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* src/gram.c: Remove comments that duplicate comments in gram.h.
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1Bison News
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3af4feb2 3
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4Changes in version 2.3a+ (????-??-??):
5
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6* The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
7 are now deprecated:
8
9 %define NAME "VALUE"
10
11* The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
12
13 %define api.pure
14
15 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
16 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
17
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18* Push Parsing
19
20 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
21 is, instead of invoking yyparse, which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
22 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
23 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
24 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
25
26 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
27 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
28
29 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
30
31* The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
32 not VCG format.
33
34* An experimental directive %language specifies the language of the
35 generated parser, which can be C (the default) or C++. This
36 directive affects the skeleton used, and the names of the generated
37 files if the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
38
39* The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
40 %defines. For example:
41
42 %defines "parser.h"
43
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44* When reporting useless rules and nonterminals, Bison now employs the term
45 "useless in grammar" instead of "useless" and employs the term "useless in
46 parser" instead of "never reduced".
47
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48* Unreachable State Removal
49
50 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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51 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
52 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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53
54 1. Removes unreachable states.
55
56 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
57 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
58 directives in existing grammar files.
59
60 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 61 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 62
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63 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
64
65 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
66
67 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
68 for further discussion.
69
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70* Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
71
72 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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73 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
74 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
75 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
76 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
77 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
78 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
79 code.
80
16dc6a9e 81* The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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82 deprecated:
83
84 %file-prefix "parser"
85 %name-prefix "c_"
86 %output "parser.c"
87
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88* An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
89
90 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
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91 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
92 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
93 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
94 it:
95
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96 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
97 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
98 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
99 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 100
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101 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
102 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
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103 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
104 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
105
106 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
107 determine whether they should become permanent features.
108
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109* Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
110
111 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
112 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
113 about unused $2 in:
114
115 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
116
117 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
118 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
119
120 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
121
122 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
123 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
124 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
125
126 To enable these warnings, specify the flag `--warnings=midrule-values' or
127 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
128
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129* Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
130
131 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
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132 %printer's:
133
134 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
135 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
136 declared semantic type tags.
137
3ebecc24 138 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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139 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
140 type tags.
141
142 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 143 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
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144 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
145 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
146
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147 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
148 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
149 features.
150
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151 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
152 details.
153
21fe08ca 154Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 155
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156* Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
157 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
158 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
159 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
160 and is required by POSIX.
161
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162* Locations columns and lines start at 1.
163 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
164
b2a0b7ca 165* You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
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166
167 For example:
168
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169 %union { char *string; }
170 %token <string> STRING1
171 %token <string> STRING2
172 %type <string> string1
173 %type <string> string2
174 %union { char character; }
175 %token <character> CHR
176 %type <character> chr
177 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
178 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
179 %destructor { } <character>
180
181 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
182 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
183 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
184 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
185 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 186
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187 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
188 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
189 future versions.]
190
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191* Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
192 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
193 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
194 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
195 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
196
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197* Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
198 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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199
200 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
201 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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202 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
203 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 204 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 205
34f98f46 206 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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207 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
208 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
209 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
210 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
211 after the token definitions.
212
213 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
214 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
215
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216* Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
217 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
218 %after-header.
219
220 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
221 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
222 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
223 convenient for you:
224
225 %before-header {
226 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
227 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
228 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
229 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
230 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
231 }
232 %start-header {
233 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
234 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
235 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
236 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
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237 }
238 %union {
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239 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
240 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
241 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 242 }
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243 %end-header {
244 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
245 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
246 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
247 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
248 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 249 }
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250 %after-header {
251 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
252 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
253 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
254 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
255 * Bison-generated definitions. */
256 }
257
258 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
259 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 260
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261 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
262 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
263
742e4900 264* The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
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265 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
266 in a future release.
742e4900 267
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268Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
269
270* GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
271 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
272
273* It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
274 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
275
ab8d9dc5 276Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
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277
278* The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
279 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
280 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 281
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282* %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
283
284* The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 285
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286* Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
287 their contents together.
288
affac613 289* New warning: unused values
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290 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
291 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 292
8f3596a6 293 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
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294 | exp "+" exp
295 ;
affac613 296
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297 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
298 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 299 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 300
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301 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
302 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
303 | exp "+" exp
304 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 305 ;
affac613 306
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307 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
308 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
309 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 310
8f3596a6 311 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
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312 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
313 ;
314
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315 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
316 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
317
318 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
319
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320 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
321 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 322
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323* %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
324 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
325 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
326 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 327
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328* %expect, %expect-rr
329 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
330 instead of warnings.
