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4* Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
5
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6** Additional yylex/yyparse arguments
7
8 The new directive %param declare additional argument to both yylex
bb9191dd 9 and yyparse. The %lex-param, %parse-param, and %param directives
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10 support one or more arguments. Instead of
11
12 %lex-param {arg1_type *arg1}
13 %lex-param {arg2_type *arg2}
14 %parse-param {arg1_type *arg1}
15 %parse-param {arg2_type *arg2}
16
17 one may now declare
18
19 %param {arg1_type *arg1} {arg2_type *arg2}
20
21** Java skeleton improvements
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22
23 The constants for token names were moved to the Lexer interface.
24 Also, it is possible to add code to the parser's constructors using
25 "%code init" and "%define init_throws".
26
4c6622c2 27** Variable api.tokens.prefix
99c08fb6 28
4c6622c2 29 The variable api.tokens.prefix changes the way tokens are identified in
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30 the generated files. This is especially useful to avoid collisions
31 with identifiers in the target language. For instance
32
33 %token FILE for ERROR
4c6622c2 34 %define api.tokens.prefix "TOK_"
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35 %%
36 start: FILE for ERROR;
37
38 will generate the definition of the symbols TOK_FILE, TOK_for, and
39 TOK_ERROR in the generated sources. In particular, the scanner must
40 use these prefixed token names, although the grammar itself still
41 uses the short names (as in the sample rule given above).
42
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43** Variable api.namespace
44
45 The "namespace" variable is renamed "api.namespace". Backward
46 compatibility is ensured, but upgrading is recommended.
47
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48** Variable parse.error
49
50 The variable error controls the verbosity of error messages. The
51 use of the %error-verbose directive is deprecated in favor of
52 %define parse.error "verbose".
53
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54** Semantic predicates
55
56 The new, experimental, semantic-predicate feature allows actions of
57 the form %?{ BOOLEAN-EXPRESSION }, which cause syntax errors (as for
58 YYERROR) if the expression evaluates to 0, and are evaluated immediately
59 in GLR parsers, rather than being deferred. The result is that they
60 allow the programmer to prune possible parses based on the values of
61 runtime expressions.
62
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63* Changes in version 2.5 (????-??-??):
64
f1b238df 65** Named references:
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66
67 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
68 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
69 actions code.
70
71 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
72 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
73 as named references:
74
75 if_stmt : 'if' cond_expr 'then' then_stmt ';'
76 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
77
78 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
79
80 stmt[res] : 'if' expr[cond] 'then' stmt[then] 'else' stmt[else] ';'
81 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
82
5b1ff423 83 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
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84 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
85 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
86
5b1ff423 87 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
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88 will help to stabilize them.
89
f1b238df 90** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
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91
92 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
93 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
94 with the full language recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
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95 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction
96 in parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
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97 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
98 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
99 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
100 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
101
102 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
103 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
104 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
105 file with these directives:
106
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107 %define lr.type lalr
108 %define lr.type ielr
109 %define lr.type canonical-lr
eb45ef3b 110
110ef36a 111 The default reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
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112 adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'. See the documentation
113 for `%define lr.type' and `%define lr.default-reductions' in the
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114 section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual for the
115 details.
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116
117 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
118 stabilize them.
119
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120** LAC (lookahead correction) for syntax error handling:
121
122 Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
123 upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
124 additional parser stack reductions before discovering the syntax
125 error. Such reductions perform user semantic actions that are
126 unexpected because they are based on an invalid token, and they
127 cause error recovery to begin in a different syntactic context than
128 the one in which the invalid token was encountered. Second, when
129 verbose error messages are enabled (with %error-verbose or `#define
130 YYERROR_VERBOSE'), the expected token list in the syntax error
131 message can both contain invalid tokens and omit valid tokens.
132
133 The culprits for the above problems are %nonassoc, default
134 reductions in inconsistent states, and parser state merging. Thus,
135 IELR and LALR suffer the most. Canonical LR can suffer only if
136 %nonassoc is used or if default reductions are enabled for
137 inconsistent states.
138
139 LAC is a new mechanism within the parsing algorithm that completely
140 solves these problems for canonical LR, IELR, and LALR without
141 sacrificing %nonassoc, default reductions, or state mering. When
142 LAC is in use, canonical LR and IELR behave exactly the same for
143 both syntactically acceptable and syntactically unacceptable input.
