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glr.cc, lalr1.cc: define b4_shared_declarations
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ed7658fe 1GNU Bison NEWS
3af4feb2 2
52718713 3* Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?]
74553c98 4
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5** Incompatible changes
6
7*** Obsolete features
8
9 Support for YYFAIL is removed, as announced since Bison 2.4.2.
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10 Support for yystype and yyltype (instead of YYSTYPE and YYLTYPE)
11 is removed, as announced in Bison 1.875.
47db7ed1 12
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13** Warnings
14
34904c57 15*** Warning categories are now displayed
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16
17 For instance:
18
19 foo.y:4.6: warning: type clash on default action: <foo> != <bar> [-Wother]
20
21*** Useless semantic types
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22
23 Bison now warns about useless (uninhabited) semantic types. Since
24 semantic types are not declared to Bison (they are defined in the opaque
25 %union structure), it is %printer/%destructor directives about useless
26 types that trigger the warning:
27
28 %token <type1> term
29 %type <type2> nterm
30 %printer {} <type1> <type3>
31 %destructor {} <type2> <type4>
32 %%
33 nterm: term { $$ = $1; };
34
35 3.28-34: warning: type <type3> is used, but is not associated to any symbol
36 4.28-34: warning: type <type4> is used, but is not associated to any symbol
37
73370a9d 38*** Undeclared symbols
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39
40 Bison used to raise an error for %printer and %destructor directives for
41 undefined symbols.
42
43 %printer {} symbol1
44 %destructor {} symbol2
45 %%
46 exp: "a";
47
48 This is now only a warning.
49
73370a9d 50*** Useless destructors or printers
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51
52 Bison now warns about useless destructors or printers. In the following
53 example, the printer for <type1>, and the destructor for <type2> are
54 useless: all symbols of <type1> (token1) already have a printer, and all
55 symbols of type <type2> (token2) already have a destructor.
56
57 %token <type1> token1
58 <type2> token2
59 <type3> token3
60 <type4> token4
61 %printer {} token1 <type1> <type3>
62 %destructor {} token2 <type2> <type4>
63
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64** Additional yylex/yyparse arguments
65
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66 The new directive %param declares additional arguments to both yylex and
67 yyparse. The %lex-param, %parse-param, and %param directives support one
68 or more arguments. Instead of
2055a44e 69
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70 %lex-param {arg1_type *arg1}
71 %lex-param {arg2_type *arg2}
72 %parse-param {arg1_type *arg1}
73 %parse-param {arg2_type *arg2}
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74
75 one may now declare
76
e436fa67 77 %param {arg1_type *arg1} {arg2_type *arg2}
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78
79** Java skeleton improvements
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80
81 The constants for token names were moved to the Lexer interface.
82 Also, it is possible to add code to the parser's constructors using
83 "%code init" and "%define init_throws".
84
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85** C++ skeletons improvements
86
87*** locations are no longer mandatory (lalr1.cc, glr.cc)
88
89 Both lalr1.cc and glr.cc no longer require %location.
90
91*** syntax_error exception (lalr1.cc)
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92
93 The C++ parser features a syntax_error exception, which can be
94 thrown from the scanner or from user rules to raise syntax errors.
95 This facilitates reporting errors caught in sub-functions (e.g.,
96 rejecting too large integral literals from a conversion function
97 used by the scanner, or rejecting invalid combinations from a
98 factory invoked by the user actions).
99
4c6622c2 100** Variable api.tokens.prefix
99c08fb6 101
4c6622c2 102 The variable api.tokens.prefix changes the way tokens are identified in
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103 the generated files. This is especially useful to avoid collisions
104 with identifiers in the target language. For instance
105
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106 %token FILE for ERROR
107 %define api.tokens.prefix "TOK_"
108 %%
109 start: FILE for ERROR;
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110
111 will generate the definition of the symbols TOK_FILE, TOK_for, and
112 TOK_ERROR in the generated sources. In particular, the scanner must
113 use these prefixed token names, although the grammar itself still
114 uses the short names (as in the sample rule given above).
115
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116** Variable api.namespace
117
118 The "namespace" variable is renamed "api.namespace". Backward
119 compatibility is ensured, but upgrading is recommended.
120
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121** Variable parse.error
122
123 The variable error controls the verbosity of error messages. The
124 use of the %error-verbose directive is deprecated in favor of
125 %define parse.error "verbose".
126
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127** Semantic predicates
128
129 The new, experimental, semantic-predicate feature allows actions of
130 the form %?{ BOOLEAN-EXPRESSION }, which cause syntax errors (as for
131 YYERROR) if the expression evaluates to 0, and are evaluated immediately
132 in GLR parsers, rather than being deferred. The result is that they
133 allow the programmer to prune possible parses based on the values of
dcb366b1 134 run-time expressions.
ca2a6d15 135
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136* Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?]
137
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138 Bison no longer executes user-specified M4 code when processing a grammar.
139
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140** Future Changes
141
142 In addition to the removal of the features announced in Bison 2.6, the
143 next major release will remove the "Temporary hack for adding a semicolon
144 to the user action", as announced in the release 2.5. Instead of:
145
146 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
147
148 write:
149
150 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
151
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152** Bug fixes
153
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154*** Type names are now properly escaped.
155
156*** glr.cc: set_debug_level and debug_level work as expected.
a4107f24 157
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158*** Stray @ or $ in actions
159
160 While Bison used to warn about stray $ or @ in action rules, it did not
161 for other actions such as printers, destructors, or initial actions. It
162 now does.
163
cd735a8c 164** Type names in actions
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165
166 For consistency with rule actions, it is now possible to qualify $$ by a
cd735a8c 167 type-name in destructors, printers, and initial actions. For instance:
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168
169 %printer { fprintf (yyo, "(%d, %f)", $<ival>$, $<fval>$); } <*> <>;
170
171 will display two values for each typed and untyped symbol (provided
cd735a8c 172 that YYSTYPE has both "ival" and "fval" fields).
60aa04a2 173
1505e8bb 174* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6 (2012-07-19) [stable]
0f11eec2 175
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176** Future changes:
177
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178 The next major release of Bison will drop support for the following
179 deprecated features. Please report disagreements to bug-bison@gnu.org.
0f11eec2 180
aaf61036 181*** K&R C parsers
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182
183 Support for generating parsers in K&R C will be removed. Parsers
242cc08e 184 generated for C support ISO C90, and are tested with ISO C99 and ISO C11
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185 compilers.
186
258cddbc 187*** Features deprecated since Bison 1.875
0f11eec2 188
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189 The definitions of yystype and yyltype will be removed; use YYSTYPE and
190 YYLTYPE.
0f11eec2 191
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192 YYPARSE_PARAM and YYLEX_PARAM, deprecated in favor of %parse-param and
193 %lex-param, will no longer be supported.
194
195 Support for the preprocessor symbol YYERROR_VERBOSE will be removed, use
196 %error-verbose.