331
4b367315 332* GLR, YACC parsers.
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333 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
334 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 335
302c0aee 336* Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 337
b50d2359 338* %require "VERSION"
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339 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
340 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 341
fb9712a9 342* lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
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343 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
344 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
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345 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
346 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
347
348 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
349 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
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350 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
351 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 352
b50d2359 353 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 354 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 355
302c0aee 356* DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 357\f
1bd0deda 358Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 359
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360* The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
361
a7db4add 362* Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
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363 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
364 language is still English. For details, please see the new
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365 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
366 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
367 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 368
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369* Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
370 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
371 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
372 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
373
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374* Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
375 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
376 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
377
a7db4add 378* When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
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379 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
380 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
381 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
382 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 383\f
82de6b0d 384Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 385
82de6b0d 386* Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 387
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388 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
389 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
390 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
391 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
392 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 393
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394 - Error token location.
395 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
396 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
397 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
398 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 399
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400 - Semicolon changes:
401 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
402 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 403
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404 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
405 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
406 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
407 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 408
82de6b0d 409 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 410
82de6b0d 411* New features
1452af69 412
82de6b0d 413 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 414
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415 - New directive: %initial-action.
416 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
417 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 418
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419 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
420 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 421
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422 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
423 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 424
82de6b0d 425 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 426 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 427
82de6b0d 428 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 429
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430 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
431 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 432
82de6b0d 433* Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 434
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435 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
436 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
437 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
438 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
439 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
440 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 441
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442 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
443 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 444
82de6b0d 445 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 446\f
dc546b0f 447Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 448
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449* The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
450 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 451
dc546b0f 452* syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 453
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454 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
455 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 456
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457 - %destructor
458 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
459 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 460
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461 - %error-verbose
462 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 463
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464 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
465 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 466
dc546b0f 467* POSIX conformance
d1de5372 468
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469 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
470 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
471 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 472
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473 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
474 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
475 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
476 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
477 be consistent.
74724a70 478
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479 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
480 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 481
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482 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
483 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 484
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485 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
486 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 487
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488 - Yacc command and library now available
489 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
490 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
491 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
492 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 493
dc546b0f 494 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 495
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496 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
497 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
498 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 499
dc546b0f 500* Other compatibility issues
886a425c 501
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502 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
503 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
504 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
505 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
506 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
507 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 508
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509 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
510 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 511
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512 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
513 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 514
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515 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
516 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
517 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 518
dc546b0f 519* GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 520
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521 - GLR and inline
522 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
523 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 524
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525 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
526 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 527
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528* Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
529 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
530 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 531
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532* #line in output files
533 - --no-line works properly.
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534
535* Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
536 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
537 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
538 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 539\f
5c16c6b1 540Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
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541
542* Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
543
b7195100 544* Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 545
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546* GLR parsers
547 Fix spurious parse errors.
548
549* Pure parsers
550 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
551 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
552
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553* Type Clashes
554 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
555 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
556
557 untyped: ... typed;
558
559 but the converse remains an error:
560
561 typed: ... untyped;
562
563* Values of mid-rule actions
564 The following code:
565
566 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
567
568 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
569 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 570\f
420f93c8 571Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 572
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573* GLR parsing
574 The declaration
575 %glr-parser
576 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
577 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 578 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
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579 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
580
7933f2b5 581 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
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582 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
583
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584* Output Directory
585 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 586 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
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587 now creates `bar.c'.
588
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589* Undefined token
590 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 591 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 592
77714df2 593* Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 594 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
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595 no longer the case.
596
23c5a174 597* Error token
e88dbdbf 598 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
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599 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
600 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
601 will be mapped onto another number.
602
217598da 603* Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 604 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
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605 error recovery is possible.
606
607* End token
608 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
609
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610* Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
611 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
612 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
613 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
614 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
615 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
616 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
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617 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
618 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 619
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620* Traces
621 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
622
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623* Larger grammars
624 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
625 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
626 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
627 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 628
77714df2 629* Explicit initial rule
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630 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
631 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
632 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 633
77714df2 634* Useless rules
643a5994 635 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 636 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 637
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638* Useless rules, useless nonterminals
639 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
640
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641* Rules never reduced
642 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
643 reported.