144 While LALR still does not support the full language-recognition
145 power of canonical LR and IELR, LAC at least enables LALR's syntax
146 error handling to correctly reflect LALR's language-recognition
147 power.
148
149 Currently, LAC is only supported for deterministic parsers in C.
150 You can enable LAC with the following directive:
151
152 %define parse.lac full
153
154 See the documentation for `%define parse.lac' in the section `Bison
155 Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual for additional details.
156
157 LAC is an experimental feature. More user feedback will help to
158 stabilize it.
159
d397d9f0 160** Grammar symbol names can now contain dashes:
0b6d43c5 161
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162 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and variables
163 (e.g. push-pull), grammar symbol names may include dashes in any
164 position, similarly to periods and underscores. This is GNU
165 extension over POSIX Yacc whose use is reported by -Wyacc, and
166 rejected in Yacc mode (--yacc).
c6abeab1 167
d397d9f0 168** %define improvements:
cf499cff 169
f1b238df 170*** Can now be invoked via the command line:
50cca368 171
de5ab940 172 Each of these command-line options
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174 -D NAME[=VALUE]
175 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
176
177 -F NAME[=VALUE]
178 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
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179
180 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
181
de5ab940 182 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
50cca368 183
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184 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
185 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
186 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
187 details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
50cca368 188
f1b238df 189*** Variables renamed:
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190
191 The following %define variables
192
193 api.push_pull
194 lr.keep_unreachable_states
195
196 have been renamed to
197
198 api.push-pull
199 lr.keep-unreachable-states
200
201 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
202 for backward compatibility.
203
f1b238df 204*** Values no longer need to be quoted in grammar file:
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205
206 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
207 within quotations marks. For example,
208
209 %define api.push-pull "push"
210
211 can be rewritten as
212
213 %define api.push-pull push
214
d397d9f0 215*** Unrecognized variables are now errors not warnings.
cdf3f113 216
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217*** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
218
219** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now errors not warnings.
220
221** Character literals not of length one:
222
223 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
224 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
225 the following grammar to be the same token:
226
227 exp: exp '++'
228 | exp '+' exp
229 ;
230
231 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
232 some future release, Bison will start reporting an error instead.
233
234** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions:
235
236 Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
237 altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
238 determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
239 error or upon parser return. This bug has been fixed.
240
241** C++ parsers use YYRHSLOC:
242
243 Similarly to the C parsers, the C++ parsers now define the YYRHSLOC
244 macro and use it in the default YYLLOC_DEFAULT. You are encouraged
245 to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has "first"
246 and "last" members, instead of
247
248 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
249 do \
250 if (N) \
251 { \
252 (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
253 (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
254 } \
255 else \
256 { \
257 (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
258 } \
259 while (false)
260
261 use:
262
263 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
264 do \
265 if (N) \
266 { \
267 (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
268 (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
269 } \
270 else \
271 { \
272 (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
273 } \
274 while (false)
275
276** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
277
278 The default implementation of YYLLOC_DEFAULT used to be issued in
279 the header file. It is now output in the implementation file, after
280 the user %code sections so that its #ifndef guard does not try to
281 override the user's YYLLOC_DEFAULT if provided.
cdf3f113 282
f1b238df 283** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it:
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284
285 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
286 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. More recently, it was
287 a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers. As
288 promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
289 semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
290 no longer implement YYFAIL at all. For further details, including a
291 discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
292 being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
293
f1b238df 294** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action:
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295
296 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
297 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
298 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
299 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
300
301 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
302
303 instead of
304
305 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
306
307 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
308 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
309 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
310 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
311 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
312 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
313 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
314
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315** Verbose syntax error message fixes:
316
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317 When %error-verbose or `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is specified,
318 syntax error messages produced by the generated parser include the
319 unexpected token as well as a list of expected tokens. The effect
320 of %nonassoc on these verbose messages has been corrected in two
321 ways, but a complete fix requires LAC, described above:
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322
323*** When %nonassoc is used, there can exist parser states that accept no
324 tokens, and so the parser does not always require a lookahead token
325 in order to detect a syntax error. Because no unexpected token or
326 expected tokens can then be reported, the verbose syntax error
327 message described above is suppressed, and the parser instead
328 reports the simpler message, "syntax error". Previously, this
329 suppression was sometimes erroneously triggered by %nonassoc when a
330 lookahead was actually required. Now verbose messages are
331 suppressed only when all previous lookaheads have already been
332 shifted or discarded.
