| 1 | Bison News |
| 2 | ---------- |
| 3 | |
| 4 | Changes in version 2.3a+ (????-??-??): |
| 5 | |
| 6 | * The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format, |
| 7 | not VCG format. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | * An experimental directive %language specifies the language of the |
| 10 | generated parser, which can be C (the default) or C++. This |
| 11 | directive affects the skeleton used, and the names of the generated |
| 12 | files if the grammar file's name ends in ".y". |
| 13 | |
| 14 | * The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using |
| 15 | %defines. For example: |
| 16 | |
| 17 | %defines "parser.h" |
| 18 | |
| 19 | * The `=' that used to be required in the following declarations is now |
| 20 | deprecated: |
| 21 | |
| 22 | %file-prefix "parser" |
| 23 | %name-prefix "c_" |
| 24 | %output "parser.c" |
| 25 | |
| 26 | * Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values |
| 27 | |
| 28 | Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not |
| 29 | used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns |
| 30 | about unused $2 in: |
| 31 | |
| 32 | exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; }; |
| 33 | |
| 34 | Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For |
| 35 | example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in: |
| 36 | |
| 37 | exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; }; |
| 38 | |
| 39 | However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they |
| 40 | sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc |
| 41 | constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer). |
| 42 | |
| 43 | To enable these warnings, specify the flag `--warnings=midrule-values' or |
| 44 | `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'. |
| 45 | |
| 46 | * Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and |
| 47 | %printer's: |
| 48 | |
| 49 | 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default |
| 50 | %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally |
| 51 | declared semantic type tags. |
| 52 | |
| 53 | 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default |
| 54 | %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic |
| 55 | type tags. |
| 56 | |
| 57 | Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a. |
| 58 | `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no |
| 59 | longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is |
| 60 | not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action. |
| 61 | |
| 62 | The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user |
| 63 | feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent |
| 64 | features. |
| 65 | |
| 66 | See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further |
| 67 | details. |
| 68 | |
| 69 | * The Yacc prologue alternatives from Bison 2.3a have been rewritten as the |
| 70 | following directives: |
| 71 | |
| 72 | 1. %code {CODE} |
| 73 | |
| 74 | Other than semantic actions, this is probably the most common place you |
| 75 | should write verbatim code for the parser implementation. It replaces |
| 76 | the traditional Yacc prologue, `%{CODE%}', for most purposes. Compare |
| 77 | with: |
| 78 | |
| 79 | - `%{CODE%}' appearing after the first `%union {CODE}' in a grammar |
| 80 | file. While Bison will continue to support `%{CODE%}' for backward |
| 81 | compatibility, `%code {CODE}' is cleaner as its functionality does |
| 82 | not depend on its position in the grammar file relative to any |
| 83 | `%union {CODE}'. Specifically, `%code {CODE}' always inserts your |
| 84 | CODE into the parser code file after the usual contents of the |
| 85 | parser header file. |
| 86 | - `%after-header {CODE}', which only Bison 2.3a supported. |
| 87 | |
| 88 | 2. %requires {CODE} |
| 89 | |
| 90 | This is the right place to write dependency code for externally exposed |
| 91 | definitions required by Bison. Such exposed definitions are those |
| 92 | usually appearing in the parser header file. Thus, this is the right |
| 93 | place to define types referenced in `%union {CODE}' directives, and it |
| 94 | is the right place to override Bison's default YYSTYPE and YYLTYPE |
| 95 | definitions. Compare with: |
| 96 | |
| 97 | - `%{CODE%}' appearing before the first `%union {CODE}' in a grammar |
| 98 | file. Unlike `%{CODE%}', `%requires {CODE}' inserts your CODE both |
| 99 | into the parser code file and into the parser header file since |
| 100 | Bison's required definitions should depend on it in both places. |
| 101 | - `%start-header {CODE}', which only Bison 2.3a supported. |
| 102 | |
| 103 | 3. %provides {CODE} |
| 104 | |
| 105 | This is the right place to write additional definitions you would like |
| 106 | Bison to expose externally. That is, this directive inserts your CODE |
| 107 | both into the parser header file and into the parser code file after |
| 108 | Bison's required definitions. Compare with: |
| 109 | |
| 110 | - `%end-header {CODE}', which only Bison 2.3a supported. |
| 111 | |
| 112 | 4. %code-top {CODE} |
| 113 | |
| 114 | Occasionally it is desirable to insert code near the top of the parser |
| 115 | code file. For example: |
| 116 | |
| 117 | %code-top { |
| 118 | #define _GNU_SOURCE |
| 119 | #include <stdio.h> |
| 120 | } |
| 121 | |
| 122 | Compare with: |
| 123 | |
| 124 | - `%{CODE%}' appearing before the first `%union {CODE}' in a grammar |
| 125 | file. `%code-top {CODE}' is cleaner as its functionality does not |
| 126 | depend on its position in the grammar file relative to any |
| 127 | `%union {CODE}'. |
| 128 | - `%before-header {CODE}', which only Bison 2.3a supported. |
| 129 | |
| 130 | If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above four directives, |
| 131 | Bison will concatenate the contents in the order they appear in the grammar |
| 132 | file. |
| 133 | |
| 134 | The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to |
| 135 | determine whether they should become permanent features. |
| 136 | |
