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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 ** C++ skeleton improvements
28
29 The C++ parser features a syntax_error exception, which can be
30 thrown from the scanner or from user rules to raise syntax errors.
31 This facilitates reporting errors caught in sub-functions (e.g.,
32 rejecting too large integral literals from a conversion function
33 used by the scanner, or rejecting invalid combinations from a
34 factory invoked by the user actions).
35
36 ** Variable api.tokens.prefix
37
38 The variable api.tokens.prefix changes the way tokens are identified in
39 the generated files. This is especially useful to avoid collisions
40 with identifiers in the target language. For instance
41
42 %token FILE for ERROR
43 %define api.tokens.prefix "TOK_"
44 %%
45 start: FILE for ERROR;
46
47 will generate the definition of the symbols TOK_FILE, TOK_for, and
48 TOK_ERROR in the generated sources. In particular, the scanner must
49 use these prefixed token names, although the grammar itself still
50 uses the short names (as in the sample rule given above).
51
52 ** Variable api.namespace
53
54 The "namespace" variable is renamed "api.namespace". Backward
55 compatibility is ensured, but upgrading is recommended.
56
57 ** Variable parse.error
58
59 The variable error controls the verbosity of error messages. The
60 use of the %error-verbose directive is deprecated in favor of
61 %define parse.error "verbose".
62
63 ** Semantic predicates
64
65 The new, experimental, semantic-predicate feature allows actions of
66 the form %?{ BOOLEAN-EXPRESSION }, which cause syntax errors (as for
67 YYERROR) if the expression evaluates to 0, and are evaluated immediately
68 in GLR parsers, rather than being deferred. The result is that they
69 allow the programmer to prune possible parses based on the values of
70 runtime expressions.
71
72 * Changes in version 2.5.1 (????-??-??):
73
74 ** Several portability problems in the test suite have been fixed:
75
76 This includes warnings with some compilers, unexpected behavior of
77 tools such as diff, warning messages from the test suite itself,
78 etc.
79
80 __attribute__ is not longer disabled when __STRICT_ANSI__ is defined
81 (i.e., when -std is passed to GCC).
82
83 ** Warnings during the build procedure have been eliminated.
84
85 ** Many minor improvements have been made to the manual:
86
87 The layout for grammar has changed to a more compact scheme. Named
88 references are motivated. The description of the automaton
89 description file is updated.
90
91 ** YYBACKUP works as expected.
92
93 ** liby is no longer asking for "rpl_fprintf" on some platforms.
94
95 ** Several Java fixes:
96
97 The Java parser no longer throws ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException if
98 the first token leads to a syntax error. Some minor clean ups.
99
100 ** C++11 compatibility:
101
102 C and C++ parsers use nullptr instead of 0 when __cplusplus is
103 201103L or higher.
104
105 ** C++ locations:
106
107 The position and location constructors (and their initialize
108 methods) accept new arguments for line and column. Several issues
109 in the documentation were fixed.
110
111 * Changes in version 2.5 (2011-05-14):
112
113 ** Grammar symbol names can now contain non-initial dashes:
114
115 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and with
116 %define variables (e.g. push-pull), grammar symbol names may contain
117 dashes in any position except the beginning. This is a GNU
118 extension over POSIX Yacc. Thus, use of this extension is reported
119 by -Wyacc and rejected in Yacc mode (--yacc).
120
121 ** Named references:
122
123 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
124 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
125 actions code.
126
127 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
128 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
129 as named references:
130
131 if_stmt : "if" cond_expr "then" then_stmt ';'
132 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
133
134 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
135
136 stmt[res] : "if" expr[cond] "then" stmt[then] "else" stmt[else] ';'
137 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
138
139 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
140 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
141 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
142
143 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
144 will help to stabilize them.
145
146 ** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
147
148 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
149 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
150 with the full language-recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
151 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction
152 in parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
153 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
154 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
155 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
156 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
157
158 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
159 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
160 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
161 file with these directives:
162
163 %define lr.type lalr
164 %define lr.type ielr
165 %define lr.type canonical-lr
166
167 The default-reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
168 adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'. For details on both
169 of these features, see the new section `Tuning LR' in the Bison
170 manual.
171
172 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
173 stabilize them.