333
334*** Previously, the list of expected tokens erroneously included tokens
335 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
336 were resolved with %nonassoc in the current parser state. Such
337 tokens are now properly omitted from the list.
338
339*** Expected token lists are still often wrong due to state merging
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340 (from LALR or IELR) and default reductions, which can both add
341 invalid tokens and subtract valid tokens. Canonical LR almost
342 completely fixes this problem by eliminating state merging and
343 default reductions. However, there is one minor problem left even
344 when using canonical LR and even after the fixes above. That is,
345 if the resolution of a conflict with %nonassoc appears in a later
346 parser state than the one at which some syntax error is
347 discovered, the conflicted token is still erroneously included in
348 the expected token list. Bison's new LAC implementation,
349 described above, eliminates this problem and the need for
350 canonical LR. However, LAC is still experimental and is disabled
351 by default.
53f036ce 352
64877e5e 353* Changes in version 2.4.3 (2010-08-05):
8b9e021f 354
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355** Bison now obeys -Werror and --warnings=error for warnings about
356 grammar rules that are useless in the parser due to conflicts.
357
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358** Problems with spawning M4 on at least FreeBSD 8 and FreeBSD 9 have
359 been fixed.
360
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361** Failures in the test suite for GCC 4.5 have been fixed.
362
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363** Failures in the test suite for some versions of Sun Studio C++ have
364 been fixed.
365
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366** Contrary to Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, it has been decided that
367 warnings about undefined %prec identifiers will not be converted to
368 errors in Bison 2.5. They will remain warnings, which should be
369 sufficient for POSIX while avoiding backward compatibility issues.
370
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371** Minor documentation fixes.
372
e19a049c 373* Changes in version 2.4.2 (2010-03-20):
74553c98 374
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375** Some portability problems that resulted in failures and livelocks
376 in the test suite on some versions of at least Solaris, AIX, HP-UX,
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377 RHEL4, and Tru64 have been addressed. As a result, fatal Bison
378 errors should no longer cause M4 to report a broken pipe on the
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379 affected platforms.
380
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381** `%prec IDENTIFIER' requires IDENTIFIER to be defined separately.
382
383 POSIX specifies that an error be reported for any identifier that does
384 not appear on the LHS of a grammar rule and that is not defined by
385 %token, %left, %right, or %nonassoc. Bison 2.3b and later lost this
386 error report for the case when an identifier appears only after a
387 %prec directive. It is now restored. However, for backward
388 compatibility with recent Bison releases, it is only a warning for
389 now. In Bison 2.5 and later, it will return to being an error.
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390 [Between the 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 releases, it was decided that this
391 warning will not be converted to an error in Bison 2.5.]
8bb3a2e7 392
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393** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
394
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395** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
396 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
397 avoided.
c938d650 398
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399** %code is now a permanent feature.
400
401 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
402
403 %{CODE%}
404
405 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
406 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
407
408 %code {CODE}
409 %code requires {CODE}
410 %code provides {CODE}
411 %code top {CODE}
412
413 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
414 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
415 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
416 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
417 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
418
419 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
420 is still considered experimental.
421
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422** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
423
424 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
425 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. Previously, it was
426 documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers. YYFAIL is no longer
427 documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
428 Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
429 specified by POSIX.
430
431 Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
432 induce a syntax error. The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
433 that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
434 error so that you don't have to. However, there are several other
435 subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
436 inherent flaws when %error-verbose or `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
437 used. For a more detailed discussion, see:
438
439 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
440
441 The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
442 deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it. However,
443 because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
444 Bison features compatible with it. Thus, during parser generation,
445 Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
446 rule action. In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
447 %error-verbose and `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'. Eventually, YYFAIL will
448 be removed altogether.
449
450 There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
451 be a false positive. Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
452 Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
453 preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
454 To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
455 epilogue (that is, after the second `%%') in the Bison input file. In
456 this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
457 C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
458 phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
459 2.4.2 is not necessary.
