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1Bison News
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4Changes in version 2.3a+ (????-??-??):
5
6* The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
7 not VCG format.
8
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9* Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
10
11 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
12 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
13 about unused $2 in:
14
15 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
16
17 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
18 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
19
20 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
21
22 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
23 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
24 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
25
26 To enable these warnings, specify the flag `--warnings=midrule-values' or
27 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
28
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29* Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
30 %printer's:
31
32 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
33 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
34 declared semantic type tags.
35
36 2. Place `<!>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
37 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
38 type tags.
39
40 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
41 `<*>' and `<!>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
42 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
43 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
44
45 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
46 details.
47
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48* The Yacc prologue alternatives from Bison 2.3a have been rewritten as the
49 following directives:
50
51 1. %code {CODE}
52
53 Other than semantic actions, this is probably the most common place you
54 should write verbatim code for the parser implementation. For C/C++, it
55 replaces the traditional Yacc prologue, `%{CODE%}', for most purposes.
56 For Java, it inserts your CODE into the parser class. Compare with:
57
58 - `%{CODE%}' appearing after the first `%union {CODE}' in a C/C++
59 based grammar file. While Bison will continue to support `%{CODE%}'
60 for backward compatibility, `%code {CODE}' is cleaner as its
61 functionality does not depend on its position in the grammar file
62 relative to any `%union {CODE}'. Specifically, `%code {CODE}'
63 always inserts your CODE into the parser code file after the usual
64 contents of the parser header file.
65 - `%after-header {CODE}', which only Bison 2.3a supported.
66
67 2. %requires {CODE}
68
69 This is the right place to write dependency code for externally exposed
70 definitions required by Bison. For C/C++, such exposed definitions are
71 those usually appearing in the parser header file. Thus, this is the
72 right place to define types referenced in `%union {CODE}' directives,
73 and it is the right place to override Bison's default YYSTYPE and
74 YYLTYPE definitions. For Java, this is the right place to write import
75 directives. Compare with:
76
77 - `%{CODE%}' appearing before the first `%union {CODE}' in a C/C++
78 based grammar file. Unlike `%{CODE%}', `%requires {CODE}' inserts
79 your CODE both into the parser code file and into the parser header
80 file since Bison's required definitions should depend on it in both
81 places.
82 - `%start-header {CODE}', which only Bison 2.3a supported.
83
84 3. %provides {CODE}
85
86 This is the right place to write additional definitions you would like
87 Bison to expose externally. For C/C++, this directive inserts your CODE
88 both into the parser header file and into the parser code file after
89 Bison's required definitions. For Java, it inserts your CODE into the
90 parser java file after the parser class. Compare with:
91
92 - `%end-header {CODE}', which only Bison 2.3a supported.
93
94 4. %code-top {CODE}
95
96 Occasionally for C/C++ it is desirable to insert code near the top of
97 the parser code file. For example:
98
99 %code-top {
100 #define _GNU_SOURCE
101 #include <stdio.h>
102 }
103
104 For Java, `%code-top {CODE}' is currently unused. Compare with:
105
106 - `%{CODE%}' appearing before the first `%union {CODE}' in a C/C++
107 based grammar file. `%code-top {CODE}' is cleaner as its
108 functionality does not depend on its position in the grammar file
109 relative to any `%union {CODE}'.
110 - `%before-header {CODE}', which only Bison 2.3a supported.
111
112 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above four directives,
113 Bison will concatenate the contents in the order they appear in the grammar
114 file.
115
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116 Also see the new section `Prologue Alternatives' in the Bison manual.
117
21fe08ca 118Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
742e4900 119
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120* Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
121 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
122 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
123 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
124 and is required by POSIX.
125
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126* Locations columns and lines start at 1.
127 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
128
b2a0b7ca 129* You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
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130
131 For example:
132
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133 %union { char *string; }
134 %token <string> STRING1
135 %token <string> STRING2
136 %type <string> string1
137 %type <string> string2
138 %union { char character; }
139 %token <character> CHR
140 %type <character> chr
141 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
142 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
143 %destructor { } <character>
144
145 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
146 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
147 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
148 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
149 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
ec5479ce 150
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151* Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
152 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
153 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
154 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
155 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
156
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157* Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
158 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
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159
160 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
161 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
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162 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
163 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
ddc8ede1 164 declared after the first %union.