174
175 ** LAC (Lookahead Correction) for syntax error handling:
176
177 Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
178 upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
179 additional parser stack reductions before discovering the syntax
180 error. Such reductions can perform user semantic actions that are
181 unexpected because they are based on an invalid token, and they
182 cause error recovery to begin in a different syntactic context than
183 the one in which the invalid token was encountered. Second, when
184 verbose error messages are enabled (with %error-verbose or the
185 obsolete `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'), the expected token list in the
186 syntax error message can both contain invalid tokens and omit valid
187 tokens.
188
189 The culprits for the above problems are %nonassoc, default
190 reductions in inconsistent states, and parser state merging. Thus,
191 IELR and LALR suffer the most. Canonical LR can suffer only if
192 %nonassoc is used or if default reductions are enabled for
193 inconsistent states.
194
195 LAC is a new mechanism within the parsing algorithm that solves
196 these problems for canonical LR, IELR, and LALR without sacrificing
197 %nonassoc, default reductions, or state merging. When LAC is in
198 use, canonical LR and IELR behave almost exactly the same for both
199 syntactically acceptable and syntactically unacceptable input.
200 While LALR still does not support the full language-recognition
201 power of canonical LR and IELR, LAC at least enables LALR's syntax
202 error handling to correctly reflect LALR's language-recognition
203 power.
204
205 Currently, LAC is only supported for deterministic parsers in C.
206 You can enable LAC with the following directive:
207
208 %define parse.lac full
209
210 See the new section `LAC' in the Bison manual for additional
211 details including a few caveats.
212
213 LAC is an experimental feature. More user feedback will help to
214 stabilize it.
215
216 ** %define improvements:
217
218 *** Can now be invoked via the command line:
219
220 Each of these command-line options
221
222 -D NAME[=VALUE]
223 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
224
225 -F NAME[=VALUE]
226 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
227
228 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
229
230 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
231
232 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
233 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
234 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
235 details, see the section `Bison Options' in the Bison manual.
236
237 *** Variables renamed:
238
239 The following %define variables
240
241 api.push_pull
242 lr.keep_unreachable_states
243
244 have been renamed to
245
246 api.push-pull
247 lr.keep-unreachable-states
248
249 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
250 for backward compatibility.
251
252 *** Values no longer need to be quoted in the grammar file:
253
254 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
255 within quotations marks. For example,
256
257 %define api.push-pull "push"
258
259 can be rewritten as
260
261 %define api.push-pull push
262
263 *** Unrecognized variables are now errors not warnings.
264
265 *** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
266
267 ** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now errors not warnings.
268
269 ** Character literals not of length one:
270
271 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
272 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
273 the following grammar to be the same token:
274
275 exp: exp '++'
276 | exp '+' exp
277 ;
278
279 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
280 some future release, Bison will start reporting an error instead.
281
282 ** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions:
283
284 Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
285 altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
286 determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
287 error or upon parser return. This bug has been fixed.
288
289 ** C++ parsers use YYRHSLOC:
290
291 Similarly to the C parsers, the C++ parsers now define the YYRHSLOC
292 macro and use it in the default YYLLOC_DEFAULT. You are encouraged
293 to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has `first'
294 and `last' members, instead of
295
296 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
297 do \
298 if (N) \
299 { \
300 (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
301 (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
302 } \
303 else \
304 { \
305 (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
306 } \
307 while (false)
308
309 use:
310
311 # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
312 do \
313 if (N) \
314 { \
315 (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
316 (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
317 } \
318 else \
319 { \
320 (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
321 } \
322 while (false)
323
324 ** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
325
326 The default implementation of YYLLOC_DEFAULT used to be issued in
327 the header file. It is now output in the implementation file, after
328 the user %code sections so that its #ifndef guard does not try to
329 override the user's YYLLOC_DEFAULT if provided.
330
331 ** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it:
332
333 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
334 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. More recently, it was
335 a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers. As
336 promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
337 semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
338 no longer implement YYFAIL at all. For further details, including a
339 discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
340 being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
341
342 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action:
343
344 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
345 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
346 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
347 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
348
349 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
350
351 instead of
352
353 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
354
355 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
356 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
357 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
358 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
359 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
360 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
361 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
362
363 ** Verbose syntax error message fixes:
364
365 When %error-verbose or the obsolete `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
366 specified, syntax error messages produced by the generated parser
367 include the unexpected token as well as a list of expected tokens.