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197
198*** The generated header will be included (yacc.c)
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199
200 Instead of duplicating the content of the generated header (definition of
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201 YYSTYPE, yyparse declaration etc.), the generated parser will include it,
202 as is already the case for GLR or C++ parsers. This change is deferred
203 because existing versions of ylwrap (e.g., Automake 1.12.1) do not support
204 it.
0f11eec2 205
c2425191 206** Generated Parser Headers
56ca3d8f 207
258cddbc 208*** Guards (yacc.c, glr.c, glr.cc)
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209
210 The generated headers are now guarded, as is already the case for C++
242cc08e 211 parsers (lalr1.cc). For instance, with --defines=foo.h:
c3e9f08f 212
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213 #ifndef YY_FOO_H
214 # define YY_FOO_H
215 ...
216 #endif /* !YY_FOO_H */
c3e9f08f 217
258cddbc 218*** New declarations (yacc.c, glr.c)
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219
220 The generated header now declares yydebug and yyparse. Both honor
221 --name-prefix=bar_, and yield
222
e29f0771 223 int bar_parse (void);
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224
225 rather than
226
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227 #define yyparse bar_parse
228 int yyparse (void);
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229
230 in order to facilitate the inclusion of several parser headers inside a
231 single compilation unit.
c3e9f08f 232
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233*** Exported symbols in C++
234
235 The symbols YYTOKEN_TABLE and YYERROR_VERBOSE, which were defined in the
236 header, are removed, as they prevent the possibility of including several
237 generated headers from a single compilation unit.
238
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239*** YYLSP_NEEDED
240
241 For the same reasons, the undocumented and unused macro YYLSP_NEEDED is no
242 longer defined.
243
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244** New %define variable: api.prefix
245
246 Now that the generated headers are more complete and properly protected
247 against multiple inclusions, constant names, such as YYSTYPE are a
248 problem. While yyparse and others are properly renamed by %name-prefix,
249 YYSTYPE, YYDEBUG and others have never been affected by it. Because it
250 would introduce backward compatibility issues in projects not expecting
251 YYSTYPE to be renamed, instead of changing the behavior of %name-prefix,
252 it is deprecated in favor of a new %define variable: api.prefix.
253
254 The following examples compares both:
255
256 %name-prefix "bar_" | %define api.prefix "bar_"
257 %token <ival> FOO %token <ival> FOO
258 %union { int ival; } %union { int ival; }
259 %% %%
260 exp: 'a'; exp: 'a';
261
262 bison generates:
263
264 #ifndef BAR_FOO_H #ifndef BAR_FOO_H
265 # define BAR_FOO_H # define BAR_FOO_H
266
267 /* Enabling traces. */ /* Enabling traces. */
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268 # ifndef YYDEBUG | # ifndef BAR_DEBUG
269 > # if defined YYDEBUG
270 > # if YYDEBUG
271 > # define BAR_DEBUG 1
272 > # else
273 > # define BAR_DEBUG 0
274 > # endif
275 > # else
276 # define YYDEBUG 0 | # define BAR_DEBUG 0
277 > # endif
278 # endif | # endif
279
280 # if YYDEBUG | # if BAR_DEBUG
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281 extern int bar_debug; extern int bar_debug;
282 # endif # endif
283
284 /* Tokens. */ /* Tokens. */
285 # ifndef YYTOKENTYPE | # ifndef BAR_TOKENTYPE
286 # define YYTOKENTYPE | # define BAR_TOKENTYPE
287 enum yytokentype { | enum bar_tokentype {
288 FOO = 258 FOO = 258
289 }; };
290 # endif # endif
291
292 #if ! defined YYSTYPE \ | #if ! defined BAR_STYPE \
293 && ! defined YYSTYPE_IS_DECLARED | && ! defined BAR_STYPE_IS_DECLARED
294 typedef union YYSTYPE | typedef union BAR_STYPE
295 { {
296 int ival; int ival;
297 } YYSTYPE; | } BAR_STYPE;
298 # define YYSTYPE_IS_DECLARED 1 | # define BAR_STYPE_IS_DECLARED 1
299 #endif #endif
300
301 extern YYSTYPE bar_lval; | extern BAR_STYPE bar_lval;
302
303 int bar_parse (void); int bar_parse (void);
304
305 #endif /* !BAR_FOO_H */ #endif /* !BAR_FOO_H */
306
dfaac272 307* Noteworthy changes in release 2.5.1 (2012-06-05) [stable]
df6e3db0 308
debe2c03 309** Future changes:
765e1bd4 310
e4ab1254 311 The next major release will drop support for generating parsers in K&R C.
041308d0 312
466b4cf2 313** yacc.c: YYBACKUP works as expected.
ef51bfa7 314
d834eca0 315** glr.c improvements:
041308d0 316
d834eca0 317*** Location support is eliminated when not requested:
041308d0 318
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319 GLR parsers used to include location-related code even when locations were
320 not requested, and therefore not even usable.
378e917c 321
d834eca0 322*** __attribute__ is preserved:
d115aad9 323
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324 __attribute__ is no longer disabled when __STRICT_ANSI__ is defined (i.e.,
325 when -std is passed to GCC).
041308d0 326
466b4cf2 327** lalr1.java: several fixes:
041308d0 328
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329 The Java parser no longer throws ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException if the
330 first token leads to a syntax error. Some minor clean ups.
041308d0 331
22172d47 332** Changes for C++:
ef51bfa7 333
22172d47 334*** C++11 compatibility:
ef51bfa7 335
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336 C and C++ parsers use "nullptr" instead of "0" when __cplusplus is 201103L
337 or higher.
936c88d1 338
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339*** Header guards
340
341 The header files such as "parser.hh", "location.hh", etc. used a constant
342 name for preprocessor guards, for instance:
343
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344 #ifndef BISON_LOCATION_HH
345 # define BISON_LOCATION_HH
346 ...
347 #endif // !BISON_LOCATION_HH
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348
349 The inclusion guard is now computed from "PREFIX/FILE-NAME", where lower
350 case characters are converted to upper case, and series of
351 non-alphanumerical characters are converted to an underscore.
352
353 With "bison -o lang++/parser.cc", "location.hh" would now include:
354
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355 #ifndef YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
356 # define YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
357 ...
358 #endif // !YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
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359
360*** C++ locations:
936c88d1 361
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362 The position and location constructors (and their initialize methods)
363 accept new arguments for line and column. Several issues in the
364 documentation were fixed.
936c88d1 365
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366** liby is no longer asking for "rpl_fprintf" on some platforms.
367
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368** Changes in the manual:
369
370*** %printer is documented
371
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372 The "%printer" directive, supported since at least Bison 1.50, is finally
373 documented. The "mfcalc" example is extended to demonstrate it.
7e508a2b 374
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375 For consistency with the C skeletons, the C++ parsers now also support
376 "yyoutput" (as an alias to "debug_stream ()").
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377
378*** Several improvements have been made:
466b4cf2 379
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380 The layout for grammar excerpts was changed to a more compact scheme.
381 Named references are motivated. The description of the automaton
382 description file (*.output) is updated to the current format. Incorrect
383 index entries were fixed. Some other errors were fixed.