9bc0dd67 165
34f98f46 166 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
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167 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
168 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
169 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
170 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
171 after the token definitions.
172
173 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
174 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
175
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176* Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
177 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
178 %after-header.
179
180 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
181 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
182 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
183 convenient for you:
184
185 %before-header {
186 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
187 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
188 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
189 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
190 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
191 }
192 %start-header {
193 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
194 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
195 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
196 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
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197 }
198 %union {
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199 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
200 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
201 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
9bc0dd67 202 }
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203 %end-header {
204 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
205 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
206 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
207 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
208 * definitions. */
9bc0dd67 209 }
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210 %after-header {
211 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
212 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
213 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
214 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
215 * Bison-generated definitions. */
216 }
217
218 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
219 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
9bc0dd67 220
742e4900 221* The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
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222 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
223 in a future release.
742e4900 224
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225Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
226
227* GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
228 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
229
230* It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
231 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
232
ab8d9dc5 233Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
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234
235* The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
236 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
237 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
5f4236a0 238
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239* %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
240
241* The C++ parsers export their token_type.
5f4236a0 242
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243* Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
244 their contents together.
245
affac613 246* New warning: unused values
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247 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
248 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
affac613 249
8f3596a6 250 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
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251 | exp "+" exp
252 ;
affac613 253
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254 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
255 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
4e26c69e 256 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
affac613 257
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258 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
259 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
260 | exp "+" exp
261 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
721be13c 262 ;
affac613 263
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264 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
265 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
266 values are used, e.g.:
721be13c 267
8f3596a6 268 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
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269 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
270 ;
271
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272 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
273 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
274
275 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
276
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277 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
278 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
affac613 279
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280* %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
281 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
282 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
283 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
a85284cf 284
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285* %expect, %expect-rr
286 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
287 instead of warnings.
288
4b367315 289* GLR, YACC parsers.
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290 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
291 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
4b367315 292
302c0aee 293* Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
ad6a9b97 294
b50d2359 295* %require "VERSION"
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296 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
297 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
b50d2359 298
fb9712a9 299* lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
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300 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
301 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
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302 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
303 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
304
305 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
306 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
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307 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
308 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
fb9712a9 309
b50d2359 310 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
ab8d9dc5 311 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
fb9712a9 312
302c0aee 313* DJGPP support added.
193d7c70 314\f
1bd0deda 315Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1ce59070 316
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317* The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
318
a7db4add 319* Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
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320 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
321 language is still English. For details, please see the new
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322 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
323 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
324 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1ce59070 325
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326* Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
327 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
328 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
329 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
330
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331* Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
332 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
333 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
334
a7db4add 335* When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
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336 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
337 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
338 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
339 unexpected "number"'.
193d7c70 340\f
82de6b0d 341Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
efeed023 342
82de6b0d 343* Possibly-incompatible changes
d7e14fc0 344
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345 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
346 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
347 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
348 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
349 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
8dd162d3 350
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351 - Error token location.
352 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
353 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
354 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
355 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
18d192f0 356
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357 - Semicolon changes:
358 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
359 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
e342c3be 360
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361 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
362 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
363 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
364 forget a closing quote.
8dd162d3 365
82de6b0d 366 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
f74b6f91 367
82de6b0d 368* New features
1452af69 369
82de6b0d 370 - GLR grammars now support locations.
4febdd96 371
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372 - New directive: %initial-action.
373 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
374 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1452af69 375
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376 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
377 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1452af69 378
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379 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
380 This is a GNU extension.
4febdd96 381
82de6b0d 382 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
9e6e7ed2 383 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1452af69 384
82de6b0d 385 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1452af69 386
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387 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
388 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
6040d338 389
82de6b0d 390* Bug fixes
d5a3fe37 391
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392 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
393 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
394 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
395 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
396 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
397 these violations will become errors again.
3473d0f8 398
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399 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
400 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
d600ee67 401
82de6b0d 402 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
d600ee67 403\f
dc546b0f 404Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
963fcc17 405
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406* The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
407 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
75eb3bc4 408
dc546b0f 409* syntax error processing
75eb3bc4 410
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411 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
412 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
75eb3bc4 413
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414 - %destructor
415 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
416 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
20daca06 417
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418 - %error-verbose
419 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
74724a70 420
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421 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
422 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
d1de5372 423
dc546b0f 424* POSIX conformance
d1de5372 425
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426 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
427 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
428 compatibility with Yacc.