368 The effect of %nonassoc on these verbose messages has been corrected
369 in two ways, but a more complete fix requires LAC, described above:
370
371 *** When %nonassoc is used, there can exist parser states that accept no
372 tokens, and so the parser does not always require a lookahead token
373 in order to detect a syntax error. Because no unexpected token or
374 expected tokens can then be reported, the verbose syntax error
375 message described above is suppressed, and the parser instead
376 reports the simpler message, `syntax error'. Previously, this
377 suppression was sometimes erroneously triggered by %nonassoc when a
378 lookahead was actually required. Now verbose messages are
379 suppressed only when all previous lookaheads have already been
380 shifted or discarded.
381
382 *** Previously, the list of expected tokens erroneously included tokens
383 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
384 were resolved with %nonassoc in the current parser state. Such
385 tokens are now properly omitted from the list.
386
387 *** Expected token lists are still often wrong due to state merging
388 (from LALR or IELR) and default reductions, which can both add
389 invalid tokens and subtract valid tokens. Canonical LR almost
390 completely fixes this problem by eliminating state merging and
391 default reductions. However, there is one minor problem left even
392 when using canonical LR and even after the fixes above. That is,
393 if the resolution of a conflict with %nonassoc appears in a later
394 parser state than the one at which some syntax error is
395 discovered, the conflicted token is still erroneously included in
396 the expected token list. Bison's new LAC implementation,
397 described above, eliminates this problem and the need for
398 canonical LR. However, LAC is still experimental and is disabled
399 by default.
400
401 ** Java skeleton fixes:
402
403 *** A location handling bug has been fixed.
404
405 *** The top element of each of the value stack and location stack is now
406 cleared when popped so that it can be garbage collected.
407
408 *** Parser traces now print the top element of the stack.
409
410 ** -W/--warnings fixes:
411
412 *** Bison now properly recognizes the `no-' versions of categories:
413
414 For example, given the following command line, Bison now enables all
415 warnings except warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
416
417 bison -Wall,no-yacc gram.y
418
419 *** Bison now treats S/R and R/R conflicts like other warnings:
420
421 Previously, conflict reports were independent of Bison's normal
422 warning system. Now, Bison recognizes the warning categories
423 `conflicts-sr' and `conflicts-rr'. This change has important
424 consequences for the -W and --warnings command-line options. For
425 example:
426
427 bison -Wno-conflicts-sr gram.y # S/R conflicts not reported
428 bison -Wno-conflicts-rr gram.y # R/R conflicts not reported
429 bison -Wnone gram.y # no conflicts are reported
430 bison -Werror gram.y # any conflict is an error
431
432 However, as before, if the %expect or %expect-rr directive is
433 specified, an unexpected number of conflicts is an error, and an
434 expected number of conflicts is not reported, so -W and --warning
435 then have no effect on the conflict report.
436
437 *** The `none' category no longer disables a preceding `error':
438
439 For example, for the following command line, Bison now reports
440 errors instead of warnings for incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc:
441
442 bison -Werror,none,yacc gram.y
443
444 *** The `none' category now disables all Bison warnings:
445
446 Previously, the `none' category disabled only Bison warnings for
447 which there existed a specific -W/--warning category. However,
448 given the following command line, Bison is now guaranteed to
449 suppress all warnings:
450
451 bison -Wnone gram.y
452
453 ** Precedence directives can now assign token number 0:
454
455 Since Bison 2.3b, which restored the ability of precedence
456 directives to assign token numbers, doing so for token number 0 has
457 produced an assertion failure. For example:
458
459 %left END 0
460
461 This bug has been fixed.
462
463 * Changes in version 2.4.3 (2010-08-05):
464
465 ** Bison now obeys -Werror and --warnings=error for warnings about
466 grammar rules that are useless in the parser due to conflicts.
467
468 ** Problems with spawning M4 on at least FreeBSD 8 and FreeBSD 9 have
469 been fixed.
470
471 ** Failures in the test suite for GCC 4.5 have been fixed.
472
473 ** Failures in the test suite for some versions of Sun Studio C++ have
474 been fixed.
475
476 ** Contrary to Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, it has been decided that
477 warnings about undefined %prec identifiers will not be converted to
478 errors in Bison 2.5. They will remain warnings, which should be
479 sufficient for POSIX while avoiding backward compatibility issues.
