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