74724a70 429
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430 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
431 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
432 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
433 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
434 be consistent.
74724a70 435
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436 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
437 declared before use. C99 requires this.
d1de5372 438
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439 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
440 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
d1de5372 441
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442 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
443 output as "foo\\bar.y".
6780ca7a 444
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445 - Yacc command and library now available
446 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
447 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
448 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
449 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
6e649e65 450
dc546b0f 451 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
6e649e65 452
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453 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
454 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
455 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
9501dc6e 456
dc546b0f 457* Other compatibility issues
886a425c 458
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459 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
460 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
461 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
462 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
463 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
464 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
72f889cc 465
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466 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
467 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
886a425c 468
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469 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
470 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
437c2d80 471
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472 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
473 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
474 withdrawn in a future release.
2a8d363a 475
dc546b0f 476* GLR parser notes
2a8d363a 477
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478 - GLR and inline
479 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
480 C keyword `inline'.
959e5f51 481
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482 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
483 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
900c5db5 484
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485* Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
486 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
487 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
6e40b4eb 488
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489* #line in output files
490 - --no-line works properly.
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491
492* Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
493 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
494 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
495 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
d600ee67 496\f
5c16c6b1 497Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
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498
499* Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
500
b7195100 501* Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
7933f2b5 502
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503* GLR parsers
504 Fix spurious parse errors.
505
506* Pure parsers
507 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
508 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
509
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510* Type Clashes
511 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
512 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
513
514 untyped: ... typed;
515
516 but the converse remains an error:
517
518 typed: ... untyped;
519
520* Values of mid-rule actions
521 The following code:
522
523 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
524
525 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
526 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
d600ee67 527\f
420f93c8 528Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
adc8c848 529
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530* GLR parsing
531 The declaration
532 %glr-parser
533 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
534 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
e8832397 535 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
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536 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
537
7933f2b5 538 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
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539 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
540
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541* Output Directory
542 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
e88dbdbf 543 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
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544 now creates `bar.c'.
545
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546* Undefined token
547 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
e88dbdbf 548 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
007a50a4 549
77714df2 550* Unknown token numbers
e88dbdbf 551 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
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552 no longer the case.
553
23c5a174 554* Error token
e88dbdbf 555 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
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556 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
557 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
558 will be mapped onto another number.
559
217598da 560* Verbose error messages
e88dbdbf 561 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
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562 error recovery is possible.
563
564* End token
565 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
566
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567* Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
568 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
569 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
570 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
571 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
572 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
573 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
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574 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
575 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
68cd8af3 576
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577* Traces
578 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
579
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580* Larger grammars
581 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
582 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
583 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
584 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
355e7c1c 585
77714df2 586* Explicit initial rule
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587 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
588 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
589 graphs as rule 0.
23c5a174 590
77714df2 591* Useless rules
643a5994 592 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
77714df2 593 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
23c5a174 594
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595* Useless rules, useless nonterminals
596 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
597
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598* Rules never reduced
599 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
600 reported.
601
77714df2 602* Incorrect `Token not used'
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603 On a grammar such as
604
605 %token useless useful
606 %%
607 exp: '0' %prec useful;
608
609 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
610 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
611
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612* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
613 as they caused too many portability hassles.
0179dd65 614
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615* Default locations
616 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
617 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
618 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
619 the computation of @$.
adc8c848 620
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621* Token end-of-file
622 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
623 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
a861a339 624 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
b7c49edf 625 For instance
7bd6c77e 626 %token MYEOF 0
b7c49edf 627 or
7bd6c77e 628 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
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629
630* Semantic parser
631 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
632
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633* New translations
634 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
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635 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
636
77714df2 637* Incorrect token definitions
e88dbdbf 638 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
b87f8b21 639
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640* Token definitions as enums
641 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
642 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
e88dbdbf 643 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
77714df2 644
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645* Reports
646 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
647 produces additional information:
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648 - itemset
649 complete the core item sets with their closure
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650 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
651 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
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652 - solved
653 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
654 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
655 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
ec3bc396 656
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657* Type clashes
658 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
659 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
660
661 %type <foo> bar
662 %%
663 bar: '0' {} '0';
664
665 This is fixed.
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666
667* GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
f987e9d2 668\f
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669Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
670
671* C Skeleton
672 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
673 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
674 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
675
676 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
677 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
678 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
679 kludge will be disabled.