480
481 ** Minor documentation fixes.
482
483 * Changes in version 2.4.2 (2010-03-20):
484
485 ** Some portability problems that resulted in failures and livelocks
486 in the test suite on some versions of at least Solaris, AIX, HP-UX,
487 RHEL4, and Tru64 have been addressed. As a result, fatal Bison
488 errors should no longer cause M4 to report a broken pipe on the
489 affected platforms.
490
491 ** `%prec IDENTIFIER' requires IDENTIFIER to be defined separately.
492
493 POSIX specifies that an error be reported for any identifier that does
494 not appear on the LHS of a grammar rule and that is not defined by
495 %token, %left, %right, or %nonassoc. Bison 2.3b and later lost this
496 error report for the case when an identifier appears only after a
497 %prec directive. It is now restored. However, for backward
498 compatibility with recent Bison releases, it is only a warning for
499 now. In Bison 2.5 and later, it will return to being an error.
500 [Between the 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 releases, it was decided that this
501 warning will not be converted to an error in Bison 2.5.]
502
503 ** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
504
505 ** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
506 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
507 avoided.
508
509 ** %code is now a permanent feature.
510
511 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
512
513 %{CODE%}
514
515 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
516 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
517
518 %code {CODE}
519 %code requires {CODE}
520 %code provides {CODE}
521 %code top {CODE}
522
523 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
524 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
525 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
526 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
527 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
528
529 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
530 is still considered experimental.
531
532 ** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
533
534 YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
535 deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison. Previously, it was
536 documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers. YYFAIL is no longer
537 documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
538 Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
539 specified by POSIX.
540
541 Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
542 induce a syntax error. The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
543 that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
544 error so that you don't have to. However, there are several other
545 subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
546 inherent flaws when %error-verbose or `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
547 used. For a more detailed discussion, see:
548
549 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
550
551 The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
552 deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it. However,
553 because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
554 Bison features compatible with it. Thus, during parser generation,
555 Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
556 rule action. In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
557 %error-verbose and `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'. Eventually, YYFAIL will
558 be removed altogether.
559
560 There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
561 be a false positive. Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
562 Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
563 preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
564 To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
565 epilogue (that is, after the second `%%') in the Bison input file. In
566 this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
567 C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
568 phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
569 2.4.2 is not necessary.
570
571 ** Internationalization.
572
573 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
574 message translations were not installed although supported by the
575 host system.
576
577 * Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
578
579 ** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
580 declarations have been fixed.
581
582 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
583
584 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
585 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
586
587 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
588
589 instead of
590
591 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
592
593 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
594 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
595 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
596 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
597 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
598 feature.
599
600 ** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
601
602 * Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
603
604 ** %language is an experimental feature.
605
606 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
607 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
608 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
609 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
610 in future releases.
611
612 ** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
613
614 ** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
615 fixed.
616
617 * Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
618
619 ** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
620 are now deprecated:
621
622 %define NAME "VALUE"
623
624 ** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
625
626 %define api.pure
627
628 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
629 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
630
631 ** Push Parsing
632
633 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
634 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
635 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
636 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
637 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
638
639 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
640 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
641
642 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
643
644 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
645 feedback will help to stabilize it.
646
647 ** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
648 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
649 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
650
651 ** Java
652
653 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
654 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
655 %skeleton to select it.
656
657 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
658
659 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
660 feedback will help to stabilize it.
661
662 ** %language
663
664 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
665 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
666 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
667 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
668
669 ** XML Automaton Report
670
671 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
672 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
673 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
674
675 ** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
676 %defines. For example:
677
678 %defines "parser.h"
679
680 ** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
681 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
682 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
683 instead of "unused".
684
685 ** Unreachable State Removal
686
687 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
688 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
689 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
690
691 1. Removes unreachable states.
692
693 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
694 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
695 directives in existing grammar files.
696
697 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
698 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
699
700 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
701
702 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
703
704 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
705 for further discussion.
706
707 ** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
708
709 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
710 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
711 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
712 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
713 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
714 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
715 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
716 code.
717
718 ** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
719 name.
720
721 ** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
722 deprecated:
723
724 %file-prefix "parser"
725 %name-prefix "c_"
726 %output "parser.c"
727
728 ** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
729
730 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
731 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
732 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
733 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
734 it:
735
736 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
737 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
738 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
739 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
740
741 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
742 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
743 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
744 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
745
746 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
747 determine whether they should become permanent features.