644
77714df2 645* Incorrect `Token not used'
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646 On a grammar such as
647
648 %token useless useful
649 %%
650 exp: '0' %prec useful;
651
652 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
653 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
654
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655* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
656 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 657
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658* Default locations
659 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
660 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
661 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
662 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 663
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664* Token end-of-file
665 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
666 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 667 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 668 For instance
7bd6c77e 669 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 670 or
7bd6c77e 671 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
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672
673* Semantic parser
674 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
675
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676* New translations
677 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
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678 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
679
77714df2 680* Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 681 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 682
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683* Token definitions as enums
684 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
685 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 686 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 687
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688* Reports
689 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
690 produces additional information:
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691 - itemset
692 complete the core item sets with their closure
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693 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
694 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
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695 - solved
696 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
697 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
698 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 699
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700* Type clashes
701 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
702 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
703
704 %type <foo> bar
705 %%
706 bar: '0' {} '0';
707
708 This is fixed.
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709
710* GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 711\f
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712Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
713
714* C Skeleton
715 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
716 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
717 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
718
719 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
720 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
721 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
722 kludge will be disabled.
723
724 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
725 extended.
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726\f
727Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
728
729* File name clashes are detected
730 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
731 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
732
733* A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
734 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
735 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
736 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
737 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
738 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
739
740* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
741 many portability hassles.
742
743* DJGPP support added.
744
745* Fix test suite portability problems.
746\f
747Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
748
749* Fix C++ issues
750 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
751 under some conditions.
752
753* Catch invalid @n
754 As is done with $n.
755\f
756Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
757
758* Fix Yacc output file names
759
760* Portability fixes
761
762* Italian, Dutch translations
763\f
52d1aeee
MA
764Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
765
766* Many Bug Fixes
767
768* GNU Gettext and %expect
769 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
770 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
771 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
772 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
773
774* Use of alloca in parsers
775 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
776 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
777
778 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
779 problems as on AIX.
780
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781* yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
782
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783* When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
784 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
785
786* User Actions
787 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
788 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
789 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
790
791* Better C++ compliance
792 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 793 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
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794
795* Reduced Grammars
796 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
797
798* 64 bit hosts
799 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
800
801* Error messages
802 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
803
804* %expect
805 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
806 any warning.
807
808* The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
809
810* Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
811
812* Swedish translation
813
814* Parse errors
815 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
816 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
817 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
818
819* Fixed parser memory leaks.
820 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
821 previous allocations were not freed.
822
823* Fixed verbose output file.
824 Some newlines were missing.
825 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
826
827* Fixed conflict report.
828 Option -v was needed to get the result.
829
830* %expect
831 Was not used.
832 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
833
834* Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
835
836* Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
837
838* Fixed some typos in the documentation.
839
840* %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
841 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
842
843* doc/refcard.tex is updated.
844
845* %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
846 New.
847
848* --output
849 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
850\f
76551463 851Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 852
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853* `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
854 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
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855 argument.
856
857* `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
858 experiment.
859
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860* Portability fixes.
861\f
9f4503d6 862Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
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863
864* The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
865 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
866 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
867 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
868
869* Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 870
f2b5126e
PB
871* The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
872
f1c63ced 873* The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 874
f87a2205
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875* Russian translation added.
876
877* NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
878
879* Added the old Bison reference card.
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880
881* Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 882
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883* Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
884
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885* `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
886
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887* Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
888 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
889
6deb4447 890* New directives.
4ecbf796
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891 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
892 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2
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893
894* @$
895 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 896\f
9f4503d6 897Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347
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898
899* Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
900
901* Added NLS.
902
903* Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
904
905* There is now a FAQ.
906\f
5c31c3c2
JT
907Changes in version 1.27:
908
909* The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
910 some systems has been fixed.
911\f
912Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551
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913
914* Bison now uses automake.
915
916* New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
917
918* Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
919
920* Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
921
922* A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1
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923
924* Problems when closing files should now be reported.
925
926* Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
927 not provide alloca().
4be07551 928\f
9f4503d6 929Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5
RS
930
931* Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
932the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 933
df8878c5
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934* Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
935example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
936of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
937
938* The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
939and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
940table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
941purposes.
942
943* The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
944directives in the parser file.
945
946* The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
947Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
948
949* The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
950the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
951The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
952a switch statement body.
953\f
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954Changes in version 1.23:
955
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956The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
957passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
958actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
959by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 960
6780ca7a 961Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a
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962\f
963Changes in version 1.22:
964
965--help option added.
6780ca7a
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966\f
967Changes in version 1.20:
968
969Output file does not redefine const for C++.
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970
971Local Variables:
972mode: outline
973End:
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974
975-----
976
d6ca7905 977Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
279cabb6 9782004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 979
75eb3bc4 980This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler.
76551463 981
f16b0819 982This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 983it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
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984the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
985(at your option) any later version.
76551463 986
f16b0819 987This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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988but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
989MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
990GNU General Public License for more details.
991
992You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 993along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.