466b4cf2 384
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385** Building bison:
386
387*** Conflicting prototypes with recent/modified Flex.
466b4cf2 388
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389 Fixed build problems with the current, unreleased, version of Flex, and
390 some modified versions of 2.5.35, which have modified function prototypes.
466b4cf2 391
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392*** Warnings during the build procedure have been eliminated.
393
394*** Several portability problems in the test suite have been fixed:
466b4cf2 395
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396 This includes warnings with some compilers, unexpected behavior of tools
397 such as diff, warning messages from the test suite itself, etc.
466b4cf2 398
91aadcc7 399*** The install-pdf target works properly:
8ef26c2a 400
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401 Running "make install-pdf" (or -dvi, -html, -info, and -ps) no longer
402 halts in the middle of its course.
8ef26c2a 403
28801043 404* Changes in version 2.5 (2011-05-14):
50cca368 405
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406** Grammar symbol names can now contain non-initial dashes:
407
408 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and with
409 %define variables (e.g. push-pull), grammar symbol names may contain
410 dashes in any position except the beginning. This is a GNU
411 extension over POSIX Yacc. Thus, use of this extension is reported
412 by -Wyacc and rejected in Yacc mode (--yacc).
413
f1b238df 414** Named references:
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415
416 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
417 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
418 actions code.
419
420 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
421 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
422 as named references:
423
4b568fc0 424 if_stmt : "if" cond_expr "then" then_stmt ';'
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425 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
426
427 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
428
4b568fc0 429 stmt[res] : "if" expr[cond] "then" stmt[then] "else" stmt[else] ';'
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430 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
431
5b1ff423 432 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
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433 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
434 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
435
5b1ff423 436 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
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437 will help to stabilize them.
438
f1b238df 439** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
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440
441 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
442 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
7262f54f 443 with the full language-recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
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444 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction
445 in parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
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446 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
447 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
448 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
449 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
450
451 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
452 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
453 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
454 file with these directives:
455
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456 %define lr.type lalr
457 %define lr.type ielr
458 %define lr.type canonical-lr
eb45ef3b 459
7fceb615 460 The default-reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
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461 adjusted using "%define lr.default-reductions". For details on both
462 of these features, see the new section "Tuning LR" in the Bison
7fceb615 463 manual.
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464
465 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
466 stabilize them.
467
7fceb615 468** LAC (Lookahead Correction) for syntax error handling:
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469
470 Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
471 upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
472 additional parser stack reductions before discovering the syntax
7fceb615 473 error. Such reductions can perform user semantic actions that are
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474 unexpected because they are based on an invalid token, and they
475 cause error recovery to begin in a different syntactic context than
476 the one in which the invalid token was encountered. Second, when
7fceb615 477 verbose error messages are enabled (with %error-verbose or the
e4ab1254 478 obsolete "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE"), the expected token list in the
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479 syntax error message can both contain invalid tokens and omit valid
480 tokens.
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481
482 The culprits for the above problems are %nonassoc, default
483 reductions in inconsistent states, and parser state merging. Thus,
484 IELR and LALR suffer the most. Canonical LR can suffer only if
485 %nonassoc is used or if default reductions are enabled for
486 inconsistent states.
487
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488 LAC is a new mechanism within the parsing algorithm that solves
489 these problems for canonical LR, IELR, and LALR without sacrificing
490 %nonassoc, default reductions, or state merging. When LAC is in
491 use, canonical LR and IELR behave almost exactly the same for both
492 syntactically acceptable and syntactically unacceptable input.
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493 While LALR still does not support the full language-recognition
494 power of canonical LR and IELR, LAC at least enables LALR's syntax
495 error handling to correctly reflect LALR's language-recognition
496 power.
497
498 Currently, LAC is only supported for deterministic parsers in C.
499 You can enable LAC with the following directive:
500
501 %define parse.lac full
502
e4ab1254 503 See the new section "LAC" in the Bison manual for additional
7fceb615 504 details including a few caveats.
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505
506 LAC is an experimental feature. More user feedback will help to
507 stabilize it.
508
d397d9f0 509** %define improvements:
cf499cff 510
f1b238df 511*** Can now be invoked via the command line:
50cca368 512
de5ab940 513 Each of these command-line options
50cca368 514
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515 -D NAME[=VALUE]
516 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
517
518 -F NAME[=VALUE]
519 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
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520
521 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
522
de5ab940 523 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
50cca368 524
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525 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
526 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
527 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
e4ab1254 528 details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
50cca368 529
f1b238df 530*** Variables renamed:
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531
532 The following %define variables
533
534 api.push_pull
535 lr.keep_unreachable_states
536
537 have been renamed to
538
539 api.push-pull
540 lr.keep-unreachable-states
541
542 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
543 for backward compatibility.
544
7262f54f 545*** Values no longer need to be quoted in the grammar file:
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546
547 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
548 within quotations marks. For example,
549
550 %define api.push-pull "push"
551
552 can be rewritten as
553
554 %define api.push-pull push
555
d397d9f0 556*** Unrecognized variables are now errors not warnings.
cdf3f113 557
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558*** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
559
560** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now errors not warnings.
561
562** Character literals not of length one:
563
564 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
565 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
566 the following grammar to be the same token:
567
568 exp: exp '++'
569 | exp '+' exp
570 ;
571
572 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
573 some future release, Bison will start reporting an error instead.
574
575** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions:
576
577 Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
578 altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
579 determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
580 error or upon parser return. This bug has been fixed.
581
582** C++ parsers use YYRHSLOC:
583
584 Similarly to the C parsers, the C++ parsers now define the YYRHSLOC
585 macro and use it in the default YYLLOC_DEFAULT. You are encouraged
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586 to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has "first"
587 and "last" members, instead of
d397d9f0 588
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589 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
590 do \
591 if (N) \
592 { \
593 (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
594 (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
595 } \
596 else \
597 { \
598 (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
599 } \
600 while (false)
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601
602 use:
603
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604 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
605 do \
606 if (N) \
607 { \
608 (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
609 (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
610 } \
611 else \
612 { \
613 (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
614 } \
615 while (false)
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616
617** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
618
619 The default implementation of YYLLOC_DEFAULT used to be issued in
620 the header file. It is now output in the implementation file, after
621 the user %code sections so that its #ifndef guard does not try to
622 override the user's YYLLOC_DEFAULT if provided.
cdf3f113 623
f1b238df 624** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it:
4395a9ff
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625
626 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
627 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. More recently, it was
628 a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers. As
629 promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
630 semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
631 no longer implement YYFAIL at all. For further details, including a
632 discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
633 being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
634
f1b238df 635** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action:
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636
637 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
638 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
639 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
640 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
641
642 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
643
644 instead of
645
646 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
647
648 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
649 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
650 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
651 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
652 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
653 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
654 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
655
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656** Verbose syntax error message fixes:
657
e4ab1254 658 When %error-verbose or the obsolete "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE" is
7fceb615
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659 specified, syntax error messages produced by the generated parser
660 include the unexpected token as well as a list of expected tokens.
