4 * Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
6 ** Java skeleton improvements:
8 The constants for token names were moved to the Lexer interface.
9 Also, it is possible to add code to the parser's constructors using
10 "%code init" and "%define init_throws".
12 ** Variable api.tokens.prefix
14 The variable api.tokens.prefix changes the way tokens are identified in
15 the generated files. This is especially useful to avoid collisions
16 with identifiers in the target language. For instance
19 %define api.tokens.prefix "TOK_"
21 start: FILE for ERROR;
23 will generate the definition of the symbols TOK_FILE, TOK_for, and
24 TOK_ERROR in the generated sources. In particular, the scanner must
25 use these prefixed token names, although the grammar itself still
26 uses the short names (as in the sample rule given above).
28 ** Variable api.namespace
30 The "namespace" variable is renamed "api.namespace". Backward
31 compatibility is ensured, but upgrading is recommended.
33 ** Variable parse.error
35 The variable error controls the verbosity of error messages. The
36 use of the %error-verbose directive is deprecated in favor of
37 %define parse.error "verbose".
39 * Changes in version 2.5 (????-??-??):
41 ** IELR(1) and Canonical LR(1) Support
43 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
44 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
45 with the full language recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
46 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction in
47 parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
48 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
49 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
50 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
51 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
53 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
54 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
55 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
56 file with these directives:
60 %define lr.type canonical-lr
62 The default reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
63 adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'. See the documentation
64 for `%define lr.type' and `%define lr.default-reductions' in the
65 section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual for the
68 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
71 ** %define improvements.
73 *** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
75 *** Can now be invoked via the command line.
77 Each of these command-line options
83 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
85 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
87 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
89 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
90 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
91 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
92 details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
94 *** Variables renamed.
96 The following %define variables
99 lr.keep_unreachable_states
104 lr.keep-unreachable-states
106 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
107 for backward compatibility.
109 *** Values no longer need to be quoted in grammar file.
111 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
112 within quotations marks. For example,
114 %define api.push-pull "push"
118 %define api.push-pull push
122 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and variables
123 (e.g. push-pull), symbol names may include dashes in any position,
124 similarly to periods and underscores. This is GNU extension over
125 POSIX Yacc whose use is reported by -Wyacc, and rejected in Yacc
128 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
130 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
131 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
132 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
133 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
135 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
139 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
141 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
142 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
143 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
144 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
145 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
146 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
147 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
149 ** Character literals not of length one.
151 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
152 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
153 the following grammar to be the same token:
159 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
160 some future release, Bison will report an error instead.
162 ** Verbose error messages fixed for nonassociative tokens.
164 When %error-verbose is specified, syntax error messages produced by
165 the generated parser include the unexpected token as well as a list of
166 expected tokens. Previously, this list erroneously included tokens
167 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
168 were resolved with %nonassoc. Such tokens are now properly omitted
171 * Changes in version 2.4.2 (????-??-??):
173 ** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
175 ** %code is now a permanent feature.
177 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
181 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
182 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
185 %code requires {CODE}
186 %code provides {CODE}
189 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
190 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
191 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
192 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
193 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
195 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
196 is still considered experimental.
198 * Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
200 ** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
201 declarations have been fixed.
203 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
205 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
206 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
208 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
212 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
214 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
215 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
216 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
217 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
218 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
221 ** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
223 * Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
225 ** %language is an experimental feature.
227 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
228 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
229 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
230 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
233 ** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
235 ** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
238 * Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
240 ** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
245 ** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
249 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
250 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
254 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
255 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
256 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
257 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
258 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
260 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
261 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
263 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
265 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
266 feedback will help to stabilize it.
268 ** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
269 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
270 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
274 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
275 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
276 %skeleton to select it.
278 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
280 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
281 feedback will help to stabilize it.
285 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
286 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
287 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
288 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
290 ** XML Automaton Report
292 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
293 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
294 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
296 ** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
297 %defines. For example:
301 ** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
302 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
303 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
306 ** Unreachable State Removal
308 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
309 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
310 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
312 1. Removes unreachable states.
314 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
315 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
316 directives in existing grammar files.
318 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
319 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
321 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
323 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
325 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
326 for further discussion.
