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1Bison News
2----------
3
4Changes 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
14Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
15
16* The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
17 are now deprecated:
18
19 %define NAME "VALUE"
20
21* The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
22
23 %define api.pure
24
25 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
26 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
27
28* Push Parsing
29
30 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
31 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
32 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
33 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
34 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
35
36 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
37 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
38
39 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
40
41 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
42 feedback will help to stabilize it.
43
44* The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
45 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
46 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
47
48* Java
49
50 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
51 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
52 %skeleton to select it.
53
54 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
55
56 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
57 feedback will help to stabilize it.
58
59* %language
60
61 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
62 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
63 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
64 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
65
66* XML Automaton Report
67
68 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
69 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
70 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
71
72* The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
73 %defines. For example:
74
75 %defines "parser.h"
76
77* When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
78 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
79 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
80 instead of "unused".
81
82* Unreachable State Removal
83
84 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
85 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
86 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
87
88 1. Removes unreachable states.
89
90 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
91 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
92 directives in existing grammar files.
93
94 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
95 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
96
97 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
98
99 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
100
101 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
102 for further discussion.
103
104* Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
105
106 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
107 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
108 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
109 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
110 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
111 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
112 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
113 code.
114
115* --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
116 name.
117
118* The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
119 deprecated:
120
121 %file-prefix "parser"
122 %name-prefix "c_"
123 %output "parser.c"
124
125* An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
126
127 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
128 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
129 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
130 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
131 it:
132
133 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
134 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
135 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
136 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
137
138 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
139 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
140 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
141 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
142
143 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
144 determine whether they should become permanent features.
145
146* Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
147
148 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
149 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
150 about unused $2 in:
151
152 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
153
154 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
155 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
156
157 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
158
159 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
160 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
161 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
162
163 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
164 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
165
166* Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
167
168 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
169 %printer's:
170
171 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
172 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
173 declared semantic type tags.
174
175 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
176 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
177 type tags.
178
179 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
180 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
181 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
182 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
183
184 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
185 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
186 features.
187
188 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
189 details.
190
191* %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
192 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
193 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
194
195* The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
196 completely removed from Bison.
197
198Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
199
200* Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
201 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
202 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
203 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
204 and is required by POSIX.
205
206* Locations columns and lines start at 1.
207 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
208
209* You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
210
211 For example:
212
213 %union { char *string; }
214 %token <string> STRING1
215 %token <string> STRING2
216 %type <string> string1
217 %type <string> string2
218 %union { char character; }
219 %token <character> CHR
220 %type <character> chr
221 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
222 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
223 %destructor { } <character>
224
225 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
226 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
227 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
228 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
229 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
230
231 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
232 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
233 future versions.]
234
235* Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
236 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
237 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
238 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
239 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
240
241* Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
242 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
243
244 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
245 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
246 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
247 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
248 declared after the first %union.
249
250 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
251 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
252 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
253 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
254 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
255 after the token definitions.
256
257 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
258 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
259
260* Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
261 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
262 %after-header.
263
264 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
265 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
266 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
267 convenient for you:
268
269 %before-header {
270 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
271 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
272 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
273 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
274 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
275 }
276 %start-header {
277 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
278 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
279 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
280 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
281 }
282 %union {
283 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
284 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
285 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
286 }
287 %end-header {
288 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
289 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
290 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
291 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
292 * definitions. */
293 }
294 %after-header {
295 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
296 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
297 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
298 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
299 * Bison-generated definitions. */
300 }
301
302 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
303 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
304
305 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
306 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
307
308* The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
309 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
310 in a future release.
311
312Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
313
314* GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
315 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
316
317* It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
318 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
319
320Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
321
322* The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
323 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
324 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
325
326* %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
327
328* The C++ parsers export their token_type.
329
330* Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
331 their contents together.
332
333* New warning: unused values
334 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
335 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
336
337 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
338 | exp "+" exp
339 ;
340
341 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
342 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
343 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
344
345 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
346 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
347 | exp "+" exp
348 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
349 ;
350
351 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
352 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
353 values are used, e.g.:
354
355 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
356 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
357 ;
358
359 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
360 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
361
362 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
363
364 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
365 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
366
367* %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
368 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
369 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
370 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
371
372* %expect, %expect-rr
373 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
374 instead of warnings.
375
376* GLR, YACC parsers.
377 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
378 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
379
380* Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
381
382* %require "VERSION"
383 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
384 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
385
386* lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
387 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
388 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
389 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
390 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
391
392 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
393 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
394 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
395 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
396
397 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
398 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
399
400* DJGPP support added.
401\f
402Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
403
404* The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
405
406* Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
407 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
408 language is still English. For details, please see the new
409 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
410 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
411 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
412
413* Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
414 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
415 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
416 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
417
418* Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
419 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
420 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
421
422* When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
423 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
424 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
425 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
426 unexpected "number"'.
427\f
428Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
429
430* Possibly-incompatible changes
431
432 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
433 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
434 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
435 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
436 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
437
438 - Error token location.
439 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
440 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
441 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
442 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
443
444 - Semicolon changes:
445 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
446 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
447
448 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
449 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
450 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
451 forget a closing quote.
452
453 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
454
455* New features
456
457 - GLR grammars now support locations.
458
459 - New directive: %initial-action.
460 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
461 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
462
463 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
464 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
465
466 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
467 This is a GNU extension.
468
469 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
470 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
471
472 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
473
474 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
475 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
476
477* Bug fixes
478
479 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
480 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
481 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
482 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
483 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
484 these violations will become errors again.
485
486 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
487 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
488
489 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
490\f
491Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
492
493* The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
494 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
495
496* syntax error processing
497
498 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
499 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
500
501 - %destructor
502 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
503 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
504
505 - %error-verbose
506 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
507
508 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
509 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
510
511* POSIX conformance
512
513 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
514 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
515 compatibility with Yacc.
516
517 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
518 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
519 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
520 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
521 be consistent.
522
523 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
524 declared before use. C99 requires this.
525
526 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
527 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
528
529 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
530 output as "foo\\bar.y".
531
532 - Yacc command and library now available
533 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
534 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
535 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
536 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
537
538 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
539
540 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
541 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
542 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
543
544* Other compatibility issues
545
546 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
547 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
548 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
549 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
550 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
551 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
552
553 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
554 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
555
556 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
557 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
558
559 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
560 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
561 withdrawn in a future release.
562
563* GLR parser notes
564
565 - GLR and inline
566 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
567 C keyword `inline'.
568
569 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
570 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
571
572* Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
573 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
574 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
575
576* #line in output files
577 - --no-line works properly.
578
579* Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
580 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
581 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
582 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
583\f
584Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
585
586* Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
587
588* Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
589
590* GLR parsers
591 Fix spurious parse errors.
592
593* Pure parsers
594 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
595 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
596
597* Type Clashes
598 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
599 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
600
601 untyped: ... typed;
602
603 but the converse remains an error:
604
605 typed: ... untyped;
606
607* Values of mid-rule actions
608 The following code:
609
610 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
611
612 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
613 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
614\f
615Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
616
617* GLR parsing
618 The declaration
619 %glr-parser
620 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
621 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
622 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
623 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
624
625 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
626 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
627
628* Output Directory
629 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
630 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
631 now creates `bar.c'.
632
633* Undefined token
634 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
635 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
636
637* Unknown token numbers
638 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
639 no longer the case.
640
641* Error token
642 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
643 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
644 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
645 will be mapped onto another number.
646
647* Verbose error messages
648 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
649 error recovery is possible.
650
651* End token
652 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
653
654* Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
655 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
656 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
657 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
658 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
659 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
660 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
661 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
662 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
663
664* Traces
665 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
666
667* Larger grammars
668 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
669 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
670 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
671 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
672
673* Explicit initial rule
674 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
675 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
676 graphs as rule 0.
677
678* Useless rules
679 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
680 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
681
682* Useless rules, useless nonterminals
683 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
684
685* Rules never reduced
686 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
687 reported.
688
689* Incorrect `Token not used'
690 On a grammar such as
691
692 %token useless useful
693 %%
694 exp: '0' %prec useful;
695
696 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
697 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
698
699* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
700 as they caused too many portability hassles.
701
702* Default locations
703 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
704 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
705 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
706 the computation of @$.
707
708* Token end-of-file
709 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
710 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
711 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
712 For instance
713 %token MYEOF 0
714 or
715 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
716
717* Semantic parser
718 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
719
720* New translations
721 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
722 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
723
724* Incorrect token definitions
725 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
726
727* Token definitions as enums
728 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
729 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
730 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
731
732* Reports
733 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
734 produces additional information:
735 - itemset
736 complete the core item sets with their closure
737 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
738 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
739 - solved
740 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
741 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
742 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
743
744* Type clashes
745 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
746 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
747
748 %type <foo> bar
749 %%
750 bar: '0' {} '0';
751
752 This is fixed.
753
754* GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
755\f
756Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
757
758* C Skeleton
759 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
760 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
761 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
762
763 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
764 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
765 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
766 kludge will be disabled.
767
768 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
769 extended.
770\f
771Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
772
773* File name clashes are detected
774 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
775 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
776
777* A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
778 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
779 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
780 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
781 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
782 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
783
784* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
785 many portability hassles.
786
787* DJGPP support added.
788
789* Fix test suite portability problems.
790\f
791Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
792
793* Fix C++ issues
794 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
795 under some conditions.
796
797* Catch invalid @n
798 As is done with $n.
799\f
800Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
801
802* Fix Yacc output file names
803
804* Portability fixes
805
806* Italian, Dutch translations
807\f
808Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
809
810* Many Bug Fixes
811
812* GNU Gettext and %expect
813 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
814 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
815 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
816 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
817
818* Use of alloca in parsers
819 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
820 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
821
822 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
823 problems as on AIX.
824
825* yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
826
827* When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
828 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
829
830* User Actions
831 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
832 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
833 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
834
835* Better C++ compliance
836 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
837 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
838
839* Reduced Grammars
840 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
841
842* 64 bit hosts
843 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
844
845* Error messages
846 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
847
848* %expect
849 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
850 any warning.
851
852* The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
853
854* Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
855
856* Swedish translation
857
858* Parse errors
859 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
860 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
861 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
862
863* Fixed parser memory leaks.
864 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
865 previous allocations were not freed.
866
867* Fixed verbose output file.
868 Some newlines were missing.
869 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
870
871* Fixed conflict report.
872 Option -v was needed to get the result.
873
874* %expect
875 Was not used.
876 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
877
878* Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
879
880* Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
881
882* Fixed some typos in the documentation.
883
884* %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
885 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
886
887* doc/refcard.tex is updated.
888
889* %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
890 New.
891
892* --output
893 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
894\f
895Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
896
897* `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
898 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
899 argument.
900
901* `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
902 experiment.
903
904* Portability fixes.
905\f
906Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
907
908* The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
909 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
910 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
911 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
912
913* Added `-g' and `--graph'.
914
915* The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
916
917* The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
918
919* Russian translation added.
920
921* NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
922
923* Added the old Bison reference card.
924
925* Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
926
927* Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
928
929* `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
930
931* Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
932 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
933
934* New directives.
935 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
936 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
937
938* @$
939 Automatic location tracking.
940\f
941Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
942
943* Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
944
945* Added NLS.
946
947* Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
948
949* There is now a FAQ.
950\f
951Changes in version 1.27:
952
953* The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
954 some systems has been fixed.
955\f
956Changes in version 1.26:
957
958* Bison now uses automake.
959
960* New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
961
962* Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
963
964* Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
965
966* A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
967
968* Problems when closing files should now be reported.
969
970* Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
971 not provide alloca().
972\f
973Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
974
975* Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
976the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
977
978* Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
979example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
980of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
981
982* The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
983and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
984table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
985purposes.
986
987* The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
988directives in the parser file.
989
990* The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
991Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
992
993* The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
994the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
995The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
996a switch statement body.
997\f
998Changes in version 1.23:
999
1000The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1001passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1002actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1003by casting it to the proper pointer type.
1004
1005Line numbers in output file corrected.
1006\f
1007Changes in version 1.22:
1008
1009--help option added.
1010\f
1011Changes in version 1.20:
1012
1013Output file does not redefine const for C++.
1014
1015Local Variables:
1016mode: outline
1017End:
1018
1019-----
1020
1021Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
10222004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1023
1024This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler.
1025
1026This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1027it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1028the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1029(at your option) any later version.
1030
1031This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1032but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1033MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1034GNU General Public License for more details.
1035
1036You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1037along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.