661 The effect of %nonassoc on these verbose messages has been corrected
662 in two ways, but a more complete fix requires LAC, described above:
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663
664*** When %nonassoc is used, there can exist parser states that accept no
665 tokens, and so the parser does not always require a lookahead token
666 in order to detect a syntax error. Because no unexpected token or
667 expected tokens can then be reported, the verbose syntax error
668 message described above is suppressed, and the parser instead
e4ab1254 669 reports the simpler message, "syntax error". Previously, this
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670 suppression was sometimes erroneously triggered by %nonassoc when a
671 lookahead was actually required. Now verbose messages are
672 suppressed only when all previous lookaheads have already been
673 shifted or discarded.
674
675*** Previously, the list of expected tokens erroneously included tokens
676 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
677 were resolved with %nonassoc in the current parser state. Such
678 tokens are now properly omitted from the list.
679
680*** Expected token lists are still often wrong due to state merging
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681 (from LALR or IELR) and default reductions, which can both add
682 invalid tokens and subtract valid tokens. Canonical LR almost
683 completely fixes this problem by eliminating state merging and
684 default reductions. However, there is one minor problem left even
685 when using canonical LR and even after the fixes above. That is,
686 if the resolution of a conflict with %nonassoc appears in a later
687 parser state than the one at which some syntax error is
688 discovered, the conflicted token is still erroneously included in
689 the expected token list. Bison's new LAC implementation,
690 described above, eliminates this problem and the need for
691 canonical LR. However, LAC is still experimental and is disabled
692 by default.
53f036ce 693
1a33f4f6
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694** Java skeleton fixes:
695
696*** A location handling bug has been fixed.
697
698*** The top element of each of the value stack and location stack is now
699 cleared when popped so that it can be garbage collected.
6771a463 700
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701*** Parser traces now print the top element of the stack.
702
86408959
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703** -W/--warnings fixes:
704
e4ab1254 705*** Bison now properly recognizes the "no-" versions of categories:
86408959
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706
707 For example, given the following command line, Bison now enables all
708 warnings except warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
709
710 bison -Wall,no-yacc gram.y
711
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712*** Bison now treats S/R and R/R conflicts like other warnings:
713
714 Previously, conflict reports were independent of Bison's normal
715 warning system. Now, Bison recognizes the warning categories
e4ab1254 716 "conflicts-sr" and "conflicts-rr". This change has important
786743d5
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717 consequences for the -W and --warnings command-line options. For
718 example:
719
720 bison -Wno-conflicts-sr gram.y # S/R conflicts not reported
721 bison -Wno-conflicts-rr gram.y # R/R conflicts not reported
722 bison -Wnone gram.y # no conflicts are reported
723 bison -Werror gram.y # any conflict is an error
724
725 However, as before, if the %expect or %expect-rr directive is
726 specified, an unexpected number of conflicts is an error, and an
727 expected number of conflicts is not reported, so -W and --warning
728 then have no effect on the conflict report.
729
e4ab1254 730*** The "none" category no longer disables a preceding "error":
bf0e44e8
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731
732 For example, for the following command line, Bison now reports
733 errors instead of warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
734
735 bison -Werror,none,yacc gram.y
736
e4ab1254 737*** The "none" category now disables all Bison warnings:
c39014ae 738
e4ab1254 739 Previously, the "none" category disabled only Bison warnings for
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740 which there existed a specific -W/--warning category. However,
741 given the following command line, Bison is now guaranteed to
742 suppress all warnings:
743
744 bison -Wnone gram.y
745
1f36f544
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746** Precedence directives can now assign token number 0:
747
748 Since Bison 2.3b, which restored the ability of precedence
749 directives to assign token numbers, doing so for token number 0 has
750 produced an assertion failure. For example:
751
752 %left END 0
753
754 This bug has been fixed.
755
64877e5e 756* Changes in version 2.4.3 (2010-08-05):
8b9e021f 757
2bfcac9a
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758** Bison now obeys -Werror and --warnings=error for warnings about
759 grammar rules that are useless in the parser due to conflicts.
760
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761** Problems with spawning M4 on at least FreeBSD 8 and FreeBSD 9 have
762 been fixed.
763
4ad3921d
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764** Failures in the test suite for GCC 4.5 have been fixed.
765
06cb07d5
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766** Failures in the test suite for some versions of Sun Studio C++ have
767 been fixed.
768
9b5049bd
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769** Contrary to Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, it has been decided that
770 warnings about undefined %prec identifiers will not be converted to
771 errors in Bison 2.5. They will remain warnings, which should be
772 sufficient for POSIX while avoiding backward compatibility issues.
773
93d7dde9
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774** Minor documentation fixes.
775
e19a049c 776* Changes in version 2.4.2 (2010-03-20):
74553c98 777
f39ab286
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778** Some portability problems that resulted in failures and livelocks
779 in the test suite on some versions of at least Solaris, AIX, HP-UX,
e19a049c
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780 RHEL4, and Tru64 have been addressed. As a result, fatal Bison
781 errors should no longer cause M4 to report a broken pipe on the
f39ab286
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782 affected platforms.
783
e4ab1254 784** "%prec IDENTIFIER" requires IDENTIFIER to be defined separately.
8bb3a2e7
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785
786 POSIX specifies that an error be reported for any identifier that does
787 not appear on the LHS of a grammar rule and that is not defined by
788 %token, %left, %right, or %nonassoc. Bison 2.3b and later lost this
789 error report for the case when an identifier appears only after a
790 %prec directive. It is now restored. However, for backward
791 compatibility with recent Bison releases, it is only a warning for
792 now. In Bison 2.5 and later, it will return to being an error.
9b5049bd
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793 [Between the 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 releases, it was decided that this
794 warning will not be converted to an error in Bison 2.5.]
8bb3a2e7 795
d8911864
EB
796** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
797
a603c6e0
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798** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
799 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
800 avoided.
c938d650 801
98a345a2
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802** %code is now a permanent feature.
803
804 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
805
806 %{CODE%}
807
808 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
809 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
810
811 %code {CODE}
812 %code requires {CODE}
813 %code provides {CODE}
814 %code top {CODE}
815
816 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
817 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
818 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
819 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
820 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
821
822 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
823 is still considered experimental.
824
1625df5b
JD
825** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
826
827 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
828 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. Previously, it was
829 documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers. YYFAIL is no longer
830 documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
831 Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
832 specified by POSIX.
833
834 Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
835 induce a syntax error. The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
836 that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
837 error so that you don't have to. However, there are several other
838 subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
e4ab1254 839 inherent flaws when %error-verbose or "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE" is
1625df5b
JD
840 used. For a more detailed discussion, see:
841
842 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
843
844 The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
845 deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it. However,
846 because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
847 Bison features compatible with it. Thus, during parser generation,
848 Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
849 rule action. In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
e4ab1254 850 %error-verbose and "#define YYERROR_VERBOSE". Eventually, YYFAIL will
1625df5b
JD
851 be removed altogether.