328 ** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
330 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
331 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
332 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
333 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
334 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
335 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
336 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
339 ** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
342 ** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
345 %file-prefix "parser"
349 ** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
351 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
352 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
353 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
354 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
357 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
358 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
359 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
360 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
362 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
363 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
364 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
365 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
367 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
368 determine whether they should become permanent features.
370 ** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
372 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
373 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
376 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
378 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
379 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
381 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
383 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
384 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
385 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
387 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
388 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
390 ** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
392 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
395 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
396 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
397 declared semantic type tags.
399 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
400 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
403 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
404 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
405 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
406 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
408 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
409 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
412 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
415 ** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
416 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
417 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
419 ** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
420 completely removed from Bison.
422 * Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
424 ** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
425 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
426 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
427 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
428 and is required by POSIX.
430 ** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
431 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
433 ** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
437 %union { char *string; }
438 %token <string> STRING1
439 %token <string> STRING2
440 %type <string> string1
441 %type <string> string2
442 %union { char character; }
443 %token <character> CHR
444 %type <character> chr
445 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
446 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
447 %destructor { } <character>
449 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
450 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
451 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
452 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
453 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
455 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
456 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
459 ** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
460 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
461 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
462 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
463 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
465 ** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
466 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
468 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
469 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
470 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
471 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
472 declared after the first %union.
474 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
475 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
476 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
477 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
478 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
479 after the token definitions.
481 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
482 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
484 ** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
485 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
488 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
489 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
490 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
494 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
495 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
496 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
497 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
498 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
501 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
502 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
503 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
504 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
507 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
508 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
509 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
512 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
513 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
514 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
515 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
519 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
520 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
521 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
522 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
523 * Bison-generated definitions. */
526 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
527 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
529 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
530 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
532 ** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
533 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
536 * Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
538 ** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
539 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
541 ** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
542 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
544 * Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
546 ** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
547 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
548 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
550 ** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
552 ** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
554 ** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
555 their contents together.
557 ** New warning: unused values
558 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
559 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
561 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
565 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
566 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
567 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
569 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
570 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
572 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
575 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
576 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
577 values are used, e.g.:
579 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
580 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
583 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
584 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
586 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
588 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
589 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
591 ** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
592 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
593 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
594 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
596 ** %expect, %expect-rr
597 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
600 ** GLR, YACC parsers.
601 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
602 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
604 ** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
606 ** %require "VERSION"
607 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
608 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
610 ** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
611 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
612 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
613 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
614 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
616 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
617 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
618 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
619 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
621 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
622 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
624 ** DJGPP support added.
626 * Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
628 ** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
630 ** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
631 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
632 language is still English. For details, please see the new
633 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
634 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
635 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
637 ** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
638 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
639 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
640 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
642 ** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
643 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
644 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
646 ** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
647 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
648 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
649 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
650 unexpected "number"'.
652 * Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
654 ** Possibly-incompatible changes
656 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
657 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
658 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
659 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
660 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
662 - Error token location.
663 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
664 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
665 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
666 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
669 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
670 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
672 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
673 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
674 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
675 forget a closing quote.
677 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
681 - GLR grammars now support locations.
683 - New directive: %initial-action.
684 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
685 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
687 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
688 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
690 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
691 This is a GNU extension.
693 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
694 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
696 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
698 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
699 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
703 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
704 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
705 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
706 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
707 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
708 these violations will become errors again.
710 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
711 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
713 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
715 * Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
717 ** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
718 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
720 ** syntax error processing
722 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
723 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
726 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
727 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
730 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
732 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
733 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
737 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
738 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
739 compatibility with Yacc.
741 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
742 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
743 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
744 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
747 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
748 declared before use. C99 requires this.
750 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
751 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
753 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
754 output as "foo\\bar.y".
756 - Yacc command and library now available
757 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
758 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
759 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
760 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
762 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
764 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
765 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
766 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
768 ** Other compatibility issues
770 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
771 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
772 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
773 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
774 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
775 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
777 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
778 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
780 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
781 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
783 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
784 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
785 withdrawn in a future release.
790 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
793 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
794 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
796 ** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
797 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
798 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
800 ** #line in output files
801 - --no-line works properly.
