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Semicolon feature removal is not about future language support.
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3af4feb2 3
d6fb461d 4* Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
c9ba9e59 5
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6** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
7 declarations have been fixed.
8
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9** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
10
11 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
12 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
13
14 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
15
16 instead of
17
18 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
19
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20 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
21 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
22 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
23 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
24 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
25 feature.
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26
27** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 28
d6fb461d 29* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 30
d6fb461d 31** %language is an experimental feature.
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32
33 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
34 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
35 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
36 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
37 in future releases.
7bd1665a 38
d6fb461d 39** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 40
d6fb461d 41** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
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42 fixed.
43
d6fb461d 44* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 45
d6fb461d 46** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
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47 are now deprecated:
48
49 %define NAME "VALUE"
50
d6fb461d 51** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
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52
53 %define api.pure
54
55 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
56 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
57
d6fb461d 58** Push Parsing
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59
60 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
ef1b4273 61 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
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62 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
63 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
64 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
65
66 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
67 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
68
69 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
70
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71 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
72 feedback will help to stabilize it.
73
d6fb461d 74** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
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75 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
76 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 77
d6fb461d 78** Java
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79
80 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
81 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
82 %skeleton to select it.
83
84 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
85
86 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
87 feedback will help to stabilize it.
88
d6fb461d 89** %language
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90
91 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
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92 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
93 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
94 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 95
d6fb461d 96** XML Automaton Report
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97
98 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
99 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
100 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
c373bf8b 101
d6fb461d 102** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
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103 %defines. For example:
104
105 %defines "parser.h"
106
d6fb461d 107** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
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108 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
109 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
110 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 111
d6fb461d 112** Unreachable State Removal
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113
114 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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115 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
116 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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117
118 1. Removes unreachable states.
119
120 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
121 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
122 directives in existing grammar files.
123
124 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 125 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 126
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127 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
128
129 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
130
131 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
132 for further discussion.
133
d6fb461d 134** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
b1cc23c4 135
c373bf8b 136 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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137 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
138 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
139 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
140 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
141 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
142 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
143 code.
144
d6fb461d 145** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
59da312b 146 name.
1bb2bd75 147
d6fb461d 148** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
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149 deprecated:
150
151 %file-prefix "parser"
152 %name-prefix "c_"
153 %output "parser.c"
154
d6fb461d 155** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
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156
157 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
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158 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
159 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
160 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
161 it:
162
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163 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
164 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
165 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
166 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 167
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168 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
169 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
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170 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
171 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
172
173 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
174 determine whether they should become permanent features.
175
d6fb461d 176** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
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177
178 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
179 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
180 about unused $2 in:
181
182 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
183
184 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
185 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
186
187 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
188
189 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
190 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
191 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
192
59da312b 193 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
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194 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
195
d6fb461d 196** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
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197
198 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
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199 %printer's:
200
201 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
202 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
203 declared semantic type tags.
204
3ebecc24 205 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
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206 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
207 type tags.
208
209 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 210 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
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211 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
212 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
213
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214 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
215 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
216 features.
217
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218 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
219 details.
220
d6fb461d 221** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
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222 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
223 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
224
d6fb461d 225** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
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226 completely removed from Bison.
227
d6fb461d 228* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 229
d6fb461d 230** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
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231 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
232 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
233 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
234 and is required by POSIX.
235
d6fb461d 236** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
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237 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
238
d6fb461d 239** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
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240
241 For example:
242
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243 %union { char *string; }
244 %token <string> STRING1
245 %token <string> STRING2
246 %type <string> string1
247 %type <string> string2
248 %union { char character; }
249 %token <character> CHR
250 %type <character> chr
251 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
252 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
253 %destructor { } <character>
254
255 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
256 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
257 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
258 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
259 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 260
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261 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
262 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
263 future versions.]
264
d6fb461d 265** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
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266 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
267 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
268 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
269 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
270
d6fb461d 271** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 272 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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273
274 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
275 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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276 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
277 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 278 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 279
34f98f46 280 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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281 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
282 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
283 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
284 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
285 after the token definitions.
286
287 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
288 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
289
d6fb461d 290** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
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291 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
292 %after-header.