852
853 There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
854 be a false positive. Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
855 Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
856 preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
857 To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
e4ab1254 858 epilogue (that is, after the second "%%") in the Bison input file. In
1625df5b
JD
859 this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
860 C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
861 phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
862 2.4.2 is not necessary.
863
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864** Internationalization.
865
866 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
867 message translations were not installed although supported by the
868 host system.
869
74553c98 870* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
c9ba9e59 871
0ea583d2
AD
872** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
873 declarations have been fixed.
1979121c 874
0ea583d2
AD
875** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
876
877 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
878 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
879
880 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
881
882 instead of
883
884 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
885
e4ab1254 886 Some grammars still depend on this "feature". Bison 2.4.1 restores
0ea583d2
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887 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
888 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
889 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
890 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
891 feature.
892
893** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 894
402b123d 895* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 896
402b123d 897** %language is an experimental feature.
ed4d67dc
JD
898
899 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
900 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
901 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
902 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
903 in future releases.
7bd1665a 904
402b123d 905** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 906
402b123d 907** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
241fda7a
JD
908 fixed.
909
402b123d 910* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 911
402b123d 912** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
d9df47b6
JD
913 are now deprecated:
914
915 %define NAME "VALUE"
916
e4ab1254 917** The directive "%pure-parser" is now deprecated in favor of:
d9df47b6
JD
918
919 %define api.pure
920
921 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
922 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
923
402b123d 924** Push Parsing
c373bf8b
JD
925
926 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
e4ab1254
AD
927 is, instead of invoking "yyparse", which pulls tokens from "yylex", you can
928 push one token at a time to the parser using "yypush_parse", which will
c373bf8b
JD
929 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
930 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
931
932 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
933 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
934
e4ab1254 935 See the new section "A Push Parser" in the Bison manual for details.
c373bf8b 936
59da312b
JD
937 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
938 feedback will help to stabilize it.
939
402b123d 940** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
8e55b3aa
JD
941 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
942 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 943
402b123d 944** Java
59da312b
JD
945
946 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
e4ab1254 947 "data/lalr1.java". Consider using the new %language directive instead of
59da312b
JD
948 %skeleton to select it.
949
e4ab1254 950 See the new section "Java Parsers" in the Bison manual for details.
59da312b
JD
951
952 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
953 feedback will help to stabilize it.
954
402b123d 955** %language
59da312b
JD
956
957 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
d43f77e7
PB
958 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
959 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
960 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 961
402b123d 962** XML Automaton Report
59da312b
JD
963
964 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
e4ab1254 965 "--xml" option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
59da312b 966 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
c373bf8b 967
402b123d 968** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
c373bf8b
JD
969 %defines. For example:
970
971 %defines "parser.h"
972
402b123d 973** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
d80fb37a
JD
974 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
975 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
976 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 977
402b123d 978** Unreachable State Removal
c373bf8b
JD
979
980 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
31984206
JD
981 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
982 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
75ad86ee
JD
983
984 1. Removes unreachable states.
985
986 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
987 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
988 directives in existing grammar files.
989
990 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 991 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 992
31984206
JD
993 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
994
995 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
996
e4ab1254 997 See the %define entry in the "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison manual
31984206
JD
998 for further discussion.
999
e4ab1254 1000** Lookahead Set Correction in the ".output" Report
b1cc23c4 1001
e4ab1254
AD
1002 When instructed to generate a ".output" file including lookahead sets
1003 (using "--report=lookahead", for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
88c78747
JD
1004 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
1005 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
1006 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
1007 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
e4ab1254 1008 bug affected only the ".output" file and not the generated parser source
88c78747
JD
1009 code.
1010
e4ab1254 1011** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default ".output" file
59da312b 1012 name.
1bb2bd75 1013
e4ab1254 1014** The "=" that used to be required in the following directives is now
02975b9a
JD
1015 deprecated:
1016
1017 %file-prefix "parser"
1018 %name-prefix "c_"
1019 %output "parser.c"
1020
e4ab1254 1021** An Alternative to "%{...%}" -- "%code QUALIFIER {CODE}"
c373bf8b
JD
1022
1023 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
8e0a5e9e
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1024 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
1025 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
1026 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
1027 it:
1028
e4ab1254
AD
1029 1. "%code {CODE}" replaces "%after-header {CODE}"
1030 2. "%code requires {CODE}" replaces "%start-header {CODE}"
1031 3. "%code provides {CODE}" replaces "%end-header {CODE}"
1032 4. "%code top {CODE}" replaces "%before-header {CODE}"
8e0a5e9e 1033
e4ab1254
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1034 See the %code entries in section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
1035 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section "Prologue
1036 Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
8e0a5e9e
JD
1037 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
1038
1039 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
1040 determine whether they should become permanent features.
1041
402b123d 1042** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
17bd8a73
JD
1043
1044 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
1045 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
1046 about unused $2 in:
1047
1048 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
1049
1050 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
1051 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
1052
1053 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
1054
1055 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
1056 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
1057 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
1058
e4ab1254
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1059 To enable these warnings, specify the option "--warnings=midrule-values" or
1060 "-W", which is a synonym for "--warnings=all".
17bd8a73 1061
e4ab1254 1062** Default %destructor or %printer with "<*>" or "<>"
c373bf8b
JD
1063
1064 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
12e35840
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1065 %printer's:
1066
e4ab1254 1067 1. Place "<*>" in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
12e35840
JD
1068 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
1069 declared semantic type tags.
1070
e4ab1254 1071 2. Place "<>" in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
12e35840
JD
1072 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
1073 type tags.
1074
e4ab1254
AD
1075 Bison no longer supports the "%symbol-default" notation from Bison 2.3a.
1076 "<*>" and "<>" combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
12e35840
JD
1077 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
1078 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
1079
85894313
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1080 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
1081 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
1082 features.
1083
e4ab1254 1084 See the section "Freeing Discarded Symbols" in the Bison manual for further
12e35840
JD
1085 details.
1086
402b123d 1087** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
e4ab1254 1088 by POSIX. However, see the end of section "Operator Precedence" in the Bison
ab7f29f8
JD
1089 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
1090
402b123d 1091** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
b1cc23c4
JD
1092 completely removed from Bison.
1093
402b123d 1094* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 1095
402b123d 1096** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
ddc8ede1
PE
1097 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
1098 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
1099 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
1100 and is required by POSIX.
1101
402b123d 1102** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
cd48d21d
AD
1103 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
1104
402b123d 1105** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
ec5479ce
JD
1106
1107 For example:
1108
b2a0b7ca
JD
1109 %union { char *string; }
1110 %token <string> STRING1
1111 %token <string> STRING2
1112 %type <string> string1
1113 %type <string> string2
1114 %union { char character; }
1115 %token <character> CHR
1116 %type <character> chr
1117 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
1118 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
1119 %destructor { } <character>
1120
1121 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
e4ab1254
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1122 semantic type tag other than "<character>", it passes its semantic value to
1123 "free". However, when the parser discards a "STRING1" or a "string1", it
1124 also prints its line number to "stdout". It performs only the second
1125 "%destructor" in this case, so it invokes "free" only once.
ec5479ce 1126
85894313
JD
1127 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
1128 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
1129 future versions.]