748
749 ** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
750
751 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
752 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
753 about unused $2 in:
754
755 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
756
757 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
758 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
759
760 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
761
762 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
763 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
764 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
765
766 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
767 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
768
769 ** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
770
771 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
772 %printer's:
773
774 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
775 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
776 declared semantic type tags.
777
778 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
779 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
780 type tags.
781
782 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
783 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
784 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
785 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
786
787 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
788 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
789 features.
790
791 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
792 details.
793
794 ** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
795 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
796 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
797
798 ** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
799 completely removed from Bison.
800
801 * Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
802
803 ** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
804 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
805 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
806 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
807 and is required by POSIX.
808
809 ** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
810 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
811
812 ** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
813
814 For example:
815
816 %union { char *string; }
817 %token <string> STRING1
818 %token <string> STRING2
819 %type <string> string1
820 %type <string> string2
821 %union { char character; }
822 %token <character> CHR
823 %type <character> chr
824 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
825 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
826 %destructor { } <character>
827
828 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
829 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
830 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
831 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
832 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
833
834 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
835 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
836 future versions.]
837
838 ** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
839 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
840 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
841 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
842 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
843
844 ** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
845 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
846
847 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
848 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
849 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
850 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
851 declared after the first %union.
852
853 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
854 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
855 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
856 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
857 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
858 after the token definitions.
859
860 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
861 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
862
863 ** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
864 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
865 %after-header.
866
867 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
868 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
869 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
870 convenient for you:
871
872 %before-header {
873 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
874 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
875 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
876 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
877 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
878 }
879 %start-header {
880 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
881 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
882 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
883 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
884 }
885 %union {
886 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
887 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
888 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
889 }
890 %end-header {
891 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
892 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
893 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
894 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
895 * definitions. */
896 }
897 %after-header {
898 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
899 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
900 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
901 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
902 * Bison-generated definitions. */
903 }
904
905 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
906 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
907
908 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
909 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
910
911 ** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
912 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
913 in a future release.
914
915 * Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
916
917 ** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
918 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
919
920 ** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
921 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
922
923 * Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
924
925 ** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
926 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
927 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
928
929 ** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
930
931 ** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
932
933 ** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
934 their contents together.
935
936 ** New warning: unused values
937 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
938 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
939
940 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
941 | exp "+" exp
942 ;
943
944 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
945 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
946 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
947
948 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
949 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
950 | exp "+" exp
951 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
952 ;
953
954 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
955 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
956 values are used, e.g.:
957
958 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
959 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
960 ;
961
962 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
963 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
964
965 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
966
967 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
968 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
969
970 ** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
971 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
972 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
973 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
974
975 ** %expect, %expect-rr
976 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
977 instead of warnings.
978
979 ** GLR, YACC parsers.
980 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
981 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
982
983 ** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
984
985 ** %require "VERSION"
986 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
987 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
988
989 ** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
990 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
991 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
992 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
993 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
994
995 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
996 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
997 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
998 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
999
1000 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
1001 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
1002
1003 ** DJGPP support added.
1004 \f
1005 * Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
1006
1007 ** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
1008
1009 ** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
1010 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
1011 language is still English. For details, please see the new
1012 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
1013 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
1014 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
1015
1016 ** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
1017 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
1018 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
1019 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
1020
1021 ** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
1022 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
1023 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
1024
1025 ** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
1026 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
1027 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
1028 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
1029 unexpected "number"'.
1030 \f
1031 * Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
1032
1033 ** Possibly-incompatible changes
1034
1035 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
1036 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
1037 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
1038 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
1039 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
1040
1041 - Error token location.
1042 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
1043 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
1044 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
1045 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
1046
1047 - Semicolon changes:
1048 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
1049 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
1050
1051 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
1052 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
1053 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
1054 forget a closing quote.
1055
1056 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
1057
1058 ** New features
1059
1060 - GLR grammars now support locations.
1061
1062 - New directive: %initial-action.
1063 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
1064 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
1065
1066 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
1067 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
1068
1069 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
1070 This is a GNU extension.
1071
1072 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
1073 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
1074
1075 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
1076
1077 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
1078 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
1079
1080 ** Bug fixes
1081
1082 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
1083 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
1084 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
1085 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
1086 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
1087 these violations will become errors again.