460
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461** Internationalization.
462
463 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
464 message translations were not installed although supported by the
465 host system.
466
74553c98 467* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
c9ba9e59 468
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469** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
470 declarations have been fixed.
1979121c 471
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472** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
473
474 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
475 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
476
477 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
478
479 instead of
480
481 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
482
483 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
484 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
485 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
486 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
487 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
488 feature.
489
490** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
c9ba9e59 491
402b123d 492* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
7bd1665a 493
402b123d 494** %language is an experimental feature.
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495
496 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
497 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
498 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
499 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
500 in future releases.
7bd1665a 501
402b123d 502** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
241fda7a 503
402b123d 504** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
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505 fixed.
506
402b123d 507* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
35fe0834 508
402b123d 509** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
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510 are now deprecated:
511
512 %define NAME "VALUE"
513
402b123d 514** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
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515
516 %define api.pure
517
518 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
519 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
520
402b123d 521** Push Parsing
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522
523 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
ef1b4273 524 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
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525 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
526 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
527 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
528
529 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
530 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
531
532 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
533
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534 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
535 feedback will help to stabilize it.
536
402b123d 537** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
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538 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
539 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
c373bf8b 540
402b123d 541** Java
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542
543 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
544 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
545 %skeleton to select it.
546
547 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
548
549 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
550 feedback will help to stabilize it.
551
402b123d 552** %language
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553
554 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
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555 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
556 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
557 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
59da312b 558
402b123d 559** XML Automaton Report
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560
561 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
562 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
563 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
c373bf8b 564
402b123d 565** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
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566 %defines. For example:
567
568 %defines "parser.h"
569
402b123d 570** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
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571 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
572 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
573 instead of "unused".
cff03fb2 574
402b123d 575** Unreachable State Removal
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576
577 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
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578 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
579 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
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580
581 1. Removes unreachable states.
582
583 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
584 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
585 directives in existing grammar files.
586
587 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
cff03fb2 588 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
75ad86ee 589
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590 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
591
592 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
593
594 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
595 for further discussion.
596
402b123d 597** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
b1cc23c4 598
c373bf8b 599 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
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600 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
601 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
602 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
603 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
604 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
605 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
606 code.
607
402b123d 608** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
59da312b 609 name.
1bb2bd75 610
402b123d 611** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
02975b9a
JD
612 deprecated:
613
614 %file-prefix "parser"
615 %name-prefix "c_"
616 %output "parser.c"
617
402b123d 618** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
c373bf8b
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619
620 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
8e0a5e9e
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621 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
622 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
623 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
624 it:
625
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626 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
627 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
628 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
629 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
8e0a5e9e 630
61fee93e
JD
631 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
632 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
8e0a5e9e
JD
633 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
634 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
635
636 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
637 determine whether they should become permanent features.
638
402b123d 639** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
17bd8a73
JD
640
641 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
642 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
643 about unused $2 in:
644
645 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
646
647 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
648 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
649
650 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
651
652 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
653 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
654 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
655
59da312b 656 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
17bd8a73
JD
657 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
658
402b123d 659** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
c373bf8b
JD
660
661 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
12e35840
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662 %printer's:
663
664 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
665 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
666 declared semantic type tags.
667
3ebecc24 668 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
12e35840
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669 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
670 type tags.
671
672 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
3ebecc24 673 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
12e35840
JD
674 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
675 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
676
85894313
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677 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
678 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
679 features.
680
12e35840
JD
681 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
682 details.
683
402b123d 684** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
ab7f29f8
JD
685 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
686 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
687
402b123d 688** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
b1cc23c4
JD
689 completely removed from Bison.
690
402b123d 691* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 692
402b123d 693** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
ddc8ede1
PE
694 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
695 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
696 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
697 and is required by POSIX.
698
402b123d 699** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
cd48d21d
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700 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
701
402b123d 702** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
ec5479ce
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703
704 For example:
705
b2a0b7ca
JD
706 %union { char *string; }
707 %token <string> STRING1
708 %token <string> STRING2
709 %type <string> string1
710 %type <string> string2
711 %union { char character; }
712 %token <character> CHR
713 %type <character> chr
714 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
715 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
716 %destructor { } <character>
717
718 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
719 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
720 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
721 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
722 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 723
85894313
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724 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
725 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
726 future versions.]
