| | 1 | Frequently Asked Questions about Bison: |
| | 2 | |
| | 3 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| | 4 | |
| | 5 | Q1. Is Bison Y2K compliant? |
| | 6 | |
| | 7 | A1. If you're looking for a guarantee or certification, I can't |
| | 8 | provide it. With a little thought you can answer this one for |
| | 9 | yourself, though. (Hint: does a parser generator rely on the |
| | 10 | date or time for anything?) If you're still confused, see |
| | 11 | http://www.gnu.org/software/year2000.html for more information. |
| | 12 | |
| | 13 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| | 14 | |
| | 15 | Q2. I can't build Bison because "make" complains that "msgfmt" is not |
| | 16 | found. What should I do? |
| | 17 | |
| | 18 | A2. Like most GNU packages with internationalization support, that |
| | 19 | feature is turned on by default. If you have problems building |
| | 20 | in the "po" subdirectory, it indicates that your system's |
| | 21 | internationalization support is lacking. You can re-configure |
| | 22 | Bison with "--disable-nls" to turn off this support, or you can |
| | 23 | install GNU gettext from ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gettext/ and |
| | 24 | re-configure Bison. See the file "ABOUT-NLS" for more |
| | 25 | information. |
| | 26 | |
| | 27 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| | 28 | |
| | 29 | Q3. I'm having trouble using Bison. Where can I find help? |
| | 30 | |
| | 31 | A3. First, read the fine manual which comes with bison. Beyond that, |
| | 32 | you can send mail to <help-bison@gnu.org>. This mailing list is |
| | 33 | intended to be populated with people who are willing to answer |
| | 34 | questions about using and installing Bison. Please keep in mind |
| | 35 | that (most of) the people on the list have aspects of their lives |
| | 36 | which are not related to Bison (!), so you may not receive an |
| | 37 | answer to your question right away. This can be frustrating, but |
| | 38 | please try not to honk them off; remember that any help they |
| | 39 | provide is purely voluntary and out of the kindness of their |
| | 40 | hearts. |
| | 41 | |
| | 42 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| | 43 | |
| | 44 | Q4. I found a bug. What should I include in the bug report? |
| | 45 | |
| | 46 | A4. Before you send a bug report, make sure you are using the latest |
| | 47 | version. Check ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/bison/ or one of its |
| | 48 | mirrors. Be sure to include the version number in your bug |
| | 49 | report. If the bug is present in the latest version but not in a |
| | 50 | previous version, try to determine the most recent version which |
| | 51 | did not contain the bug. |
| | 52 | |
| | 53 | If the bug is parser-related, you should include the smallest |
| | 54 | grammar you can which demonstrates the bug. The grammar file |
| | 55 | should also be complete (i.e., I should be able to run it through |
| | 56 | Bison without having to edit or add anything). The smaller and |
| | 57 | simpler the grammar, the easier it will be to fix the bug. |
| | 58 | |
| | 59 | Include information about your compilation environment, including |
| | 60 | your operating system's name and version and your compiler's name |
| | 61 | and version. If you have trouble compiling, you should also |
| | 62 | include a transcript of the build session, starting with the |
| | 63 | invocation of `configure'. Depending on the nature of the bug, |
| | 64 | you may be asked to send additional files as well (such as |
| | 65 | `config.h' or `config.cache'). |
| | 66 | |
| | 67 | Patches are most welcome, but not required. That is, do not |
| | 68 | hesitate to send a bug report just because you can not provide a |
| | 69 | fix. |
| | 70 | |
| | 71 | Send bug reports to <bug-bison@gnu.org>. |
| | 72 | |
| | 73 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| | 74 | |
| | 75 | Q5. Will Bison ever have C++ support? |
| | 76 | |
| | 77 | A5. Yes, it's in the works. Things are very chaotic right now, but |
| | 78 | what little information floats around is posted to the bug-bison |
| | 79 | mailing list. If you're interested in testing C++ support when |
| | 80 | it becomes available, please consider subscribing to the list, |
| | 81 | especially if you are willing to beta test other releases as |
| | 82 | well. |
| | 83 | |
| | 84 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| | 85 | |
| | 86 | Q6. What is involved in being a beta tester? |
| | 87 | |
| | 88 | A6. It's not terribly involved. Basically, you would download a test |
| | 89 | release, compile it, and use it to build and run a parser or two. |
| | 90 | After that, you would submit either a bug report or a message |
| | 91 | saying that everything is okay. It is important to report |
| | 92 | successes as well as failures because test releases eventually |
| | 93 | become mainstream releases, but only if they are adequately |
| | 94 | tested. If no one tests, development is essentially halted. |
| | 95 | |
| | 96 | Beta testers are particularly needed for operating systems to |
| | 97 | which I do not have access. I currently have easy access to |
| | 98 | Linux (x86 glibc 2.1), Solaris (SPARC) 2.6 and 2.7, and HP-UX |
| | 99 | 10.20. Reports about other operating systems are especially |
| | 100 | welcome. |
| | 101 | |
| | 102 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| | 103 | |
| | 104 | Q7. How do I join the help-bison and bug-bison mailing lists? |
| | 105 | |
| | 106 | A7. See http://www.gnu.org/ (the section about "GNU mailing lists") |
| | 107 | for more information. |
| | 108 | |
| | 109 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
projects / bison.git / blame_incremental