1130
e4ab1254
AD
1131** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with "-y",
1132 "--yacc", or "%yacc"), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
b931235e
JD
1133 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
1134 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
1135 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
1136
402b123d 1137** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 1138 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
9bc0dd67
JD
1139
1140 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
e4ab1254 1141 "%{ ... %}" syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
34f98f46
JD
1142 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
1143 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 1144 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 1145
34f98f46 1146 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
9bc0dd67
JD
1147 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
1148 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
1149 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
1150 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
1151 after the token definitions.
1152
1153 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
1154 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
1155
402b123d 1156** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
34f98f46
JD
1157 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
1158 %after-header.
1159
1160 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
1161 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
1162 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
1163 convenient for you:
1164
1165 %before-header {
1166 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
1167 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
1168 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
1169 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
e4ab1254 1170 * example is '#include "system.h"'. */
34f98f46
JD
1171 }
1172 %start-header {
1173 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
1174 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
1175 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
1176 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
9bc0dd67
JD
1177 }
1178 %union {
34f98f46
JD
1179 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
1180 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
1181 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 1182 }
34f98f46
JD
1183 %end-header {
1184 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
1185 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
1186 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
1187 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
1188 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 1189 }
34f98f46
JD
1190 %after-header {
1191 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
1192 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
1193 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
1194 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
1195 * Bison-generated definitions. */
1196 }
1197
1198 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
1199 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 1200
85894313
JD
1201 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
1202 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
1203
e4ab1254 1204** The option "--report=look-ahead" has been changed to "--report=lookahead".
9e6e7ed2
PE
1205 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
1206 in a future release.
742e4900 1207
402b123d 1208* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 1209
e4ab1254 1210** GLR grammars should now use "YYRECOVERING ()" instead of "YYRECOVERING",
4ad3ed84
PE
1211 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
1212
402b123d 1213** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
4ad3ed84
PE
1214 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
1215
402b123d 1216* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 1217
402b123d 1218** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
193d7c70
PE
1219 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
1220 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 1221
402b123d 1222** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 1223
402b123d 1224** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 1225
402b123d 1226** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
d6ca7905
PE
1227 their contents together.
1228
402b123d 1229** New warning: unused values
4d7bc38c
PE
1230 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
1231 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 1232
8f3596a6 1233 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
e9690142
JD
1234 | exp "+" exp
1235 ;
affac613 1236
8f3596a6
AD
1237 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
1238 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 1239 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 1240
4e26c69e 1241 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
e9690142
JD
1242 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
1243 | exp "+" exp
1244 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
1245 ;
affac613 1246
4e26c69e
PE
1247 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
1248 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
1249 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 1250
8f3596a6 1251 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
e9690142
JD
1252 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
1253 ;
721be13c 1254
84866159
AD
1255 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
1256 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
1257
1258 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
1259
721be13c
PE
1260 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
1261 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 1262
402b123d 1263** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
9d9b8b70
PE
1264 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
1265 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
1266 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 1267
402b123d 1268** %expect, %expect-rr
035aa4a0
PE
1269 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
1270 instead of warnings.
1271
402b123d 1272** GLR, YACC parsers.
4e26c69e
PE
1273 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
1274 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 1275
e4ab1254 1276** Bison now warns if it finds a stray "$" or "@" in an action.
ad6a9b97 1277
402b123d 1278** %require "VERSION"
4e26c69e
PE
1279 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
1280 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 1281
402b123d 1282** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
e14d0ab6
AD
1283 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
1284 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
e4ab1254
AD
1285 tokens are enumerations of the "yy::parser::token" struct, and the
1286 semantic values have the "yy::parser::semantic_type" type.
fb9712a9
AD
1287
1288 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
e4ab1254 1289 '%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
b50d2359
AD
1290 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
1291 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 1292
b50d2359 1293 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
e4ab1254 1294 fail using '%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 1295
402b123d 1296** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 1297\f
402b123d 1298* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 1299
402b123d 1300** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 1301
402b123d 1302** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
baf785db
PE
1303 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
1304 language is still English. For details, please see the new
0410a6e0
PE
1305 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
1306 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
1307 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 1308
402b123d 1309** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
1a059451
PE
1310 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
1311 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
1312 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
1313
402b123d 1314** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
258b75ca
PE
1315 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
1316 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
1317
402b123d 1318** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
72f000b0
PE
1319 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
1320 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
1321 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
1322 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 1323\f
402b123d 1324* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 1325
402b123d 1326** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 1327
82de6b0d
PE
1328 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
1329 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
1330 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
1331 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
1332 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 1333
82de6b0d
PE
1334 - Error token location.
1335 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
1336 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
1337 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
1338 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 1339
82de6b0d
PE
1340 - Semicolon changes:
1341 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
1342 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 1343
82de6b0d
PE
1344 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
1345 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
1346 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
1347 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 1348
82de6b0d 1349 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 1350
402b123d 1351** New features
1452af69 1352
82de6b0d 1353 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 1354
82de6b0d
PE
1355 - New directive: %initial-action.
1356 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
1357 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 1358
82de6b0d
PE
1359 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
1360 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 1361
e4ab1254 1362 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., "%token FOO 0x12d".
82de6b0d 1363 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 1364
e4ab1254 1365 - The option "--report=lookahead" was changed to "--report=look-ahead".
9e6e7ed2 1366 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 1367
82de6b0d 1368 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 1369
82de6b0d
PE
1370 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
1371 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 1372
402b123d 1373** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 1374
82de6b0d
PE
1375 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
1376 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
1377 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
1378 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
1379 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
1380 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 1381
82de6b0d
PE
1382 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
1383 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 1384
82de6b0d 1385 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 1386\f
402b123d 1387* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 1388
402b123d 1389** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 1390 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 1391
402b123d 1392** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 1393
dc546b0f
PE
1394 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
1395 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 1396
dc546b0f
PE
1397 - %destructor
1398 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
1399 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 1400
dc546b0f
PE
1401 - %error-verbose
1402 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 1403
dc546b0f
PE
1404 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
1405 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 1406
402b123d 1407** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 1408
dc546b0f
PE
1409 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
1410 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
1411 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 1412
e4ab1254
AD
1413 - "parse error" -> "syntax error"
1414 Bison now uniformly uses the term "syntax error"; formerly, the code
1415 and manual sometimes used the term "parse error" instead. POSIX
1416 requires "syntax error" in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
dc546b0f 1417 be consistent.
74724a70 1418
dc546b0f
PE
1419 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
1420 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 1421
dc546b0f
PE
1422 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
1423 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 1424
dc546b0f
PE
1425 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
1426 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 1427
dc546b0f 1428 - Yacc command and library now available
e4ab1254 1429 The Bison distribution now installs a "yacc" command, as POSIX requires.
dc546b0f
PE
1430 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
1431 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
1432 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 1433
dc546b0f 1434 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 1435
dc546b0f
PE
1436 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
1437 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
1438 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 1439
402b123d 1440** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 1441
e4ab1254
AD
1442 - %union directives can now have a tag before the "{", e.g., the
1443 directive "%union foo {...}" now generates the C code
1444 "typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;"; this is for Yacc compatibility.