| 137 | Also see the new section `Prologue Alternatives' in the Bison manual. |
| 138 | |
| 139 | Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13: |
| 140 | |
| 141 | * Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type |
| 142 | YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag. |
| 143 | Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef. |
| 144 | This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations, |
| 145 | and is required by POSIX. |
| 146 | |
| 147 | * Locations columns and lines start at 1. |
| 148 | In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs. |
| 149 | |
| 150 | * You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's: |
| 151 | |
| 152 | For example: |
| 153 | |
| 154 | %union { char *string; } |
| 155 | %token <string> STRING1 |
| 156 | %token <string> STRING2 |
| 157 | %type <string> string1 |
| 158 | %type <string> string2 |
| 159 | %union { char character; } |
| 160 | %token <character> CHR |
| 161 | %type <character> chr |
| 162 | %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default |
| 163 | %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1 |
| 164 | %destructor { } <character> |
| 165 | |
| 166 | guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a |
| 167 | semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to |
| 168 | `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it |
| 169 | also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second |
| 170 | `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once. |
| 171 | |
| 172 | [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default |
| 173 | %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in |
| 174 | future versions.] |
| 175 | |
| 176 | * Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y', |
| 177 | `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for |
| 178 | associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements |
| 179 | helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc |
| 180 | requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases. |
| 181 | |
| 182 | * Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but |
| 183 | potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison. |
| 184 | |
| 185 | As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the |
| 186 | `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all |
| 187 | prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate |
| 188 | the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've |
| 189 | declared after the first %union. |
| 190 | |
| 191 | Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header |
| 192 | file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the |
| 193 | latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++, |
| 194 | the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate |
| 195 | token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was |
| 196 | after the token definitions. |
| 197 | |
| 198 | Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code |
| 199 | file, it always inserts it before the token definitions. |
| 200 | |
| 201 | * Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc |
| 202 | prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and |
| 203 | %after-header. |
| 204 | |
| 205 | For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the |
| 206 | order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to |
| 207 | declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most |
| 208 | convenient for you: |
| 209 | |
| 210 | %before-header { |
| 211 | /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into |
| 212 | * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not* |
| 213 | * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put |
| 214 | * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common |
| 215 | * example is `#include "system.h"'. */ |
| 216 | } |
| 217 | %start-header { |
| 218 | /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file. |
| 219 | * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated |
| 220 | * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a |
| 221 | * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */ |
| 222 | } |
| 223 | %union { |
| 224 | /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the |
| 225 | * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position |
| 226 | * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */ |
| 227 | } |
| 228 | %end-header { |
| 229 | /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file. |
| 230 | * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated |
| 231 | * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public |
| 232 | * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated |
| 233 | * definitions. */ |
| 234 | } |
| 235 | %after-header { |
| 236 | /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into |
| 237 | * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not* |
| 238 | * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or |
| 239 | * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the |
| 240 | * Bison-generated definitions. */ |
| 241 | } |
| 242 | |
| 243 | If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison |
| 244 | will concatenate the contents in declaration order. |
| 245 | |
| 246 | [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue |
| 247 | alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.] |
| 248 | |
| 249 | * The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'. |
| 250 | The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed |
| 251 | in a future release. |
| 252 | |
| 253 | Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05: |
| 254 | |
| 255 | * GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING', |
| 256 | for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars. |
| 257 | |
| 258 | * It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should |
| 259 | be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets. |
| 260 | |
| 261 | Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19: |
| 262 | |