1088
1089 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
1090 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
1091
1092 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
1093 \f
1094 * Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
1095
1096 ** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
1097 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
1098
1099 ** syntax error processing
1100
1101 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
1102 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
1103
1104 - %destructor
1105 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
1106 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
1107
1108 - %error-verbose
1109 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
1110
1111 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
1112 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
1113
1114 ** POSIX conformance
1115
1116 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
1117 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
1118 compatibility with Yacc.
1119
1120 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
1121 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
1122 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
1123 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
1124 be consistent.
1125
1126 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
1127 declared before use. C99 requires this.
1128
1129 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
1130 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
1131
1132 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
1133 output as "foo\\bar.y".
1134
1135 - Yacc command and library now available
1136 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
1137 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
1138 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
1139 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
1140
1141 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
1142
1143 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
1144 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
1145 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
1146
1147 ** Other compatibility issues
1148
1149 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
1150 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
1151 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
1152 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
1153 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
1154 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
1155
1156 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
1157 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
1158
1159 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
1160 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
1161
1162 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
1163 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
1164 withdrawn in a future release.
1165
1166 ** GLR parser notes
1167
1168 - GLR and inline
1169 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
1170 C keyword `inline'.
1171
1172 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
1173 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
1174
1175 ** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
1176 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
1177 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
1178
1179 ** #line in output files
1180 - --no-line works properly.
1181
1182 ** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
1183 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
1184 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
1185 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
1186 \f
1187 * Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
1188
1189 ** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
1190
1191 ** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
1192
1193 ** GLR parsers
1194 Fix spurious parse errors.
1195
1196 ** Pure parsers
1197 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
1198 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
1199
1200 ** Type Clashes
1201 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
1202 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
1203
1204 untyped: ... typed;
1205
1206 but the converse remains an error:
1207
1208 typed: ... untyped;
1209
1210 ** Values of mid-rule actions
1211 The following code:
1212
1213 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
1214
1215 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
1216 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
1217 \f
1218 * Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
1219
1220 ** GLR parsing
1221 The declaration
1222 %glr-parser
1223 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
1224 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
1225 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
1226 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
1227
1228 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
1229 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
1230
1231 ** Output Directory
1232 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
1233 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
1234 now creates `bar.c'.
1235
1236 ** Undefined token
1237 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
1238 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
1239
1240 ** Unknown token numbers
1241 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
1242 no longer the case.
1243
1244 ** Error token
1245 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
1246 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
1247 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
1248 will be mapped onto another number.
1249
1250 ** Verbose error messages
1251 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
1252 error recovery is possible.
1253
1254 ** End token
1255 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
1256
1257 ** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
1258 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
1259 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
1260 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
1261 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
1262 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
1263 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
1264 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
1265 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
1266
1267 ** Traces
1268 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
1269
1270 ** Larger grammars
1271 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
1272 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
1273 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
1274 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
1275
1276 ** Explicit initial rule
1277 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
1278 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
1279 graphs as rule 0.
1280
1281 ** Useless rules
1282 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
1283 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
1284
1285 ** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
1286 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
1287
1288 ** Rules never reduced
1289 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
1290 reported.
1291
1292 ** Incorrect `Token not used'
1293 On a grammar such as
1294
1295 %token useless useful
1296 %%
1297 exp: '0' %prec useful;
1298
1299 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
1300 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
1301
1302 ** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
1303 as they caused too many portability hassles.
1304
1305 ** Default locations
1306 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
1307 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
1308 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
1309 the computation of @$.
1310
1311 ** Token end-of-file
1312 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
1313 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
1314 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
1315 For instance
1316 %token MYEOF 0
1317 or
1318 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
1319
1320 ** Semantic parser
1321 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
1322
1323 ** New translations
1324 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
1325 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
1326
1327 ** Incorrect token definitions
1328 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
1329
1330 ** Token definitions as enums
1331 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
1332 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
1333 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
1334
1335 ** Reports
1336 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
1337 produces additional information:
1338 - itemset
1339 complete the core item sets with their closure
1340 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
1341 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
1342 - solved
1343 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
1344 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
1345 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
1346
1347 ** Type clashes
1348 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
1349 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
1350
1351 %type <foo> bar
1352 %%
1353 bar: '0' {} '0';
1354
1355 This is fixed.
1356
1357 ** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
1358 \f
1359 * Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
1360
1361 ** C Skeleton
1362 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
1363 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
1364 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
1365
1366 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
1367 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
1368 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
1369 kludge will be disabled.