680
681 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
682 extended.
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683\f
684Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
685
686* File name clashes are detected
687 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
688 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
689
690* A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
691 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
692 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
693 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
694 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
695 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
696
697* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
698 many portability hassles.
699
700* DJGPP support added.
701
702* Fix test suite portability problems.
703\f
704Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
705
706* Fix C++ issues
707 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
708 under some conditions.
709
710* Catch invalid @n
711 As is done with $n.
712\f
713Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
714
715* Fix Yacc output file names
716
717* Portability fixes
718
719* Italian, Dutch translations
720\f
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721Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
722
723* Many Bug Fixes
724
725* GNU Gettext and %expect
726 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
727 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
728 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
729 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
730
731* Use of alloca in parsers
732 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
733 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
734
735 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
736 problems as on AIX.
737
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738* yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
739
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740* When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
741 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
742
743* User Actions
744 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
745 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
746 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
747
748* Better C++ compliance
749 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
76551463 750 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
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751
752* Reduced Grammars
753 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
754
755* 64 bit hosts
756 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
757
758* Error messages
759 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
760
761* %expect
762 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
763 any warning.
764
765* The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
766
767* Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
768
769* Swedish translation
770
771* Parse errors
772 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
773 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
774 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
775
776* Fixed parser memory leaks.
777 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
778 previous allocations were not freed.
779
780* Fixed verbose output file.
781 Some newlines were missing.
782 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
783
784* Fixed conflict report.
785 Option -v was needed to get the result.
786
787* %expect
788 Was not used.
789 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
790
791* Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
792
793* Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
794
795* Fixed some typos in the documentation.
796
797* %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
798 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
799
800* doc/refcard.tex is updated.
801
802* %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
803 New.
804
805* --output
806 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
807\f
76551463 808Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
342b8b6e 809
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810* `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
811 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
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812 argument.
813
814* `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
815 experiment.
816
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817* Portability fixes.
818\f
9f4503d6 819Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
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820
821* The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
822 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
823 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
824 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
825
826* Added `-g' and `--graph'.
f87a2205 827
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828* The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
829
f1c63ced 830* The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
234a3be3 831
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832* Russian translation added.
833
834* NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
835
836* Added the old Bison reference card.
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837
838* Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
6deb4447 839
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840* Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
841
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842* `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
843
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844* Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
845 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
846
6deb4447 847* New directives.
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848 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
849 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
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850
851* @$
852 Automatic location tracking.
f87a2205 853\f
9f4503d6 854Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
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855
856* Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
857
858* Added NLS.
859
860* Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
861
862* There is now a FAQ.
863\f
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864Changes in version 1.27:
865
866* The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
867 some systems has been fixed.
868\f
869Changes in version 1.26:
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870
871* Bison now uses automake.
872
873* New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
874
875* Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
876
877* Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
878
879* A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
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880
881* Problems when closing files should now be reported.
882
883* Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
884 not provide alloca().
4be07551 885\f
9f4503d6 886Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
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887
888* Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
889the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
8c44d3ec 890
df8878c5
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891* Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
892example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
893of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
894
895* The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
896and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
897table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
898purposes.
899
900* The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
901directives in the parser file.
902
903* The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
904Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
905
906* The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
907the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
908The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
909a switch statement body.
910\f
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911Changes in version 1.23:
912
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913The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
914passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
915actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
916by casting it to the proper pointer type.
6780ca7a 917
6780ca7a 918Line numbers in output file corrected.
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919\f
920Changes in version 1.22:
921
922--help option added.
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923\f
924Changes in version 1.20:
925
926Output file does not redefine const for C++.
9f4503d6
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927
928Local Variables:
929mode: outline
930End:
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931
932-----
933
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934Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
9352004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
76551463 936
75eb3bc4 937This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler.
76551463 938
75eb3bc4 939Bison is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
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940it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
941the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
942any later version.
943
75eb3bc4 944Bison is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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945but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
946MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
947GNU General Public License for more details.
948
949You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
950along with autoconf; see the file COPYING. If not, write to
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951the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
952Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.