| 263 | * The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit |
| 264 | using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission |
| 265 | was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C. |
| 266 | |
| 267 | * %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs. |
| 268 | |
| 269 | * The C++ parsers export their token_type. |
| 270 | |
| 271 | * Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates |
| 272 | their contents together. |
| 273 | |
| 274 | * New warning: unused values |
| 275 | Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported, |
| 276 | if the symbols have destructors. For instance: |
| 277 | |
| 278 | exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; } |
| 279 | | exp "+" exp |
| 280 | ; |
| 281 | |
| 282 | will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in |
| 283 | the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example |
| 284 | most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as: |
| 285 | |
| 286 | exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp |
| 287 | { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); } |
| 288 | | exp "+" exp |
| 289 | { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); } |
| 290 | ; |
| 291 | |
| 292 | However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks |
| 293 | and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the |
| 294 | values are used, e.g.: |
| 295 | |
| 296 | exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); } |
| 297 | | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; } |
| 298 | ; |
| 299 | |
| 300 | If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action |
| 301 | uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used. |
| 302 | |
| 303 | exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); }; |
| 304 | |
| 305 | The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks. |
| 306 | If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed. |
| 307 | |
| 308 | * %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR. |
| 309 | Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT, |
| 310 | and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects |
| 311 | corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule. |
| 312 | |
| 313 | * %expect, %expect-rr |
| 314 | Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors, |
| 315 | instead of warnings. |
| 316 | |
| 317 | * GLR, YACC parsers. |
| 318 | The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the |
| 319 | experimental printers) as per the documentation. |
| 320 | |
| 321 | * Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action. |
| 322 | |
| 323 | * %require "VERSION" |
| 324 | This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented |
| 325 | in Bison version VERSION or higher. |
| 326 | |
| 327 | * lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members. |
| 328 | The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE |
| 329 | was defined as a free form union. They are now class members: |
| 330 | tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the |
| 331 | semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type. |
| 332 | |
| 333 | If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive |
| 334 | `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global |
| 335 | definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both |
| 336 | for previous releases of Bison, and this one. |
| 337 | |
| 338 | If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will |
| 339 | fail using `%require "2.2"'. |
| 340 | |
| 341 | * DJGPP support added. |
| 342 | \f |
| 343 | Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16: |
| 344 | |
| 345 | * The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param. |
| 346 | |
| 347 | * Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like |
| 348 | "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default |
| 349 | language is still English. For details, please see the new |
| 350 | Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software |
| 351 | distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to |
| 352 | Bruno Haible for this new feature. |
| 353 | |
| 354 | * Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to |
| 355 | simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted" |
| 356 | has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not |
| 357 | always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers. |
| 358 | |
| 359 | * Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left |
| 360 | behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a |
| 361 | successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent. |
| 362 | |
| 363 | * When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer |
| 364 | quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for |
| 365 | a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might |
| 366 | print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error, |
| 367 | unexpected "number"'. |
| 368 | \f |
| 369 | Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25: |
| 370 | |
| 371 | * Possibly-incompatible changes |
| 372 | |
| 373 | - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function |
| 374 | (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread |
| 375 | problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define |
| 376 | YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read |
| 377 | the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case. |
| 378 | |
| 379 | - Error token location. |
| 380 | During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated |
| 381 | to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes |
| 382 | the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error |
| 383 | recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part. |
| 384 | |
| 385 | - Semicolon changes: |
| 386 | . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar. |
| 387 | . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations. |
| 388 | |
| 389 | - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or |