293
294 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
295 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
296 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
297 convenient for you:
298
299 %before-header {
300 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
301 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
302 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
303 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
304 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
305 }
306 %start-header {
307 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
308 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
309 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
310 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
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311 }
312 %union {
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313 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
314 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
315 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 316 }
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317 %end-header {
318 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
319 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
320 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
321 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
322 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 323 }
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324 %after-header {
325 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
326 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
327 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
328 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
329 * Bison-generated definitions. */
330 }
331
332 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
333 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 334
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335 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
336 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
337
d6fb461d 338** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
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339 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
340 in a future release.
742e4900 341
d6fb461d 342* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 343
d6fb461d 344** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
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345 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
346
d6fb461d 347** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
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348 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
349
d6fb461d 350* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 351
d6fb461d 352** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
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353 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
354 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 355
d6fb461d 356** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 357
d6fb461d 358** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 359
d6fb461d 360** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
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361 their contents together.
362
d6fb461d 363** New warning: unused values
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364 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
365 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 366
8f3596a6 367 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
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368 | exp "+" exp
369 ;
affac613 370
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371 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
372 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 373 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 374
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375 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
376 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
377 | exp "+" exp
378 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 379 ;
affac613 380
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381 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
382 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
383 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 384
8f3596a6 385 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
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386 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
387 ;
388
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389 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
390 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
391
392 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
393
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394 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
395 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 396
d6fb461d 397** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
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398 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
399 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
400 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 401
d6fb461d 402** %expect, %expect-rr
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403 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
404 instead of warnings.
405
d6fb461d 406** GLR, YACC parsers.
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407 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
408 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 409
d6fb461d 410** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 411
d6fb461d 412** %require "VERSION"
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413 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
414 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 415
d6fb461d 416** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
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417 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
418 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
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419 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
420 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
421
422 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
423 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
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424 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
425 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 426
b50d2359 427 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 428 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 429
d6fb461d 430** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 431\f
d6fb461d 432* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 433
d6fb461d 434** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 435
d6fb461d 436** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
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437 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
438 language is still English. For details, please see the new
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439 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
440 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
441 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 442
d6fb461d 443** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
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444 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
445 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
446 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
447
d6fb461d 448** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
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449 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
450 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
451
d6fb461d 452** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
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453 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
454 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
455 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
456 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 457\f
d6fb461d 458* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 459
d6fb461d 460** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 461
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462 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
463 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
464 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
465 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
466 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 467
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468 - Error token location.
469 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
470 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
471 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
472 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 473
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474 - Semicolon changes:
475 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
476 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 477
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478 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
479 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
480 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
481 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 482
82de6b0d 483 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 484
d6fb461d 485** New features
1452af69 486
82de6b0d 487 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 488
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489 - New directive: %initial-action.
490 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
491 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 492
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493 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
494 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 495
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496 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
497 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 498
82de6b0d 499 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 500 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 501
82de6b0d 502 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 503
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504 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
505 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 506
d6fb461d 507** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 508
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509 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
510 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
511 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
512 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
513 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
514 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 515
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516 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
517 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 518
82de6b0d 519 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 520\f
d6fb461d 521* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 522
d6fb461d 523** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 524 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 525
d6fb461d 526** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 527
dc546b0f
PE
528 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
529 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 530
dc546b0f
PE
531 - %destructor
532 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
533 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 534
dc546b0f
PE
535 - %error-verbose
536 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 537
dc546b0f
PE
538 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
539 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 540
d6fb461d 541** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 542
dc546b0f
PE
543 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
544 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
545 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 546
dc546b0f
PE
547 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
548 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
549 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
550 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
551 be consistent.