1445 The default union tag is "YYSTYPE", for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
1446 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now "YYLTYPE" not "yyltype".
dc546b0f 1447 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 1448
e4ab1254 1449 - ";" is output before the terminating "}" of an action, for
dc546b0f 1450 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 1451
dc546b0f 1452 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
e4ab1254 1453 "conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce".
437c2d80 1454
e4ab1254 1455 - "yystype" and "yyltype" are now obsolescent macros instead of being
dc546b0f
PE
1456 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
1457 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 1458
402b123d 1459** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 1460
dc546b0f
PE
1461 - GLR and inline
1462 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
e4ab1254 1463 C keyword "inline".
959e5f51 1464
e4ab1254
AD
1465 - "parsing stack overflow..." -> "parser stack overflow"
1466 GLR parsers now report "parser stack overflow" as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 1467
18ad57b3
AD
1468** %parse-param and %lex-param
1469 The macros YYPARSE_PARAM and YYLEX_PARAM provide a means to pass
1470 additional context to yyparse and yylex. They suffer from several
1471 shortcomings:
1472
1473 - a single argument only can be added,
1474 - their types are weak (void *),
242cc08e 1475 - this context is not passed to ancillary functions such as yyerror,
18ad57b3
AD
1476 - only yacc.c parsers support them.
1477
1478 The new %parse-param/%lex-param directives provide a more precise control.
1479 For instance:
1480
1481 %parse-param {int *nastiness}
1482 %lex-param {int *nastiness}
1483 %parse-param {int *randomness}
1484
1485 results in the following signatures:
1486
1487 int yylex (int *nastiness);
1488 int yyparse (int *nastiness, int *randomness);
1489
1490 or, if both %pure-parser and %locations are used:
1491
1492 int yylex (YYSTYPE *lvalp, YYLTYPE *llocp, int *nastiness);
1493 int yyparse (int *nastiness, int *randomness);
1494
402b123d 1495** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
e4ab1254 1496 e.g., it generates a warning for "bison -d -o foo.h foo.y" since
dc546b0f 1497 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 1498
402b123d 1499** #line in output files
dc546b0f 1500 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 1501
402b123d 1502** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
1503 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
1504 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
1505 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 1506\f
402b123d 1507* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 1508
402b123d 1509** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 1510
402b123d 1511** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 1512
402b123d 1513** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1514 Fix spurious parse errors.
1515
402b123d 1516** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1517 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
1518 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
1519
402b123d 1520** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
1521 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
1522 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
1523
e9690142 1524 untyped: ... typed;
d90c934c
AD
1525
1526 but the converse remains an error:
1527
e9690142 1528 typed: ... untyped;
d90c934c 1529
402b123d 1530** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
1531 The following code:
1532
e9690142 1533 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
d90c934c
AD
1534
1535 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
1536 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 1537\f
402b123d 1538* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 1539
402b123d 1540** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
1541 The declaration
1542 %glr-parser
1543 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
1544 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 1545 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
1546 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
1547
7933f2b5 1548 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
1549 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
1550
402b123d 1551** Output Directory
8c165d89 1552 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e4ab1254
AD
1553 specified, running "bison foo/bar.y" created "foo/bar.c". It
1554 now creates "bar.c".
8c165d89 1555
402b123d 1556** Undefined token
007a50a4 1557 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 1558 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 1559
402b123d 1560** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 1561 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
1562 no longer the case.
1563
402b123d 1564** Error token
e88dbdbf 1565 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
1566 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
1567 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
1568 will be mapped onto another number.
1569
402b123d 1570** Verbose error messages
e4ab1254 1571 They no longer report "..., expecting error or..." for states where
217598da
AD
1572 error recovery is possible.
1573
402b123d 1574** End token
e4ab1254 1575 Defaults to "$end" instead of "$".
217598da 1576
402b123d 1577** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
1578 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
1579 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
1580 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
1581 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
1582 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
1583 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
1584 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
1585 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 1586
402b123d 1587** Traces
5504898e
AD
1588 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
1589
402b123d 1590** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
1591 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
1592 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
1593 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
1594 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 1595
402b123d 1596** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
1597 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
1598 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
1599 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 1600
402b123d 1601** Useless rules
643a5994 1602 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 1603 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 1604
402b123d 1605** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
1606 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
1607
402b123d 1608** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
1609 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
1610 reported.
1611
e4ab1254 1612** Incorrect "Token not used"
11652ab3
AD
1613 On a grammar such as
1614
e29f0771
AD
1615 %token useless useful
1616 %%
1617 exp: '0' %prec useful;
11652ab3
AD
1618
1619 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
e4ab1254 1620 bison reported both "useful" and "useless" as useless tokens.
11652ab3 1621
402b123d 1622** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 1623 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 1624
402b123d 1625** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
1626 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
1627 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
1628 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
1629 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 1630
402b123d 1631** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
1632 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
1633 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
e4ab1254 1634 error messages instead of "$end", which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 1635 For instance
e29f0771 1636 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 1637 or
e29f0771 1638 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 1639
402b123d 1640** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
1641 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
1642
402b123d 1643** New translations
a861a339 1644 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
1645 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
1646
402b123d 1647** Incorrect token definitions
e4ab1254
AD
1648 When given
1649 %token 'a' "A"
1650 bison used to output
1651 #define 'a' 65
b87f8b21 1652
402b123d 1653** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
1654 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
1655 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 1656 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 1657
402b123d 1658** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
1659 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
1660 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
1661 - itemset
1662 complete the core item sets with their closure
e4ab1254 1663 - lookahead [changed to "look-ahead" in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
9e6e7ed2 1664 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
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1665 - solved
1666 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
1667 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
1668 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 1669
402b123d 1670** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
1671 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
1672 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
1673
e29f0771
AD
1674 %type <foo> bar
1675 %%
1676 bar: '0' {} '0';
9af3fbce
AD
1677
1678 This is fixed.
a861a339 1679
402b123d 1680** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 1681\f
402b123d 1682* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 1683
402b123d 1684** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
1685 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
1686 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
1687 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
1688
1689 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
1690 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
1691 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
1692 kludge will be disabled.
1693
1694 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
1695 extended.
76551463 1696\f
402b123d 1697* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 1698
402b123d 1699** File name clashes are detected
76551463 1700 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
e4ab1254 1701 fatal error: header and parser would both be named "foo.x"
76551463 1702
e4ab1254 1703** A missing ";" at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
1704 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1705 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1706 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1707 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1708 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1709
402b123d 1710** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
1711 many portability hassles.
1712
402b123d 1713** DJGPP support added.
76551463 1714
402b123d 1715** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 1716\f
402b123d 1717* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 1718
402b123d 1719** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
1720 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1721 under some conditions.