| 390 | string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has |
| 391 | dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if |
| 392 | forget a closing quote. |
| 393 | |
| 394 | - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately. |
| 395 | |
| 396 | * New features |
| 397 | |
| 398 | - GLR grammars now support locations. |
| 399 | |
| 400 | - New directive: %initial-action. |
| 401 | This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including |
| 402 | initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts. |
| 403 | |
| 404 | - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of |
| 405 | reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers. |
| 406 | |
| 407 | - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'. |
| 408 | This is a GNU extension. |
| 409 | |
| 410 | - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'. |
| 411 | [However, this was changed back after 2.3.] |
| 412 | |
| 413 | - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc. |
| 414 | |
| 415 | - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the |
| 416 | yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance. |
| 417 | |
| 418 | * Bug fixes |
| 419 | |
| 420 | - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors. |
| 421 | This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are |
| 422 | reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there |
| 423 | are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future |
| 424 | versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that |
| 425 | these violations will become errors again. |
| 426 | |
| 427 | - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer |
| 428 | arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts. |
| 429 | |
| 430 | - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires. |
| 431 | \f |
| 432 | Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01: |
| 433 | |
| 434 | * The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2 |
| 435 | of the GNU Free Documentation License. |
| 436 | |
| 437 | * syntax error processing |
| 438 | |
| 439 | - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error |
| 440 | locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation. |
| 441 | |
| 442 | - %destructor |
| 443 | It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols |
| 444 | discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental. |
| 445 | |
| 446 | - %error-verbose |
| 447 | This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE. |
| 448 | |
| 449 | - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged. |
| 450 | It is not guaranteed to work forever. |
| 451 | |
| 452 | * POSIX conformance |
| 453 | |
| 454 | - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules. |
| 455 | This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves |
| 456 | compatibility with Yacc. |
| 457 | |
| 458 | - `parse error' -> `syntax error' |
| 459 | Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code |
| 460 | and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX |
| 461 | requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to |
| 462 | be consistent. |
| 463 | |
| 464 | - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be |
| 465 | declared before use. C99 requires this. |
| 466 | |
| 467 | - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and |
| 468 | backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires. |
| 469 | |
| 470 | - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is |
| 471 | output as "foo\\bar.y". |
| 472 | |
| 473 | - Yacc command and library now available |
| 474 | The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires. |
| 475 | Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing |
| 476 | implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions. |
| 477 | This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it. |
| 478 | |
| 479 | - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors. |
| 480 | |
| 481 | - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it |
| 482 | using typedef instead of defining it as a macro. |
| 483 | For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined. |
| 484 | |
| 485 | * Other compatibility issues |
| 486 | |
| 487 | - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the |
| 488 | directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code |
| 489 | `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility. |
| 490 | The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc. |
| 491 | For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'. |
| 492 | This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35. |
| 493 | |
| 494 | - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for |
| 495 | compatibility with Bison 1.35. |
| 496 | |
| 497 | - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g., |
| 498 | `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'. |
| 499 | |
| 500 | - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being |
| 501 | typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be |
| 502 | withdrawn in a future release. |
| 503 | |
| 504 | * GLR parser notes |
| 505 | |
| 506 | - GLR and inline |
| 507 | Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the |
| 508 | C keyword `inline'. |
| 509 | |
| 510 | - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow' |
| 511 | GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual. |
| 512 | |
| 513 | * Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file, |
| 514 | e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since |
| 515 | that command outputs both code and header to foo.h. |
| 516 | |
| 517 | * #line in output files |
| 518 | - --no-line works properly. |
| 519 | |
| 520 | * Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or |
| 521 | later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions |
| 522 | ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try |
| 523 | building Bison with a K&R C compiler. |
| 524 | \f |
| 525 | Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14: |