1370
1371 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
1372 extended.
1373 \f
1374 * Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
1375
1376 ** File name clashes are detected
1377 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
1378 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
1379
1380 ** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
1381 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1382 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1383 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1384 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1385 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1386
1387 ** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
1388 many portability hassles.
1389
1390 ** DJGPP support added.
1391
1392 ** Fix test suite portability problems.
1393 \f
1394 * Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
1395
1396 ** Fix C++ issues
1397 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1398 under some conditions.
1399
1400 ** Catch invalid @n
1401 As is done with $n.
1402 \f
1403 * Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
1404
1405 ** Fix Yacc output file names
1406
1407 ** Portability fixes
1408
1409 ** Italian, Dutch translations
1410 \f
1411 * Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
1412
1413 ** Many Bug Fixes
1414
1415 ** GNU Gettext and %expect
1416 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1417 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1418 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
1419 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
1420
1421 ** Use of alloca in parsers
1422 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1423 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1424
1425 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1426 problems as on AIX.
1427
1428 ** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
1429
1430 ** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
1431 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1432
1433 ** User Actions
1434 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1435 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1436 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1437
1438 ** Better C++ compliance
1439 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
1440 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
1441
1442 ** Reduced Grammars
1443 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1444
1445 ** 64 bit hosts
1446 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1447
1448 ** Error messages
1449 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1450
1451 ** %expect
1452 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1453 any warning.
1454
1455 ** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
1456
1457 ** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
1458
1459 ** Swedish translation
1460
1461 ** Parse errors
1462 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1463 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1464 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1465
1466 ** Fixed parser memory leaks.
1467 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1468 previous allocations were not freed.
1469
1470 ** Fixed verbose output file.
1471 Some newlines were missing.
1472 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1473
1474 ** Fixed conflict report.
1475 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1476
1477 ** %expect
1478 Was not used.
1479 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1480
1481 ** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
1482
1483 ** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
1484
1485 ** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
1486
1487 ** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
1488 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1489
1490 ** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
1491
1492 ** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
1493 New.
1494
1495 ** --output
1496 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
1497 \f
1498 * Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
1499
1500 ** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
1501 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
1502 argument.
1503
1504 ** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
1505 experiment.
1506
1507 ** Portability fixes.
1508 \f
1509 * Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
1510
1511 ** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
1512 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1513 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
1514 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
1515
1516 ** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
1517
1518 ** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
1519
1520 ** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
1521
1522 ** Russian translation added.
1523
1524 ** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
1525
1526 ** Added the old Bison reference card.
1527
1528 ** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
1529
1530 ** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
1531
1532 ** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
1533
1534 ** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
1535 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1536
1537 ** New directives.
1538 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
1539 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
1540
1541 ** @$
1542 Automatic location tracking.
1543 \f
1544 * Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
1545
1546 ** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
1547
1548 ** Added NLS.
1549
1550 ** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
1551
1552 ** There is now a FAQ.
1553 \f
1554 * Changes in version 1.27:
1555
1556 ** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
1557 some systems has been fixed.
1558 \f
1559 * Changes in version 1.26:
1560
1561 ** Bison now uses automake.
1562
1563 ** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
1564
1565 ** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
1566
1567 ** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
1568
1569 ** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
1570
1571 ** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
1572
1573 ** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
1574 not provide alloca().
1575 \f
1576 * Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
1577
1578 ** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
1579 the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
1580
1581 ** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
1582 example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1583 of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1584
1585 ** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
1586 and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1587 table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1588 purposes.
1589
1590 ** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
1591 directives in the parser file.
1592
1593 ** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
1594 Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1595
1596 ** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
1597 the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1598 The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1599 a switch statement body.
1600 \f
1601 * Changes in version 1.23:
1602
1603 The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1604 passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1605 actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1606 by casting it to the proper pointer type.
1607
1608 Line numbers in output file corrected.
1609 \f
1610 * Changes in version 1.22:
1611
1612 --help option added.
1613 \f
1614 * Changes in version 1.20:
1615
1616 Output file does not redefine const for C++.
1617
1618 Local Variables:
1619 mode: outline
1620 End:
1621
1622 -----
1623
1624 Copyright (C) 1995-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1625
1626 This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
1627
1628 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1629 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1630 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1631 (at your option) any later version.
1632
1633 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1634 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1635 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1636 GNU General Public License for more details.
1637
1638 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1639 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.