803 ** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
804 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
805 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
806 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
808 * Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
810 ** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
812 ** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
815 Fix spurious parse errors.
818 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
819 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
822 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
823 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
827 but the converse remains an error:
831 ** Values of mid-rule actions
834 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
836 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
837 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
839 * Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
844 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
845 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
846 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
847 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
849 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
850 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
853 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
854 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
858 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
859 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
861 ** Unknown token numbers
862 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
866 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
867 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
868 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
869 will be mapped onto another number.
871 ** Verbose error messages
872 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
873 error recovery is possible.
876 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
878 ** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
879 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
880 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
881 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
882 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
883 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
884 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
885 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
886 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
889 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
892 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
893 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
894 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
895 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
897 ** Explicit initial rule
898 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
899 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
903 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
904 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
906 ** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
907 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
909 ** Rules never reduced
910 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
913 ** Incorrect `Token not used'
916 %token useless useful
918 exp: '0' %prec useful;
920 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
921 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
923 ** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
924 as they caused too many portability hassles.
927 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
928 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
929 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
930 the computation of @$.
933 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
934 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
935 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
939 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
942 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
945 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
946 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
948 ** Incorrect token definitions
949 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
951 ** Token definitions as enums
952 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
953 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
954 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
957 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
958 produces additional information:
960 complete the core item sets with their closure
961 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
962 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
964 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
965 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
966 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
969 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
970 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
978 ** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
980 * Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
983 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
984 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
985 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
987 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
988 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
989 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
990 kludge will be disabled.
992 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
995 * Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
997 ** File name clashes are detected
998 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
999 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
1001 ** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
1002 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1003 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1004 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1005 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1006 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1008 ** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
1009 many portability hassles.
1011 ** DJGPP support added.
1013 ** Fix test suite portability problems.
1015 * Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
1018 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1019 under some conditions.
1024 * Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
1026 ** Fix Yacc output file names
1028 ** Portability fixes
1030 ** Italian, Dutch translations
1032 * Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
1036 ** GNU Gettext and %expect
1037 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1038 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1039 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
1040 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
1042 ** Use of alloca in parsers
1043 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1044 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1046 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1049 ** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
1051 ** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
1052 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1055 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1056 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1057 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1059 ** Better C++ compliance
1060 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
1061 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
1064 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1067 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1070 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1073 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1076 ** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
1078 ** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
1080 ** Swedish translation
1083 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1084 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1085 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1087 ** Fixed parser memory leaks.
1088 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1089 previous allocations were not freed.
1091 ** Fixed verbose output file.
1092 Some newlines were missing.
1093 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1095 ** Fixed conflict report.
1096 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1100 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1102 ** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
1104 ** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
1106 ** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
1108 ** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
1109 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1111 ** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
1113 ** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
1117 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
1119 * Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
1121 ** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
1122 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
1125 ** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
1128 ** Portability fixes.
1130 * Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
1132 ** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
1133 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1134 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
1135 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
1137 ** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
1139 ** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
1141 ** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
1143 ** Russian translation added.
1145 ** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
1147 ** Added the old Bison reference card.
1149 ** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
1151 ** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
1153 ** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
1155 ** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
1156 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1159 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
1160 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
1163 Automatic location tracking.
1165 * Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
1167 ** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
1171 ** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
1173 ** There is now a FAQ.
1175 * Changes in version 1.27:
1177 ** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
1178 some systems has been fixed.
1180 * Changes in version 1.26:
1182 ** Bison now uses automake.
1184 ** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
1186 ** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
1188 ** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
1190 ** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
1192 ** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
1194 ** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
1195 not provide alloca().
1197 * Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
1199 ** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
1200 the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
1202 ** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
1203 example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1204 of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1206 ** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
1207 and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1208 table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1211 ** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
1212 directives in the parser file.
1214 ** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
1215 Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1217 ** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
1218 the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1219 The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1220 a switch statement body.
1222 * Changes in version 1.23:
1224 The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1225 passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1226 actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1227 by casting it to the proper pointer type.
1229 Line numbers in output file corrected.
1231 * Changes in version 1.22:
1233 --help option added.
1235 * Changes in version 1.20:
1237 Output file does not redefine const for C++.
1245 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
1246 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1248 This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
1250 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1251 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1252 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1253 (at your option) any later version.
1255 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1256 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1257 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1258 GNU General Public License for more details.
1260 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1261 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.