| 526 | |
| 527 | * Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts. |
| 528 | |
| 529 | * Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto. |
| 530 | |
| 531 | * GLR parsers |
| 532 | Fix spurious parse errors. |
| 533 | |
| 534 | * Pure parsers |
| 535 | Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables. |
| 536 | Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it. |
| 537 | |
| 538 | * Type Clashes |
| 539 | In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default |
| 540 | action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed: |
| 541 | |
| 542 | untyped: ... typed; |
| 543 | |
| 544 | but the converse remains an error: |
| 545 | |
| 546 | typed: ... untyped; |
| 547 | |
| 548 | * Values of mid-rule actions |
| 549 | The following code: |
| 550 | |
| 551 | foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ... |
| 552 | |
| 553 | was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule |
| 554 | action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action. |
| 555 | \f |
| 556 | Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04: |
| 557 | |
| 558 | * GLR parsing |
| 559 | The declaration |
| 560 | %glr-parser |
| 561 | causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling |
| 562 | almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations |
| 563 | %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of |
| 564 | ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger. |
| 565 | |
| 566 | Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts |
| 567 | like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now. |
| 568 | |
| 569 | * Output Directory |
| 570 | When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not |
| 571 | specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It |
| 572 | now creates `bar.c'. |
| 573 | |
| 574 | * Undefined token |
| 575 | The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented |
| 576 | the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case. |
| 577 | |
| 578 | * Unknown token numbers |
| 579 | If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is |
| 580 | no longer the case. |
| 581 | |
| 582 | * Error token |
| 583 | According to POSIX, the error token must be 256. |
| 584 | Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the |
| 585 | user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error |
| 586 | will be mapped onto another number. |
| 587 | |
| 588 | * Verbose error messages |
| 589 | They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where |
| 590 | error recovery is possible. |
| 591 | |
| 592 | * End token |
| 593 | Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'. |
| 594 | |
| 595 | * Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX |
| 596 | When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops |
| 597 | the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error |
| 598 | token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that |
| 599 | allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the |
| 600 | error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior, |
| 601 | and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see |
| 602 | Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20) |
| 603 | <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>. |
| 604 | |
| 605 | * Traces |
| 606 | Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported. |
| 607 | |
| 608 | * Larger grammars |
| 609 | Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar |
| 610 | size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables). |
| 611 | Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits; |
| 612 | now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts. |
| 613 | |
| 614 | * Explicit initial rule |
| 615 | Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does |
| 616 | not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and |
| 617 | graphs as rule 0. |
| 618 | |
| 619 | * Useless rules |
| 620 | Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used, |
| 621 | included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed. |
| 622 | |
| 623 | * Useless rules, useless nonterminals |
| 624 | They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations. |
| 625 | |
| 626 | * Rules never reduced |
| 627 | Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now |
| 628 | reported. |
| 629 | |
| 630 | * Incorrect `Token not used' |
| 631 | On a grammar such as |
| 632 | |
| 633 | %token useless useful |
| 634 | %% |
| 635 | exp: '0' %prec useful; |
| 636 | |
| 637 | where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule, |
| 638 | bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens. |
| 639 | |
| 640 | * Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31 |
| 641 | as they caused too many portability hassles. |
| 642 | |
| 643 | * Default locations |
| 644 | By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was |
| 645 | performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1. |
| 646 | The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of |
| 647 | the computation of @$. |
| 648 | |
| 649 | * Token end-of-file |
| 650 | The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case, |
| 651 | the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose |
| 652 | error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default. |
| 653 | For instance |
| 654 | %token MYEOF 0 |
| 655 | or |
| 656 | %token MYEOF 0 "end of file" |
| 657 | |
| 658 | * Semantic parser |
| 659 | This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed. |
| 660 | |
| 661 | * New translations |
| 662 | Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes. |
| 663 | Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic. |
| 664 | |
| 665 | * Incorrect token definitions |
| 666 | When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'. |
| 667 | |
| 668 | * Token definitions as enums |
| 669 | Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided |
| 670 | the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums. |