727
402b123d 728** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
b931235e
JD
729 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
730 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
731 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
732 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
733
402b123d 734** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
34f98f46 735 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
9bc0dd67
JD
736
737 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
738 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
34f98f46
JD
739 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
740 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 741 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 742
34f98f46 743 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
9bc0dd67
JD
744 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
745 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
746 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
747 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
748 after the token definitions.
749
750 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
751 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
752
402b123d 753** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
34f98f46
JD
754 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
755 %after-header.
756
757 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
758 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
759 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
760 convenient for you:
761
762 %before-header {
763 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
764 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
765 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
766 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
767 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
768 }
769 %start-header {
770 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
771 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
772 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
773 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
9bc0dd67
JD
774 }
775 %union {
34f98f46
JD
776 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
777 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
778 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 779 }
34f98f46
JD
780 %end-header {
781 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
782 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
783 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
784 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
785 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 786 }
34f98f46
JD
787 %after-header {
788 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
789 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
790 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
791 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
792 * Bison-generated definitions. */
793 }
794
795 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
796 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 797
85894313
JD
798 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
799 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
800
402b123d 801** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
9e6e7ed2
PE
802 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
803 in a future release.
742e4900 804
402b123d 805* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
4ad3ed84 806
402b123d 807** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
4ad3ed84
PE
808 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
809
402b123d 810** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
4ad3ed84
PE
811 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
812
402b123d 813* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
193d7c70 814
402b123d 815** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
193d7c70
PE
816 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
817 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 818
402b123d 819** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
aa08666d 820
402b123d 821** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 822
402b123d 823** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
d6ca7905
PE
824 their contents together.
825
402b123d 826** New warning: unused values
4d7bc38c
PE
827 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
828 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 829
8f3596a6 830 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
721be13c
PE
831 | exp "+" exp
832 ;
affac613 833
8f3596a6
AD
834 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
835 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 836 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 837
4e26c69e
PE
838 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
839 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
840 | exp "+" exp
841 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 842 ;
affac613 843
4e26c69e
PE
844 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
845 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
846 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 847
8f3596a6 848 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
721be13c
PE
849 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
850 ;
851
84866159
AD
852 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
853 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
854
855 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
856
721be13c
PE
857 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
858 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 859
402b123d 860** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
9d9b8b70
PE
861 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
862 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
863 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 864
402b123d 865** %expect, %expect-rr
035aa4a0
PE
866 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
867 instead of warnings.
868
402b123d 869** GLR, YACC parsers.
4e26c69e
PE
870 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
871 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 872
402b123d 873** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 874
402b123d 875** %require "VERSION"
4e26c69e
PE
876 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
877 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 878
402b123d 879** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
e14d0ab6
AD
880 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
881 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
fb9712a9
AD
882 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
883 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
884
885 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
886 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
b50d2359
AD
887 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
888 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 889
b50d2359 890 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 891 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 892
402b123d 893** DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 894\f
402b123d 895* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 896
402b123d 897** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
e14d0ab6 898
402b123d 899** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
baf785db
PE
900 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
901 language is still English. For details, please see the new
0410a6e0
PE
902 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
903 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
904 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 905
402b123d 906** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
1a059451
PE
907 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
908 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
909 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
910
402b123d 911** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
258b75ca
PE
912 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
913 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
914
402b123d 915** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
72f000b0
PE
916 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
917 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
918 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
919 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 920\f
402b123d 921* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 922
402b123d 923** Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 924
82de6b0d
PE
925 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
926 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
927 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
928 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
929 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 930
82de6b0d
PE
931 - Error token location.
932 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
933 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
934 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
935 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 936
82de6b0d
PE
937 - Semicolon changes:
938 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
939 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 940
82de6b0d
PE
941 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
942 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
943 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
944 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 945
82de6b0d 946 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 947
402b123d 948** New features
1452af69 949
82de6b0d 950 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 951
82de6b0d
PE
952 - New directive: %initial-action.