1722
402b123d 1723** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
1724 As is done with $n.
1725\f
402b123d 1726* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 1727
402b123d 1728** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 1729
402b123d 1730** Portability fixes
76551463 1731
402b123d 1732** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 1733\f
402b123d 1734* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 1735
402b123d 1736** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 1737
402b123d 1738** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1739 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1740 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1741 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
e4ab1254 1742 does not trigger an error when the input file is named "plural.y".
52d1aeee 1743
402b123d 1744** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
1745 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1746 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1747
1748 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1749 problems as on AIX.
1750
402b123d 1751** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 1752
402b123d 1753** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
1754 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1755
402b123d 1756** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
1757 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1758 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1759 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1760
402b123d 1761** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 1762 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 1763 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 1764
402b123d 1765** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
1766 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1767
402b123d 1768** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
1769 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1770
402b123d 1771** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
1772 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1773
402b123d 1774** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1775 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1776 any warning.
1777
402b123d 1778** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 1779
402b123d 1780** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 1781
402b123d 1782** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 1783
402b123d 1784** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
1785 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1786 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1787 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1788
402b123d 1789** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
1790 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1791 previous allocations were not freed.
1792
402b123d 1793** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
1794 Some newlines were missing.
1795 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1796
402b123d 1797** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
1798 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1799
402b123d 1800** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1801 Was not used.
1802 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1803
402b123d 1804** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 1805
402b123d 1806** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 1807
402b123d 1808** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 1809
402b123d 1810** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
1811 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1812
402b123d 1813** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 1814
402b123d 1815** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
1816 New.
1817
402b123d 1818** --output
e4ab1254 1819 New, aliasing "--output-file".
52d1aeee 1820\f
402b123d 1821* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 1822
e4ab1254
AD
1823** "--defines" and "--graph" have now an optional argument which is the
1824 output file name. "-d" and "-g" do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
1825 argument.
1826
e4ab1254 1827** "%source_extension" and "%header_extension" are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
1828 experiment.
1829
402b123d 1830** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 1831\f
402b123d 1832* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 1833
402b123d 1834** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
1835 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1836 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
e4ab1254 1837 "-Dconst=". Autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
342b8b6e 1838
e4ab1254 1839** Added "-g" and "--graph".
f87a2205 1840
402b123d 1841** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 1842
402b123d 1843** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 1844
402b123d 1845** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 1846
402b123d 1847** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 1848
402b123d 1849** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 1850
e4ab1254 1851** Added "--locations" and "%locations".
6deb4447 1852
e4ab1254 1853** Added "-S" and "--skeleton".
cd5bd6ac 1854
e4ab1254 1855** "%raw", "-r", "--raw" is disabled.
62ab6972 1856
402b123d 1857** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
1858 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1859
402b123d 1860** New directives.
e4ab1254
AD
1861 "%yacc", "%fixed_output_files", "%defines", "%no_parser", "%verbose",
1862 "%debug", "%source_extension" and "%header_extension".
f987e9d2 1863
402b123d 1864** @$
f987e9d2 1865 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 1866\f
402b123d 1867* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 1868
402b123d 1869** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 1870
402b123d 1871** Added NLS.
d2e00347 1872
402b123d 1873** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 1874
402b123d 1875** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 1876\f
402b123d 1877* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 1878
402b123d 1879** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
1880 some systems has been fixed.
1881\f
402b123d 1882* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 1883
7e508a2b 1884** Bison now uses Automake.
4be07551 1885
402b123d 1886** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 1887
402b123d 1888** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 1889
402b123d 1890** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 1891
402b123d 1892** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 1893
402b123d 1894** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 1895
402b123d 1896** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 1897 not provide alloca().
4be07551 1898\f
402b123d 1899* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 1900
402b123d 1901** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 1902the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 1903
402b123d 1904** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5 1905example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
7e508a2b 1906of choosing a name like LESSEQ.
df8878c5 1907
402b123d 1908** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
1909and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1910table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1911purposes.
1912
402b123d 1913** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
1914directives in the parser file.
1915
402b123d 1916** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
1917Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1918
402b123d 1919** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
1920the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1921The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1922a switch statement body.
1923\f
402b123d 1924* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 1925
4d019228
DM
1926The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1927passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1928actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1929by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 1930
6780ca7a 1931Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 1932\f
402b123d 1933* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
1934
1935--help option added.
6780ca7a 1936\f
402b123d 1937* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
1938
1939Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6 1940
76551463
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1941-----
1942
34136e65 1943Copyright (C) 1995-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 1944
74553c98 1945This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
76551463 1946
f16b0819 1947This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 1948it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
1949the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1950(at your option) any later version.
76551463 1951
f16b0819 1952This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
1953but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1954MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1955GNU General Public License for more details.
1956
1957You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1958along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
7e508a2b
AD
1959
1960 LocalWords: yacc YYBACKUP glr GCC lalr ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException nullptr
1961 LocalWords: cplusplus liby rpl fprintf mfcalc Wyacc stmt cond expr mk sym lr
1962 LocalWords: IELR ielr Lookahead YYERROR nonassoc LALR's api lookaheads yychar
1963 LocalWords: destructor lookahead YYRHSLOC YYLLOC Rhs ifndef YYFAIL cpp sr rr
1964 LocalWords: preprocessor initializer Wno Wnone Werror FreeBSD prec livelocks
1965 LocalWords: Solaris AIX UX RHEL Tru LHS gcc's Wundef YYENABLE NLS YYLTYPE VCG
1966 LocalWords: yyerror cpp's Wunused yylval yylloc prepend yyparse yylex yypush
1967 LocalWords: Graphviz xml nonterminals midrule destructor's YYSTYPE typedef ly
1968 LocalWords: CHR chr printf stdout namespace preprocessing enum pre include's
1969 LocalWords: YYRECOVERING nonfree destructors YYABORT YYACCEPT params enums de
1970 LocalWords: struct yystype DJGPP lex param Haible NUM alloca YYSTACK NUL goto
1971 LocalWords: YYMAXDEPTH Unescaped UCNs YYLTYPE's yyltype typedefs inline Yaccs
1972 LocalWords: Heriyanto Reenable dprec Hilfinger Eggert MYEOF Folle Menezes EOF
242cc08e 1973 LocalWords: Lackovic define's itemset Groff Gettext malloc NEWS'ed YYDEBUG YY
7e508a2b 1974 LocalWords: namespaces strerror const autoconfiguration Dconst Autoconf's FDL
242cc08e
AD
1975 LocalWords: Automake TMPDIR LESSEQ ylwrap endif yydebug YYTOKEN YYLSP ival hh
1976 LocalWords: extern YYTOKENTYPE TOKENTYPE yytokentype tokentype STYPE lval pdf
dcb366b1
AD
1977 LocalWords: lang yyoutput dvi html ps POSIX lvalp llocp Wother nterm arg init
1978 LocalWords: TOK
7e508a2b
AD
1979
1980Local Variables:
1981mode: outline
e4ab1254 1982fill-column: 76
7e508a2b 1983End: