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1 Bison News
2 ----------
3
4 * Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
5
6 ** Additional yylex/yyparse arguments
7
8 The new directive %param declare additional argument to both yylex
9 and yyparse. The %lex-param, %parse-param, and %param directives
10 support one or more arguments. Instead of
11
12 %lex-param {arg1_type *arg1}
13 %lex-param {arg2_type *arg2}
14 %parse-param {arg1_type *arg1}
15 %parse-param {arg2_type *arg2}
16
17 one may now declare
18
19 %param {arg1_type *arg1} {arg2_type *arg2}
20
21 ** Java skeleton improvements
22
23 The constants for token names were moved to the Lexer interface.
24 Also, it is possible to add code to the parser's constructors using
25 "%code init" and "%define init_throws".
26
27 ** Variable api.tokens.prefix
28
29 The variable api.tokens.prefix changes the way tokens are identified in
30 the generated files. This is especially useful to avoid collisions
31 with identifiers in the target language. For instance
32
33 %token FILE for ERROR
34 %define api.tokens.prefix "TOK_"
35 %%
36 start: FILE for ERROR;
37
38 will generate the definition of the symbols TOK_FILE, TOK_for, and
39 TOK_ERROR in the generated sources. In particular, the scanner must
40 use these prefixed token names, although the grammar itself still
41 uses the short names (as in the sample rule given above).
42
43 ** Variable api.namespace
44
45 The "namespace" variable is renamed "api.namespace". Backward
46 compatibility is ensured, but upgrading is recommended.
47
48 ** Variable parse.error
49
50 The variable error controls the verbosity of error messages. The
51 use of the %error-verbose directive is deprecated in favor of
52 %define parse.error "verbose".
53
54 ** Semantic predicates
55
56 The new, experimental, semantic-predicate feature allows actions of
57 the form %?{ BOOLEAN-EXPRESSION }, which cause syntax errors (as for
58 YYERROR) if the expression evaluates to 0, and are evaluated immediately
59 in GLR parsers, rather than being deferred. The result is that they
60 allow the programmer to prune possible parses based on the values of
61 runtime expressions.
62
63 * Changes in version 2.5.1 (????-??-??):
64
65 ** Some portability problems in the test suite have been fixed.
66
67 ** Minor improvements have been made to the manual.
68
69 * Changes in version 2.5 (2011-05-14):
70
71 ** Grammar symbol names can now contain non-initial dashes:
72
73 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and with
74 %define variables (e.g. push-pull), grammar symbol names may contain
75 dashes in any position except the beginning. This is a GNU
76 extension over POSIX Yacc. Thus, use of this extension is reported
77 by -Wyacc and rejected in Yacc mode (--yacc).
78
79 ** Named references:
80
81 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
82 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
83 actions code.
84
85 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
86 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
87 as named references:
88
89 if_stmt : "if" cond_expr "then" then_stmt ';'
90 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
91
92 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
93
94 stmt[res] : "if" expr[cond] "then" stmt[then] "else" stmt[else] ';'
95 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
96
97 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
98 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
99 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
100
101 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
102 will help to stabilize them.
103
104 ** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
105
106 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
107 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
108 with the full language-recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
109 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction
110 in parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
111 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
112 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
113 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
114 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
115
116 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
117 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
118 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
119 file with these directives:
120
121 %define lr.type lalr
122 %define lr.type ielr
123 %define lr.type canonical-lr
124
125 The default-reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
126 adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'. For details on both
127 of these features, see the new section `Tuning LR' in the Bison
128 manual.
129
130 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
131 stabilize them.
132
133 ** LAC (Lookahead Correction) for syntax error handling:
134
135 Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
136 upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
137 additional parser stack reductions before discovering the syntax
138 error. Such reductions can perform user semantic actions that are
139 unexpected because they are based on an invalid token, and they
140 cause error recovery to begin in a different syntactic context than
141 the one in which the invalid token was encountered. Second, when
142 verbose error messages are enabled (with %error-verbose or the
143 obsolete `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'), the expected token list in the
144 syntax error message can both contain invalid tokens and omit valid
145 tokens.
146
147 The culprits for the above problems are %nonassoc, default
148 reductions in inconsistent states, and parser state merging. Thus,
149 IELR and LALR suffer the most. Canonical LR can suffer only if
150 %nonassoc is used or if default reductions are enabled for
151 inconsistent states.
152
153 LAC is a new mechanism within the parsing algorithm that solves
154 these problems for canonical LR, IELR, and LALR without sacrificing
155 %nonassoc, default reductions, or state merging. When LAC is in
156 use, canonical LR and IELR behave almost exactly the same for both
157 syntactically acceptable and syntactically unacceptable input.
158 While LALR still does not support the full language-recognition
159 power of canonical LR and IELR, LAC at least enables LALR's syntax
160 error handling to correctly reflect LALR's language-recognition
161 power.
162
163 Currently, LAC is only supported for deterministic parsers in C.
164 You can enable LAC with the following directive:
165
166 %define parse.lac full
167
168 See the new section `LAC' in the Bison manual for additional
169 details including a few caveats.
170
171 LAC is an experimental feature. More user feedback will help to
172 stabilize it.
173
174 ** %define improvements:
175
176 *** Can now be invoked via the command line:
177
178 Each of these command-line options
179
180 -D NAME[=VALUE]
181 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
182
183 -F NAME[=VALUE]
184 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
185
186 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
187
188 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
189
190 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
191 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
192 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
193 details, see the section `Bison Options' in the Bison manual.
194
195 *** Variables renamed:
196
197 The following %define variables
198
199 api.push_pull
200 lr.keep_unreachable_states
201
202 have been renamed to
203
204 api.push-pull
205 lr.keep-unreachable-states
206
207 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
208 for backward compatibility.
209
210 *** Values no longer need to be quoted in the grammar file:
211
212 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
213 within quotations marks. For example,
214
215 %define api.push-pull "push"
216
217 can be rewritten as
218
219 %define api.push-pull push
220
221 *** Unrecognized variables are now errors not warnings.
222
223 *** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
224
225 ** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now errors not warnings.
226
227 ** Character literals not of length one:
228
229 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
230 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
231 the following grammar to be the same token:
232
233 exp: exp '++'
234 | exp '+' exp
235 ;
236
237 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
238 some future release, Bison will start reporting an error instead.
239
240 ** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions:
241
242 Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
243 altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
244 determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
245 error or upon parser return. This bug has been fixed.
246
247 ** C++ parsers use YYRHSLOC:
248
249 Similarly to the C parsers, the C++ parsers now define the YYRHSLOC
250 macro and use it in the default YYLLOC_DEFAULT. You are encouraged
251 to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has `first'
252 and `last' members, instead of
253
254 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
255 do \
256 if (N) \
257 { \
258 (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
259 (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
260 } \
261 else \
262 { \
263 (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
264 } \
265 while (false)
266
267 use:
268
269 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
270 do \
271 if (N) \
272 { \
273 (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
274 (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
275 } \
276 else \
277 { \
278 (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
279 } \
280 while (false)
281
282 ** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
283
284 The default implementation of YYLLOC_DEFAULT used to be issued in
285 the header file. It is now output in the implementation file, after
286 the user %code sections so that its #ifndef guard does not try to
287 override the user's YYLLOC_DEFAULT if provided.
288
289 ** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it:
290
291 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
292 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. More recently, it was
293 a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers. As
294 promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
295 semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
296 no longer implement YYFAIL at all. For further details, including a
297 discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
298 being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
299
300 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action:
301
302 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
303 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
304 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
305 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
306
307 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
308
309 instead of
310
311 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
312
313 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
314 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
315 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
316 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
317 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
318 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
319 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
320
321 ** Verbose syntax error message fixes:
322
323 When %error-verbose or the obsolete `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
324 specified, syntax error messages produced by the generated parser
325 include the unexpected token as well as a list of expected tokens.
326 The effect of %nonassoc on these verbose messages has been corrected
327 in two ways, but a more complete fix requires LAC, described above:
328
329 *** When %nonassoc is used, there can exist parser states that accept no
330 tokens, and so the parser does not always require a lookahead token
331 in order to detect a syntax error. Because no unexpected token or
332 expected tokens can then be reported, the verbose syntax error
333 message described above is suppressed, and the parser instead
334 reports the simpler message, `syntax error'. Previously, this
335 suppression was sometimes erroneously triggered by %nonassoc when a
336 lookahead was actually required. Now verbose messages are
337 suppressed only when all previous lookaheads have already been
338 shifted or discarded.
339
340 *** Previously, the list of expected tokens erroneously included tokens
341 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
342 were resolved with %nonassoc in the current parser state. Such
343 tokens are now properly omitted from the list.
344
345 *** Expected token lists are still often wrong due to state merging
346 (from LALR or IELR) and default reductions, which can both add
347 invalid tokens and subtract valid tokens. Canonical LR almost
348 completely fixes this problem by eliminating state merging and
349 default reductions. However, there is one minor problem left even
350 when using canonical LR and even after the fixes above. That is,
351 if the resolution of a conflict with %nonassoc appears in a later
352 parser state than the one at which some syntax error is
353 discovered, the conflicted token is still erroneously included in
354 the expected token list. Bison's new LAC implementation,
355 described above, eliminates this problem and the need for
356 canonical LR. However, LAC is still experimental and is disabled
357 by default.
358
359 ** Java skeleton fixes:
360
361 *** A location handling bug has been fixed.
362
363 *** The top element of each of the value stack and location stack is now
364 cleared when popped so that it can be garbage collected.
365
366 *** Parser traces now print the top element of the stack.
367
368 ** -W/--warnings fixes:
369
370 *** Bison now properly recognizes the `no-' versions of categories:
371
372 For example, given the following command line, Bison now enables all
373 warnings except warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
374
375 bison -Wall,no-yacc gram.y
376
377 *** Bison now treats S/R and R/R conflicts like other warnings:
378
379 Previously, conflict reports were independent of Bison's normal
380 warning system. Now, Bison recognizes the warning categories
381 `conflicts-sr' and `conflicts-rr'. This change has important
382 consequences for the -W and --warnings command-line options. For
383 example:
384
385 bison -Wno-conflicts-sr gram.y # S/R conflicts not reported
386 bison -Wno-conflicts-rr gram.y # R/R conflicts not reported
387 bison -Wnone gram.y # no conflicts are reported
388 bison -Werror gram.y # any conflict is an error
389
390 However, as before, if the %expect or %expect-rr directive is
391 specified, an unexpected number of conflicts is an error, and an
392 expected number of conflicts is not reported, so -W and --warning
393 then have no effect on the conflict report.
394
395 *** The `none' category no longer disables a preceding `error':
396
397 For example, for the following command line, Bison now reports
398 errors instead of warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
399
400 bison -Werror,none,yacc gram.y
401
402 *** The `none' category now disables all Bison warnings:
403
404 Previously, the `none' category disabled only Bison warnings for
405 which there existed a specific -W/--warning category. However,
406 given the following command line, Bison is now guaranteed to
407 suppress all warnings:
408
409 bison -Wnone gram.y
410
411 ** Precedence directives can now assign token number 0:
412
413 Since Bison 2.3b, which restored the ability of precedence
414 directives to assign token numbers, doing so for token number 0 has
415 produced an assertion failure. For example:
416
417 %left END 0
418
419 This bug has been fixed.
420
421 * Changes in version 2.4.3 (2010-08-05):
422
423 ** Bison now obeys -Werror and --warnings=error for warnings about
424 grammar rules that are useless in the parser due to conflicts.
425
426 ** Problems with spawning M4 on at least FreeBSD 8 and FreeBSD 9 have
427 been fixed.
428
429 ** Failures in the test suite for GCC 4.5 have been fixed.
430
431 ** Failures in the test suite for some versions of Sun Studio C++ have
432 been fixed.
433
434 ** Contrary to Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, it has been decided that
435 warnings about undefined %prec identifiers will not be converted to
436 errors in Bison 2.5. They will remain warnings, which should be
437 sufficient for POSIX while avoiding backward compatibility issues.
438
439 ** Minor documentation fixes.
440
441 * Changes in version 2.4.2 (2010-03-20):
442
443 ** Some portability problems that resulted in failures and livelocks
444 in the test suite on some versions of at least Solaris, AIX, HP-UX,
445 RHEL4, and Tru64 have been addressed. As a result, fatal Bison
446 errors should no longer cause M4 to report a broken pipe on the
447 affected platforms.
448
449 ** `%prec IDENTIFIER' requires IDENTIFIER to be defined separately.
450
451 POSIX specifies that an error be reported for any identifier that does
452 not appear on the LHS of a grammar rule and that is not defined by
453 %token, %left, %right, or %nonassoc. Bison 2.3b and later lost this
454 error report for the case when an identifier appears only after a
455 %prec directive. It is now restored. However, for backward
456 compatibility with recent Bison releases, it is only a warning for
457 now. In Bison 2.5 and later, it will return to being an error.
458 [Between the 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 releases, it was decided that this
459 warning will not be converted to an error in Bison 2.5.]
460
461 ** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
462
463 ** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
464 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
465 avoided.
466
467 ** %code is now a permanent feature.
468
469 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
470
471 %{CODE%}
472
473 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
474 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
475
476 %code {CODE}
477 %code requires {CODE}
478 %code provides {CODE}
479 %code top {CODE}
480
481 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
482 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
483 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
484 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
485 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
486
487 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
488 is still considered experimental.
489
490 ** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
491
492 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
493 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. Previously, it was
494 documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers. YYFAIL is no longer
495 documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
496 Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
497 specified by POSIX.
498
499 Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
500 induce a syntax error. The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
501 that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
502 error so that you don't have to. However, there are several other
503 subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
504 inherent flaws when %error-verbose or `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
505 used. For a more detailed discussion, see:
506
507 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
508
509 The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
510 deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it. However,
511 because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
512 Bison features compatible with it. Thus, during parser generation,
513 Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
514 rule action. In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
515 %error-verbose and `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'. Eventually, YYFAIL will
516 be removed altogether.
517
518 There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
519 be a false positive. Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
520 Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
521 preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
522 To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
523 epilogue (that is, after the second `%%') in the Bison input file. In
524 this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
525 C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
526 phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
527 2.4.2 is not necessary.
528
529 ** Internationalization.
530
531 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
532 message translations were not installed although supported by the
533 host system.
534
535 * Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
536
537 ** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
538 declarations have been fixed.
539
540 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
541
542 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
543 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
544
545 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
546
547 instead of
548
549 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
550
551 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
552 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
553 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
554 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
555 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
556 feature.
557
558 ** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
559
560 * Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
561
562 ** %language is an experimental feature.
563
564 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
565 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
566 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
567 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
568 in future releases.
569
570 ** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
571
572 ** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
573 fixed.
574
575 * Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
576
577 ** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
578 are now deprecated:
579
580 %define NAME "VALUE"
581
582 ** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
583
584 %define api.pure
585
586 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
587 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
588
589 ** Push Parsing
590
591 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
592 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
593 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
594 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
595 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
596
597 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
598 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
599
600 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
601
602 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
603 feedback will help to stabilize it.
604
605 ** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
606 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
607 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
608
609 ** Java
610
611 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
612 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
613 %skeleton to select it.
614
615 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
616
617 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
618 feedback will help to stabilize it.
619
620 ** %language
621
622 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
623 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
624 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
625 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
626
627 ** XML Automaton Report
628
629 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
630 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
631 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
632
633 ** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
634 %defines. For example:
635
636 %defines "parser.h"
637
638 ** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
639 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
640 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
641 instead of "unused".
642
643 ** Unreachable State Removal
644
645 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
646 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
647 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
648
649 1. Removes unreachable states.
650
651 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
652 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
653 directives in existing grammar files.
654
655 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
656 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
657
658 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
659
660 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
661
662 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
663 for further discussion.
664
665 ** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
666
667 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
668 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
669 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
670 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
671 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
672 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
673 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
674 code.
675
676 ** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
677 name.
678
679 ** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
680 deprecated:
681
682 %file-prefix "parser"
683 %name-prefix "c_"
684 %output "parser.c"
685
686 ** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
687
688 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
689 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
690 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
691 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
692 it:
693
694 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
695 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
696 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
697 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
698
699 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
700 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
701 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
702 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
703
704 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
705 determine whether they should become permanent features.
706
707 ** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
708
709 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
710 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
711 about unused $2 in:
712
713 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
714
715 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
716 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
717
718 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
719
720 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
721 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
722 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
723
724 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
725 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
726
727 ** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
728
729 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
730 %printer's:
731
732 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
733 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
734 declared semantic type tags.
735
736 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
737 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
738 type tags.
739
740 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
741 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
742 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
743 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
744
745 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
746 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
747 features.
748
749 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
750 details.
751
752 ** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
753 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
754 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
755
756 ** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
757 completely removed from Bison.
758
759 * Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
760
761 ** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
762 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
763 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
764 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
765 and is required by POSIX.
766
767 ** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
768 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
769
770 ** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
771
772 For example:
773
774 %union { char *string; }
775 %token <string> STRING1
776 %token <string> STRING2
777 %type <string> string1
778 %type <string> string2
779 %union { char character; }
780 %token <character> CHR
781 %type <character> chr
782 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
783 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
784 %destructor { } <character>
785
786 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
787 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
788 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
789 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
790 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
791
792 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
793 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
794 future versions.]
795
796 ** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
797 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
798 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
799 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
800 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
801
802 ** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
803 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
804
805 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
806 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
807 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
808 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
809 declared after the first %union.
810
811 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
812 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
813 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
814 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
815 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
816 after the token definitions.
817
818 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
819 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
820
821 ** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
822 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
823 %after-header.
824
825 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
826 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
827 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
828 convenient for you:
829
830 %before-header {
831 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
832 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
833 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
834 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
835 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
836 }
837 %start-header {
838 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
839 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
840 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
841 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
842 }
843 %union {
844 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
845 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
846 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
847 }
848 %end-header {
849 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
850 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
851 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
852 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
853 * definitions. */
854 }
855 %after-header {
856 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
857 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
858 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
859 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
860 * Bison-generated definitions. */
861 }
862
863 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
864 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
865
866 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
867 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
868
869 ** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
870 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
871 in a future release.
872
873 * Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
874
875 ** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
876 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
877
878 ** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
879 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
880
881 * Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
882
883 ** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
884 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
885 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
886
887 ** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
888
889 ** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
890
891 ** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
892 their contents together.
893
894 ** New warning: unused values
895 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
896 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
897
898 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
899 | exp "+" exp
900 ;
901
902 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
903 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
904 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
905
906 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
907 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
908 | exp "+" exp
909 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
910 ;
911
912 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
913 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
914 values are used, e.g.:
915
916 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
917 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
918 ;
919
920 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
921 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
922
923 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
924
925 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
926 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
927
928 ** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
929 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
930 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
931 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
932
933 ** %expect, %expect-rr
934 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
935 instead of warnings.
936
937 ** GLR, YACC parsers.
938 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
939 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
940
941 ** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
942
943 ** %require "VERSION"
944 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
945 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
946
947 ** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
948 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
949 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
950 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
951 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
952
953 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
954 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
955 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
956 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
957
958 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
959 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
960
961 ** DJGPP support added.
962 \f
963 * Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
964
965 ** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
966
967 ** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
968 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
969 language is still English. For details, please see the new
970 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
971 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
972 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
973
974 ** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
975 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
976 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
977 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
978
979 ** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
980 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
981 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
982
983 ** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
984 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
985 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
986 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
987 unexpected "number"'.
988 \f
989 * Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
990
991 ** Possibly-incompatible changes
992
993 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
994 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
995 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
996 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
997 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
998
999 - Error token location.
1000 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
1001 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
1002 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
1003 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
1004
1005 - Semicolon changes:
1006 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
1007 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
1008
1009 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
1010 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
1011 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
1012 forget a closing quote.
1013
1014 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
1015
1016 ** New features
1017
1018 - GLR grammars now support locations.
1019
1020 - New directive: %initial-action.
1021 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
1022 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1023
1024 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
1025 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1026
1027 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
1028 This is a GNU extension.
1029
1030 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
1031 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1032
1033 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1034
1035 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
1036 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
1037
1038 ** Bug fixes
1039
1040 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
1041 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
1042 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
1043 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
1044 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
1045 these violations will become errors again.
1046
1047 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
1048 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
1049
1050 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
1051 \f
1052 * Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
1053
1054 ** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
1055 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
1056
1057 ** syntax error processing
1058
1059 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
1060 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
1061
1062 - %destructor
1063 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
1064 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
1065
1066 - %error-verbose
1067 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
1068
1069 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
1070 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
1071
1072 ** POSIX conformance
1073
1074 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
1075 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
1076 compatibility with Yacc.
1077
1078 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
1079 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
1080 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
1081 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
1082 be consistent.
1083
1084 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
1085 declared before use. C99 requires this.
1086
1087 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
1088 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
1089
1090 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
1091 output as "foo\\bar.y".
1092
1093 - Yacc command and library now available
1094 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
1095 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
1096 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
1097 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
1098
1099 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
1100
1101 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
1102 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
1103 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
1104
1105 ** Other compatibility issues
1106
1107 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
1108 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
1109 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
1110 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
1111 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
1112 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
1113
1114 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
1115 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
1116
1117 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
1118 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
1119
1120 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
1121 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
1122 withdrawn in a future release.
1123
1124 ** GLR parser notes
1125
1126 - GLR and inline
1127 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
1128 C keyword `inline'.
1129
1130 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
1131 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
1132
1133 ** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
1134 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
1135 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
1136
1137 ** #line in output files
1138 - --no-line works properly.
1139
1140 ** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
1141 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
1142 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
1143 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
1144 \f
1145 * Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
1146
1147 ** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
1148
1149 ** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
1150
1151 ** GLR parsers
1152 Fix spurious parse errors.
1153
1154 ** Pure parsers
1155 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
1156 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
1157
1158 ** Type Clashes
1159 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
1160 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
1161
1162 untyped: ... typed;
1163
1164 but the converse remains an error:
1165
1166 typed: ... untyped;
1167
1168 ** Values of mid-rule actions
1169 The following code:
1170
1171 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
1172
1173 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
1174 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
1175 \f
1176 * Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
1177
1178 ** GLR parsing
1179 The declaration
1180 %glr-parser
1181 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
1182 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
1183 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
1184 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
1185
1186 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
1187 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
1188
1189 ** Output Directory
1190 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
1191 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
1192 now creates `bar.c'.
1193
1194 ** Undefined token
1195 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
1196 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
1197
1198 ** Unknown token numbers
1199 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
1200 no longer the case.
1201
1202 ** Error token
1203 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
1204 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
1205 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
1206 will be mapped onto another number.
1207
1208 ** Verbose error messages
1209 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
1210 error recovery is possible.
1211
1212 ** End token
1213 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
1214
1215 ** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
1216 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
1217 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
1218 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
1219 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
1220 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
1221 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
1222 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
1223 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
1224
1225 ** Traces
1226 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
1227
1228 ** Larger grammars
1229 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
1230 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
1231 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
1232 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
1233
1234 ** Explicit initial rule
1235 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
1236 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
1237 graphs as rule 0.
1238
1239 ** Useless rules
1240 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
1241 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
1242
1243 ** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
1244 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
1245
1246 ** Rules never reduced
1247 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
1248 reported.
1249
1250 ** Incorrect `Token not used'
1251 On a grammar such as
1252
1253 %token useless useful
1254 %%
1255 exp: '0' %prec useful;
1256
1257 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
1258 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
1259
1260 ** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
1261 as they caused too many portability hassles.
1262
1263 ** Default locations
1264 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
1265 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
1266 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
1267 the computation of @$.
1268
1269 ** Token end-of-file
1270 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
1271 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
1272 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
1273 For instance
1274 %token MYEOF 0
1275 or
1276 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
1277
1278 ** Semantic parser
1279 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
1280
1281 ** New translations
1282 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
1283 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
1284
1285 ** Incorrect token definitions
1286 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
1287
1288 ** Token definitions as enums
1289 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
1290 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
1291 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
1292
1293 ** Reports
1294 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
1295 produces additional information:
1296 - itemset
1297 complete the core item sets with their closure
1298 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
1299 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
1300 - solved
1301 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
1302 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
1303 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
1304
1305 ** Type clashes
1306 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
1307 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
1308
1309 %type <foo> bar
1310 %%
1311 bar: '0' {} '0';
1312
1313 This is fixed.
1314
1315 ** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
1316 \f
1317 * Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
1318
1319 ** C Skeleton
1320 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
1321 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
1322 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
1323
1324 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
1325 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
1326 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
1327 kludge will be disabled.
1328
1329 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
1330 extended.
1331 \f
1332 * Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
1333
1334 ** File name clashes are detected
1335 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
1336 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
1337
1338 ** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
1339 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1340 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1341 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1342 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1343 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1344
1345 ** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
1346 many portability hassles.
1347
1348 ** DJGPP support added.
1349
1350 ** Fix test suite portability problems.
1351 \f
1352 * Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
1353
1354 ** Fix C++ issues
1355 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1356 under some conditions.
1357
1358 ** Catch invalid @n
1359 As is done with $n.
1360 \f
1361 * Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
1362
1363 ** Fix Yacc output file names
1364
1365 ** Portability fixes
1366
1367 ** Italian, Dutch translations
1368 \f
1369 * Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
1370
1371 ** Many Bug Fixes
1372
1373 ** GNU Gettext and %expect
1374 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1375 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1376 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
1377 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
1378
1379 ** Use of alloca in parsers
1380 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1381 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1382
1383 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1384 problems as on AIX.
1385
1386 ** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
1387
1388 ** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
1389 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1390
1391 ** User Actions
1392 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1393 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1394 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1395
1396 ** Better C++ compliance
1397 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
1398 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
1399
1400 ** Reduced Grammars
1401 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1402
1403 ** 64 bit hosts
1404 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1405
1406 ** Error messages
1407 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1408
1409 ** %expect
1410 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1411 any warning.
1412
1413 ** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
1414
1415 ** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
1416
1417 ** Swedish translation
1418
1419 ** Parse errors
1420 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1421 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1422 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1423
1424 ** Fixed parser memory leaks.
1425 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1426 previous allocations were not freed.
1427
1428 ** Fixed verbose output file.
1429 Some newlines were missing.
1430 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1431
1432 ** Fixed conflict report.
1433 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1434
1435 ** %expect
1436 Was not used.
1437 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1438
1439 ** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
1440
1441 ** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
1442
1443 ** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
1444
1445 ** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
1446 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1447
1448 ** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
1449
1450 ** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
1451 New.
1452
1453 ** --output
1454 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
1455 \f
1456 * Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
1457
1458 ** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
1459 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
1460 argument.
1461
1462 ** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
1463 experiment.
1464
1465 ** Portability fixes.
1466 \f
1467 * Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
1468
1469 ** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
1470 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1471 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
1472 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
1473
1474 ** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
1475
1476 ** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
1477
1478 ** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
1479
1480 ** Russian translation added.
1481
1482 ** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
1483
1484 ** Added the old Bison reference card.
1485
1486 ** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
1487
1488 ** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
1489
1490 ** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
1491
1492 ** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
1493 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1494
1495 ** New directives.
1496 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
1497 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
1498
1499 ** @$
1500 Automatic location tracking.
1501 \f
1502 * Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
1503
1504 ** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
1505
1506 ** Added NLS.
1507
1508 ** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
1509
1510 ** There is now a FAQ.
1511 \f
1512 * Changes in version 1.27:
1513
1514 ** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
1515 some systems has been fixed.
1516 \f
1517 * Changes in version 1.26:
1518
1519 ** Bison now uses automake.
1520
1521 ** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
1522
1523 ** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
1524
1525 ** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
1526
1527 ** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
1528
1529 ** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
1530
1531 ** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
1532 not provide alloca().
1533 \f
1534 * Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
1535
1536 ** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
1537 the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
1538
1539 ** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
1540 example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1541 of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1542
1543 ** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
1544 and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1545 table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1546 purposes.
1547
1548 ** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
1549 directives in the parser file.
1550
1551 ** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
1552 Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1553
1554 ** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
1555 the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1556 The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1557 a switch statement body.
1558 \f
1559 * Changes in version 1.23:
1560
1561 The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1562 passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1563 actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1564 by casting it to the proper pointer type.
1565
1566 Line numbers in output file corrected.
1567 \f
1568 * Changes in version 1.22:
1569
1570 --help option added.
1571 \f
1572 * Changes in version 1.20:
1573
1574 Output file does not redefine const for C++.
1575
1576 Local Variables:
1577 mode: outline
1578 End:
1579
1580 -----
1581
1582 Copyright (C) 1995-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1583
1584 This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
1585
1586 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1587 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1588 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1589 (at your option) any later version.
1590
1591 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1592 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1593 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1594 GNU General Public License for more details.
1595
1596 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1597 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.