953 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
954 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 955
82de6b0d
PE
956 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
957 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 958
82de6b0d
PE
959 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
960 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 961
82de6b0d 962 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 963 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 964
82de6b0d 965 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 966
82de6b0d
PE
967 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
968 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 969
402b123d 970** Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 971
82de6b0d
PE
972 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
973 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
974 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
975 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
976 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
977 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 978
82de6b0d
PE
979 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
980 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 981
82de6b0d 982 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 983\f
402b123d 984* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 985
402b123d 986** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
dc546b0f 987 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 988
402b123d 989** syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 990
dc546b0f
PE
991 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
992 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 993
dc546b0f
PE
994 - %destructor
995 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
996 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 997
dc546b0f
PE
998 - %error-verbose
999 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 1000
dc546b0f
PE
1001 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
1002 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 1003
402b123d 1004** POSIX conformance
d1de5372 1005
dc546b0f
PE
1006 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
1007 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
1008 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 1009
dc546b0f
PE
1010 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
1011 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
1012 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
1013 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
1014 be consistent.
74724a70 1015
dc546b0f
PE
1016 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
1017 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 1018
dc546b0f
PE
1019 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
1020 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 1021
dc546b0f
PE
1022 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
1023 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 1024
dc546b0f
PE
1025 - Yacc command and library now available
1026 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
1027 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
1028 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
1029 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 1030
dc546b0f 1031 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 1032
dc546b0f
PE
1033 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
1034 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
1035 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 1036
402b123d 1037** Other compatibility issues
886a425c 1038
dc546b0f
PE
1039 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
1040 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
1041 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
1042 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
1043 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
1044 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 1045
dc546b0f
PE
1046 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
1047 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 1048
dc546b0f
PE
1049 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
1050 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 1051
dc546b0f
PE
1052 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
1053 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
1054 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 1055
402b123d 1056** GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 1057
dc546b0f
PE
1058 - GLR and inline
1059 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
1060 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 1061
dc546b0f
PE
1062 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
1063 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 1064
402b123d 1065** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
dc546b0f
PE
1066 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
1067 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 1068
402b123d 1069** #line in output files
dc546b0f 1070 - --no-line works properly.
6e40b4eb 1071
402b123d 1072** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
6e40b4eb
AD
1073 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
1074 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
1075 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 1076\f
402b123d 1077* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
7933f2b5 1078
402b123d 1079** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
7933f2b5 1080
402b123d 1081** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 1082
402b123d 1083** GLR parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1084 Fix spurious parse errors.
1085
402b123d 1086** Pure parsers
f50adbbd
AD
1087 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
1088 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
1089
402b123d 1090** Type Clashes
d90c934c
AD
1091 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
1092 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
1093
1094 untyped: ... typed;
1095
1096 but the converse remains an error:
1097
1098 typed: ... untyped;
1099
402b123d 1100** Values of mid-rule actions
d90c934c
AD
1101 The following code:
1102
1103 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
1104
1105 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
1106 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 1107\f
402b123d 1108* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 1109
402b123d 1110** GLR parsing
676385e2
PH
1111 The declaration
1112 %glr-parser
1113 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
1114 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 1115 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
676385e2
PH
1116 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
1117
7933f2b5 1118 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
420f93c8
PE
1119 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
1120
402b123d 1121** Output Directory
8c165d89 1122 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 1123 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
8c165d89
AD
1124 now creates `bar.c'.
1125
402b123d 1126** Undefined token
007a50a4 1127 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 1128 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 1129
402b123d 1130** Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 1131 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
007a50a4
AD
1132 no longer the case.
1133
402b123d 1134** Error token
e88dbdbf 1135 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
23c5a174
AD
1136 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
1137 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
1138 will be mapped onto another number.
1139
402b123d 1140** Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 1141 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
217598da
AD
1142 error recovery is possible.
1143
402b123d 1144** End token
217598da
AD
1145 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
1146
402b123d 1147** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
68cd8af3
PE
1148 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
1149 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
1150 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
1151 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
1152 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
1153 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
337116ba
PE
1154 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
1155 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 1156
402b123d 1157** Traces
5504898e
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1158 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
1159
402b123d 1160** Larger grammars
a861a339
PE
1161 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
1162 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
1163 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
1164 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 1165
402b123d 1166** Explicit initial rule
643a5994
AD
1167 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
1168 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
1169 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 1170
402b123d 1171** Useless rules
643a5994 1172 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 1173 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 1174
402b123d 1175** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
6b98e4b5
AD
1176 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
1177
402b123d 1178** Rules never reduced
e8832397
AD
1179 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
1180 reported.