74724a70 552
dc546b0f
PE
553 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
554 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 555
dc546b0f
PE
556 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
557 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 558
dc546b0f
PE
559 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
560 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 561
dc546b0f
PE
562 - Yacc command and library now available
563 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
564 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
565 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
566 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 567
dc546b0f 568 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 569
dc546b0f
PE
570 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
571 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
572 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 573
d6fb461d 574** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 575
dc546b0f
PE
576 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
577 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
578 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
579 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
580 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
581 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 582
dc546b0f
PE
583 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
584 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 585
dc546b0f
PE
586 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
587 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 588
dc546b0f
PE
589 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
590 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
591 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 592
d6fb461d 593** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 594
dc546b0f
PE
595 - GLR and inline
596 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
597 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 598
dc546b0f
PE
599 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
600 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 601
d6fb461d 602** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
dc546b0f
PE
603 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
604 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 605
d6fb461d 606** #line in output files
dc546b0f 607 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 608
d6fb461d 609** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
610 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
611 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
612 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 613\f
d6fb461d 614* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 615
d6fb461d 616** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 617
d6fb461d 618** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 619
d6fb461d 620** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
621 Fix spurious parse errors.
622
d6fb461d 623** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
624 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
625 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
626
d6fb461d 627** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
628 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
629 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
630
631 untyped: ... typed;
632
633 but the converse remains an error:
634
635 typed: ... untyped;
636
d6fb461d 637** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
638 The following code:
639
640 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
641
642 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
643 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 644\f
d6fb461d 645* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 646
d6fb461d 647** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
648 The declaration
649 %glr-parser
650 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
651 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 652 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
653 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
654
7933f2b5 655 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
656 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
657
d6fb461d 658** Output Directory
8c165d89 659 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 660 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
8c165d89
AD
661 now creates `bar.c'.
662
d6fb461d 663** Undefined token
007a50a4 664 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 665 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 666
d6fb461d 667** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 668 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
669 no longer the case.
670
d6fb461d 671** Error token
e88dbdbf 672 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
673 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
674 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
675 will be mapped onto another number.
676
d6fb461d 677** Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 678 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
217598da
AD
679 error recovery is possible.
680
d6fb461d 681** End token
217598da
AD
682 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
683
d6fb461d 684** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
685 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
686 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
687 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
688 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
689 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
690 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
691 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
692 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 693
d6fb461d 694** Traces
5504898e
AD
695 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
696
d6fb461d 697** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
698 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
699 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
700 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
701 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 702
d6fb461d 703** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
704 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
705 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
706 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 707
d6fb461d 708** Useless rules
643a5994 709 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 710 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 711
d6fb461d 712** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
713 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
714
d6fb461d 715** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
716 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
717 reported.
718
d6fb461d 719** Incorrect `Token not used'
11652ab3
AD
720 On a grammar such as
721
722 %token useless useful
723 %%
724 exp: '0' %prec useful;
725
726 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
727 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
728
d6fb461d 729** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 730 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 731
d6fb461d 732** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
733 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
734 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
735 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
736 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 737
d6fb461d 738** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
739 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
740 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 741 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 742 For instance
7bd6c77e 743 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 744 or
7bd6c77e 745 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 746
d6fb461d 747** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
748 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
749
d6fb461d 750** New translations
a861a339 751 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
752 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
753
d6fb461d 754** Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 755 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 756
d6fb461d 757** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
758 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
759 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 760 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 761
d6fb461d 762** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
763 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
764 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
765 - itemset
766 complete the core item sets with their closure
9e6e7ed2
PE
767 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
768 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
769 - solved
770 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
771 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
772 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 773
d6fb461d 774** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
775 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
776 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
777
778 %type <foo> bar
779 %%
780 bar: '0' {} '0';
781
782 This is fixed.
a861a339 783
d6fb461d 784** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 785\f
d6fb461d 786* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 787
d6fb461d 788** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
789 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
790 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
791 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
792
793 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
794 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
795 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
796 kludge will be disabled.
797
798 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
799 extended.
76551463 800\f
d6fb461d 801* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 802
d6fb461d 803** File name clashes are detected
76551463
AD
804 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
805 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
806
d6fb461d 807** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
808 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
809 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
810 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
811 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
812 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
813
d6fb461d 814** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
815 many portability hassles.
816
d6fb461d 817** DJGPP support added.
76551463 818
d6fb461d 819** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 820\f
d6fb461d 821* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 822
d6fb461d 823** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
824 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
825 under some conditions.
826
d6fb461d 827** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
828 As is done with $n.
829\f
d6fb461d 830* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 831
d6fb461d 832** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 833
d6fb461d 834** Portability fixes
76551463 835
d6fb461d 836** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 837\f
d6fb461d 838* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 839
d6fb461d 840** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 841
d6fb461d 842** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
843 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
844 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
845 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
846 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
847
d6fb461d 848** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
849 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
850 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
851
852 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
853 problems as on AIX.
854
d6fb461d 855** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 856
d6fb461d 857** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
858 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
859
d6fb461d 860** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
861 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
862 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
863 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
864
d6fb461d 865** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 866 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 867 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 868
d6fb461d 869** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
870 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
871
d6fb461d 872** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
873 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
874
d6fb461d 875** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
876 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
877
d6fb461d 878** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
879 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
880 any warning.
881
d6fb461d 882** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 883
d6fb461d 884** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 885
d6fb461d 886** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 887
d6fb461d 888** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
889 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
890 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
891 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
892
d6fb461d 893** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
894 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
895 previous allocations were not freed.
896
d6fb461d 897** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
898 Some newlines were missing.
899 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
900
d6fb461d 901** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
902 Option -v was needed to get the result.
903
d6fb461d 904** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
905 Was not used.
906 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
907
d6fb461d 908** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 909
d6fb461d 910** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 911
d6fb461d 912** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 913
d6fb461d 914** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
915 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
916
d6fb461d 917** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 918
d6fb461d 919** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
920 New.
921
d6fb461d 922** --output
52d1aeee
MA
923 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
924\f
d6fb461d 925* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 926
d6fb461d 927** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
fdac0091 928 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
929 argument.
930
d6fb461d 931** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
932 experiment.
933
d6fb461d 934** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 935\f
d6fb461d 936* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 937
d6fb461d 938** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
939 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
940 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
941 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
942
d6fb461d 943** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 944
d6fb461d 945** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 946
d6fb461d 947** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 948
d6fb461d 949** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 950
d6fb461d 951** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 952
d6fb461d 953** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 954
d6fb461d 955** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 956
d6fb461d 957** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
cd5bd6ac 958
d6fb461d 959** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
62ab6972 960
d6fb461d 961** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
962 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
963
d6fb461d 964** New directives.
4ecbf796
MA
965 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
966 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2 967
d6fb461d 968** @$
f987e9d2 969 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 970\f
d6fb461d 971* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 972
d6fb461d 973** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 974
d6fb461d 975** Added NLS.
d2e00347 976
d6fb461d 977** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 978
d6fb461d 979** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 980\f
d6fb461d 981* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 982
d6fb461d 983** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
984 some systems has been fixed.
985\f
d6fb461d 986* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 987
d6fb461d 988** Bison now uses automake.
4be07551 989
d6fb461d 990** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 991
d6fb461d 992** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 993
d6fb461d 994** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 995
d6fb461d 996** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 997
d6fb461d 998** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 999
d6fb461d 1000** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 1001 not provide alloca().
4be07551 1002\f
d6fb461d 1003* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 1004
d6fb461d 1005** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 1006the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 1007
d6fb461d 1008** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5
RS
1009example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1010of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1011
d6fb461d 1012** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
1013and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1014table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1015purposes.
1016
d6fb461d 1017** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
1018directives in the parser file.
1019
d6fb461d 1020** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
1021Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1022
d6fb461d 1023** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
1024the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1025The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1026a switch statement body.
1027\f
d6fb461d 1028* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 1029
4d019228
DM
1030The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1031passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1032actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1033by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 1034
6780ca7a 1035Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 1036\f
d6fb461d 1037* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
1038
1039--help option added.
6780ca7a 1040\f
d6fb461d 1041* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
1042
1043Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
AD
1044
1045Local Variables:
1046mode: outline
1047End:
76551463
AD
1048
1049-----
1050
d6ca7905 1051Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
ab7f29f8 10522004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 1053
75eb3bc4 1054This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler.
76551463 1055
f16b0819 1056This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 1057it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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1058the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1059(at your option) any later version.
76551463 1060
f16b0819 1061This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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1062but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1063MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1064GNU General Public License for more details.
1065
1066You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1067along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.