| 671 | This lets debuggers display names instead of integers. |
| 672 | |
| 673 | * Reports |
| 674 | In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which |
| 675 | produces additional information: |
| 676 | - itemset |
| 677 | complete the core item sets with their closure |
| 678 | - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back] |
| 679 | explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items |
| 680 | - solved |
| 681 | describe shift/reduce conflicts solving. |
| 682 | Bison used to systematically output this information on top of |
| 683 | the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states. |
| 684 | |
| 685 | * Type clashes |
| 686 | Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on |
| 687 | the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in: |
| 688 | |
| 689 | %type <foo> bar |
| 690 | %% |
| 691 | bar: '0' {} '0'; |
| 692 | |
| 693 | This is fixed. |
| 694 | |
| 695 | * GNU M4 is now required when using Bison. |
| 696 | \f |
| 697 | Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25: |
| 698 | |
| 699 | * C Skeleton |
| 700 | Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define |
| 701 | YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data |
| 702 | alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible. |
| 703 | |
| 704 | Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser |
| 705 | generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to |
| 706 | maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this |
| 707 | kludge will be disabled. |
| 708 | |
| 709 | This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was |
| 710 | extended. |
| 711 | \f |
| 712 | Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12: |
| 713 | |
| 714 | * File name clashes are detected |
| 715 | $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x |
| 716 | fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x' |
| 717 | |
| 718 | * A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning |
| 719 | In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other |
| 720 | Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near |
| 721 | future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison |
| 722 | grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To |
| 723 | facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning. |
| 724 | |
| 725 | * Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too |
| 726 | many portability hassles. |
| 727 | |
| 728 | * DJGPP support added. |
| 729 | |
| 730 | * Fix test suite portability problems. |
| 731 | \f |
| 732 | Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07: |
| 733 | |
| 734 | * Fix C++ issues |
| 735 | Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking |
| 736 | under some conditions. |
| 737 | |
| 738 | * Catch invalid @n |
| 739 | As is done with $n. |
| 740 | \f |
| 741 | Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23: |
| 742 | |
| 743 | * Fix Yacc output file names |
| 744 | |
| 745 | * Portability fixes |
| 746 | |
| 747 | * Italian, Dutch translations |
| 748 | \f |
| 749 | Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14: |
| 750 | |
| 751 | * Many Bug Fixes |
| 752 | |
| 753 | * GNU Gettext and %expect |
| 754 | GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that |
| 755 | Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be |
| 756 | too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect |
| 757 | does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'. |
| 758 | |
| 759 | * Use of alloca in parsers |
| 760 | If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use |
| 761 | malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed. |
| 762 | |
| 763 | alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability |
| 764 | problems as on AIX. |
| 765 | |
| 766 | * yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core. |
| 767 | |
| 768 | * When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0 |
| 769 | (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined. |
| 770 | |
| 771 | * User Actions |
| 772 | Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the |
| 773 | ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon |
| 774 | is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }. |
| 775 | |
| 776 | * Better C++ compliance |
| 777 | The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces. |
| 778 | [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.] |
| 779 | |
| 780 | * Reduced Grammars |
| 781 | Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals. |
| 782 | |
| 783 | * 64 bit hosts |
| 784 | The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts. |
| 785 | |
| 786 | * Error messages |
| 787 | Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages. |
| 788 | |
| 789 | * %expect |
| 790 | When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue |
| 791 | any warning. |
| 792 | |
| 793 | * The verbose report includes the rule line numbers. |
| 794 | |
| 795 | * Rule line numbers are fixed in traces. |
| 796 | |
| 797 | * Swedish translation |
| 798 | |
| 799 | * Parse errors |
| 800 | Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking. |
| 801 | Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'('' |
| 802 | Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '(' |
| 803 | |
| 804 | * Fixed parser memory leaks. |
| 805 | When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the |
| 806 | previous allocations were not freed. |
| 807 | |
| 808 | * Fixed verbose output file. |
| 809 | Some newlines were missing. |
| 810 | Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing. |
| 811 | |
| 812 | * Fixed conflict report. |
| 813 | Option -v was needed to get the result. |
| 814 | |
| 815 | * %expect |
| 816 | Was not used. |
| 817 | Mismatches are errors, not warnings. |
| 818 | |
| 819 | * Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input. |
| 820 | |
| 821 | * Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H. |
| 822 | |
| 823 | * Fixed some typos in the documentation. |
| 824 | |