1181
402b123d 1182** Incorrect `Token not used'
11652ab3
AD
1183 On a grammar such as
1184
1185 %token useless useful
1186 %%
1187 exp: '0' %prec useful;
1188
1189 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
1190 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
1191
402b123d 1192** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
77714df2 1193 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 1194
402b123d 1195** Default locations
b2d52318
AD
1196 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
1197 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
1198 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
1199 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 1200
402b123d 1201** Token end-of-file
b7c49edf
AD
1202 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
1203 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 1204 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 1205 For instance
7bd6c77e 1206 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 1207 or
7bd6c77e 1208 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
fdbcd8e2 1209
402b123d 1210** Semantic parser
fdbcd8e2
AD
1211 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
1212
402b123d 1213** New translations
a861a339 1214 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
84614e13
AD
1215 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
1216
402b123d 1217** Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 1218 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 1219
402b123d 1220** Token definitions as enums
77714df2
AD
1221 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
1222 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 1223 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 1224
402b123d 1225** Reports
ec3bc396
AD
1226 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
1227 produces additional information:
b408954b
AD
1228 - itemset
1229 complete the core item sets with their closure
9e6e7ed2
PE
1230 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
1231 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
b408954b
AD
1232 - solved
1233 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
1234 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
1235 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 1236
402b123d 1237** Type clashes
9af3fbce
AD
1238 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
1239 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
1240
1241 %type <foo> bar
1242 %%
1243 bar: '0' {} '0';
1244
1245 This is fixed.
a861a339 1246
402b123d 1247** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 1248\f
402b123d 1249* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
76551463 1250
402b123d 1251** C Skeleton
76551463
AD
1252 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
1253 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
1254 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
1255
1256 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
1257 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
1258 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
1259 kludge will be disabled.
1260
1261 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
1262 extended.
76551463 1263\f
402b123d 1264* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
76551463 1265
402b123d 1266** File name clashes are detected
76551463
AD
1267 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
1268 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
1269
402b123d 1270** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
76551463
AD
1271 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1272 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1273 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1274 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1275 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1276
402b123d 1277** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
76551463
AD
1278 many portability hassles.
1279
402b123d 1280** DJGPP support added.
76551463 1281
402b123d 1282** Fix test suite portability problems.
76551463 1283\f
402b123d 1284* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
76551463 1285
402b123d 1286** Fix C++ issues
76551463
AD
1287 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1288 under some conditions.
1289
402b123d 1290** Catch invalid @n
76551463
AD
1291 As is done with $n.
1292\f
402b123d 1293* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
76551463 1294
402b123d 1295** Fix Yacc output file names
76551463 1296
402b123d 1297** Portability fixes
76551463 1298
402b123d 1299** Italian, Dutch translations
76551463 1300\f
402b123d 1301* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
52d1aeee 1302
402b123d 1303** Many Bug Fixes
52d1aeee 1304
402b123d 1305** GNU Gettext and %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1306 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1307 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1308 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
1309 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
1310
402b123d 1311** Use of alloca in parsers
52d1aeee
MA
1312 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1313 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1314
1315 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1316 problems as on AIX.
1317
402b123d 1318** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
b47dbebe 1319
402b123d 1320** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
52d1aeee
MA
1321 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1322
402b123d 1323** User Actions
52d1aeee
MA
1324 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1325 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1326 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1327
402b123d 1328** Better C++ compliance
52d1aeee 1329 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 1330 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
52d1aeee 1331
402b123d 1332** Reduced Grammars
52d1aeee
MA
1333 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1334
402b123d 1335** 64 bit hosts
52d1aeee
MA
1336 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1337
402b123d 1338** Error messages
52d1aeee
MA
1339 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1340
402b123d 1341** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1342 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1343 any warning.
1344
402b123d 1345** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
52d1aeee 1346
402b123d 1347** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
52d1aeee 1348
402b123d 1349** Swedish translation
52d1aeee 1350
402b123d 1351** Parse errors
52d1aeee
MA
1352 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1353 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1354 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1355
402b123d 1356** Fixed parser memory leaks.
52d1aeee
MA
1357 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1358 previous allocations were not freed.
