 typed: ... untyped;
551
552* Values of mid-rule actions
553 The following code:
554
555 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
556
557 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
558 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 559\f
420f93c8 560Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 561
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562* GLR parsing
563 The declaration
564 %glr-parser
565 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
566 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 567 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
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568 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
569
7933f2b5 570 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
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571 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
572
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573* Output Directory
574 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 575 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
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576 now creates `bar.c'.
577
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578* Undefined token
579 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 580 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 581
77714df2 582* Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 583 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
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584 no longer the case.
585
23c5a174 586* Error token
e88dbdbf 587 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
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588 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
589 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
590 will be mapped onto another number.
591
217598da 592* Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 593 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
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594 error recovery is possible.
595
596* End token
597 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
598
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599* Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
600 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
601 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
602 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
603 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
604 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
605 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
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606 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
607 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 608
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609* Traces
610 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
611
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612* Larger grammars
613 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
614 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
615 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
616 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 617
77714df2 618* Explicit initial rule
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619 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
620 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
621 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 622
77714df2 623* Useless rules
643a5994 624 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 625 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 626
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627* Useless rules, useless nonterminals
628 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
629
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630* Rules never reduced
631 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
632 reported.
633
77714df2 634* Incorrect `Token not used'
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635 On a grammar such as
636
637 %token useless useful
638 %%
639 exp: '0' %prec useful;
640
641 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
642 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
643
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644* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
645 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 646
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647* Default locations
648 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
649 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
650 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
651 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 652
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653* Token end-of-file
654 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
655 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 656 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 657 For instance
7bd6c77e 658 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 659 or
7bd6c77e 660 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
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661
662* Semantic parser
663 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
664
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665* New translations
666 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
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667 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
668
77714df2 669* Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 670 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 671
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672* Token definitions as enums
673 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
674 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 675 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 676
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677* Reports
678 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
679 produces additional information:
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680 - itemset
681 complete the core item sets with their closure
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682 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
683 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
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684 - solved
685 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
686 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
687 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 688
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689* Type clashes
690 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
691 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
692
693 %type <foo> bar
694 %%
695 bar: '0' {} '0';
696
697 This is fixed.
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698
699* GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 700\f
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701Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
702
703* C Skeleton
704 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
705 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
706 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
707
708 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
709 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
710 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
711 kludge will be disabled.
712
713 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
714 extended.
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715\f
716Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
717
718* File name clashes are detected
719 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
720 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
721
722* A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
723 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
724 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
725 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
726 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
727 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
728
729* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
730 many portability hassles.
731
732* DJGPP support added.
733
734* Fix test suite portability problems.
735\f
736Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
737
738* Fix C++ issues
739 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
740 under some conditions.
741
742* Catch invalid @n
743 As is done with $n.
744\f
745Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
746
747* Fix Yacc output file names
748
749* Portability fixes
750
751* Italian, Dutch translations
752\f
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753Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
754
755* Many Bug Fixes
756
757* GNU Gettext and %expect
758 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
759 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
760 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
761 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
762
763* Use of alloca in parsers
764 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
765 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
766
767 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
768 problems as on AIX.
769
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770* yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
771
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772* When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
773 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
774
775* User Actions
776 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
777 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
778 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
779
780* Better C++ compliance
781 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 782 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
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783
784* Reduced Grammars
785 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
786
787* 64 bit hosts
788 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
789
790* Error messages
791 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
792
793* %expect
794 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
795 any warning.
796
797* The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
798
799* Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
800
801* Swedish translation
802
803* Parse errors
804 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
805 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
806 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
807
808* Fixed parser memory leaks.
809 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
810 previous allocations were not freed.
811
812* Fixed verbose output file.
813 Some newlines were missing.
814 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
815
816* Fixed conflict report.
817 Option -v was needed to get the result.
818
819* %expect
820 Was not used.
821 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
822
823* Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
824
825* Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
826
827* Fixed some typos in the documentation.
828
829* %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
830 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
831
832* doc/refcard.tex is updated.
833
834* %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
835 New.
836
837* --output
838 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
839\f
76551463 840Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 841
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842* `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
843 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
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844 argument.
845
846* `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
847 experiment.
848
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849* Portability fixes.
850\f
9f4503d6 851Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
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852
853* The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
854 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
855 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
856 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
857
858* Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 859
f2b5126e
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860* The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
861
f1c63ced 862* The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 863
f87a2205
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864* Russian translation added.
865
866* NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
867
868* Added the old Bison reference card.
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869
870* Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 871
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872* Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
873
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874* `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
875
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876* Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
877 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
878
6deb4447 879* New directives.
4ecbf796
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880 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
881 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2
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882
883* @$
884 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 885\f
9f4503d6 886Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
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887
888* Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
889
890* Added NLS.
891
892* Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
893
894* There is now a FAQ.
895\f
5c31c3c2
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896Changes in version 1.27:
897
898* The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
899 some systems has been fixed.
900\f
901Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551
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902
903* Bison now uses automake.
904
905* New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
906
907* Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
908
909* Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
910
911* A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1
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912
913* Problems when closing files should now be reported.
914
915* Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
916 not provide alloca().
4be07551 917\f
9f4503d6 918Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5
RS
919
920* Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
921the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 922
df8878c5
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923* Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
924example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
925of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
926
927* The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
928and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
929table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
930purposes.
931
932* The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
933directives in the parser file.
934
935* The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
936Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
937
938* The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
939the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
940The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
941a switch statement body.
942\f
6780ca7a
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943Changes in version 1.23:
944
4d019228
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945The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
946passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
947actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
948by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 949
6780ca7a 950Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a
DM
951\f
952Changes in version 1.22:
953
954--help option added.
6780ca7a
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955\f
956Changes in version 1.20:
957
958Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
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959
960Local Variables:
961mode: outline
962End:
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963
964-----
965
d6ca7905 966Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
279cabb6 9672004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 968
75eb3bc4 969This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler.
76551463 970
f16b0819 971This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 972it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
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973the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
974(at your option) any later version.
76551463 975
f16b0819 976This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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977but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
978MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
979GNU General Public License for more details.
980
981You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 982along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.