| 825 | * %token MY_EOF 0 is supported. |
| 826 | Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257. |
| 827 | |
| 828 | * doc/refcard.tex is updated. |
| 829 | |
| 830 | * %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix. |
| 831 | New. |
| 832 | |
| 833 | * --output |
| 834 | New, aliasing `--output-file'. |
| 835 | \f |
| 836 | Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26: |
| 837 | |
| 838 | * `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the |
| 839 | output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any |
| 840 | argument. |
| 841 | |
| 842 | * `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed |
| 843 | experiment. |
| 844 | |
| 845 | * Portability fixes. |
| 846 | \f |
| 847 | Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07: |
| 848 | |
| 849 | * The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used |
| 850 | with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers |
| 851 | that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option |
| 852 | `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this. |
| 853 | |
| 854 | * Added `-g' and `--graph'. |
| 855 | |
| 856 | * The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL. |
| 857 | |
| 858 | * The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension. |
| 859 | |
| 860 | * Russian translation added. |
| 861 | |
| 862 | * NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome. |
| 863 | |
| 864 | * Added the old Bison reference card. |
| 865 | |
| 866 | * Added `--locations' and `%locations'. |
| 867 | |
| 868 | * Added `-S' and `--skeleton'. |
| 869 | |
| 870 | * `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled. |
| 871 | |
| 872 | * Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems |
| 873 | of the #line lines with path names including backslashes. |
| 874 | |
| 875 | * New directives. |
| 876 | `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose', |
| 877 | `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'. |
| 878 | |
| 879 | * @$ |
| 880 | Automatic location tracking. |
| 881 | \f |
| 882 | Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06: |
| 883 | |
| 884 | * Should compile better now with K&R compilers. |
| 885 | |
| 886 | * Added NLS. |
| 887 | |
| 888 | * Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character. |
| 889 | |
| 890 | * There is now a FAQ. |
| 891 | \f |
| 892 | Changes in version 1.27: |
| 893 | |
| 894 | * The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on |
| 895 | some systems has been fixed. |
| 896 | \f |
| 897 | Changes in version 1.26: |
| 898 | |
| 899 | * Bison now uses automake. |
| 900 | |
| 901 | * New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>. |
| 902 | |
| 903 | * Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258. |
| 904 | |
| 905 | * Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable. |
| 906 | |
| 907 | * A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed. |
| 908 | |
| 909 | * Problems when closing files should now be reported. |
| 910 | |
| 911 | * Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do |
| 912 | not provide alloca(). |
| 913 | \f |
| 914 | Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16: |
| 915 | |
| 916 | * Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading |
| 917 | the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it. |
| 918 | |
| 919 | * Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for |
| 920 | example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead |
| 921 | of chosing a name like LESSEQ. |
| 922 | |
| 923 | * The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names |
| 924 | and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this |
| 925 | table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other |
| 926 | purposes. |
| 927 | |
| 928 | * The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor |
| 929 | directives in the parser file. |
| 930 | |
| 931 | * The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not |
| 932 | Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros. |
| 933 | |
| 934 | * The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including |
| 935 | the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine. |
| 936 | The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of |
| 937 | a switch statement body. |
| 938 | \f |
| 939 | Changes in version 1.23: |
| 940 | |
| 941 | The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be |
| 942 | passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should |
| 943 | actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable |
| 944 | by casting it to the proper pointer type. |
| 945 | |
| 946 | Line numbers in output file corrected. |
| 947 | \f |
| 948 | Changes in version 1.22: |
| 949 | |
| 950 | --help option added. |
| 951 | \f |
| 952 | Changes in version 1.20: |
| 953 | |
| 954 | Output file does not redefine const for C++. |
| 955 | |
| 956 | Local Variables: |
| 957 | mode: outline |
| 958 | End: |
| 959 | |
| 960 | ----- |
| 961 | |
| 962 | Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, |
| 963 | 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
| 964 | |
| 965 | This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler. |
| 966 | |
| 967 | Bison is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify |
| 968 | it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by |
| 969 | the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) |
| 970 | any later version. |
| 971 | |
| 972 | Bison is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, |
| 973 | but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of |
| 974 | MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the |
| 975 | GNU General Public License for more details. |
| 976 | |
| 977 | You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License |
| 978 | along with autoconf; see the file COPYING. If not, write to |
| 979 | the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, |
| 980 | Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA. |