1359
402b123d 1360** Fixed verbose output file.
52d1aeee
MA
1361 Some newlines were missing.
1362 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1363
402b123d 1364** Fixed conflict report.
52d1aeee
MA
1365 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1366
402b123d 1367** %expect
52d1aeee
MA
1368 Was not used.
1369 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1370
402b123d 1371** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
52d1aeee 1372
402b123d 1373** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
52d1aeee 1374
402b123d 1375** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
52d1aeee 1376
402b123d 1377** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
52d1aeee
MA
1378 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1379
402b123d 1380** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
52d1aeee 1381
402b123d 1382** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
52d1aeee
MA
1383 New.
1384
402b123d 1385** --output
52d1aeee
MA
1386 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
1387\f
402b123d 1388* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 1389
402b123d 1390** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
fdac0091 1391 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
342b8b6e
AD
1392 argument.
1393
402b123d 1394** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
342b8b6e
AD
1395 experiment.
1396
402b123d 1397** Portability fixes.
f987e9d2 1398\f
402b123d 1399* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
342b8b6e 1400
402b123d 1401** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
342b8b6e
AD
1402 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1403 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
1404 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
1405
402b123d 1406** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 1407
402b123d 1408** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
f2b5126e 1409
402b123d 1410** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 1411
402b123d 1412** Russian translation added.
f87a2205 1413
402b123d 1414** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
f87a2205 1415
402b123d 1416** Added the old Bison reference card.
c33638bb 1417
402b123d 1418** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 1419
402b123d 1420** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
cd5bd6ac 1421
402b123d 1422** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
62ab6972 1423
402b123d 1424** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
cd5bd6ac
AD
1425 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1426
402b123d 1427** New directives.
4ecbf796
MA
1428 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
1429 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
f987e9d2 1430
402b123d 1431** @$
f987e9d2 1432 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 1433\f
402b123d 1434* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
d2e00347 1435
402b123d 1436** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
d2e00347 1437
402b123d 1438** Added NLS.
d2e00347 1439
402b123d 1440** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
d2e00347 1441
402b123d 1442** There is now a FAQ.
d2e00347 1443\f
402b123d 1444* Changes in version 1.27:
5c31c3c2 1445
402b123d 1446** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
5c31c3c2
JT
1447 some systems has been fixed.
1448\f
402b123d 1449* Changes in version 1.26:
4be07551 1450
402b123d 1451** Bison now uses automake.
4be07551 1452
402b123d 1453** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
4be07551 1454
402b123d 1455** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
4be07551 1456
402b123d 1457** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
4be07551 1458
402b123d 1459** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
f51dbca1 1460
402b123d 1461** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
f51dbca1 1462
402b123d 1463** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
f51dbca1 1464 not provide alloca().
4be07551 1465\f
402b123d 1466* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
df8878c5 1467
402b123d 1468** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
df8878c5 1469the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 1470
402b123d 1471** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
df8878c5
RS
1472example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1473of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1474
402b123d 1475** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
df8878c5
RS
1476and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1477table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1478purposes.
1479
402b123d 1480** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
df8878c5
RS
1481directives in the parser file.
1482
402b123d 1483** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
df8878c5
RS
1484Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1485
402b123d 1486** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
df8878c5
RS
1487the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1488The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1489a switch statement body.
1490\f
402b123d 1491* Changes in version 1.23:
6780ca7a 1492
4d019228
DM
1493The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1494passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1495actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1496by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 1497
6780ca7a 1498Line numbers in output file corrected.
6780ca7a 1499\f
402b123d 1500* Changes in version 1.22:
6780ca7a
DM
1501
1502--help option added.
6780ca7a 1503\f
402b123d 1504* Changes in version 1.20:
6780ca7a
DM
1505
1506Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
AD
1507
1508Local Variables:
1509mode: outline
1510End:
76551463
AD
1511
1512-----
1513
7d424de1
PE
1514Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
15152004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation,
1516Inc.
76551463 1517
74553c98 1518This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
76551463 1519
f16b0819 1520This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
76551463 1521it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
f16b0819
PE
1522the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1523(at your option) any later version.
76551463 1524
f16b0819 1525This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
76551463
AD
1526but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1527MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1528GNU General Public License for more details.
1529
1530You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
f16b0819 1531along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.