HACKING

   1 -*- outline -*-
   2
   3 This file attempts to describe the rules to use when hacking Bison.
   4 Don't put this file into the distribution.
   5
   6 Everything related to the development of Bison is on Savannah:
   7
   8         http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/bison/
   9
  10
  11 * Administrivia
  12
  13 ** If you incorporate a change from somebody on the net:
  14 First, if it is a large change, you must make sure they have signed
  15 the appropriate paperwork.  Second, be sure to add their name and
  16 email address to THANKS.
  17
  18 ** If a change fixes a test, mention the test in the ChangeLog entry.
  19
  20 ** Bug reports
  21 If somebody reports a new bug, mention his name in the ChangeLog entry
  22 and in the test case you write.  Put him into THANKS.
  23
  24 The correct response to most actual bugs is to write a new test case
  25 which demonstrates the bug.  Then fix the bug, re-run the test suite,
  26 and check everything in.
  27
  28 ** You may find it useful to install the git-merge-changelog merge driver:
  29
  30   http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=gnulib.git;a=blob;f=lib/git-merge-changelog.c
  31
  32 When following the generic installation instructions there, keep in mind that
  33 your clone of Bison's git repository already contains appropriate
  34 .gitattributes files, and running Bison's bootstrap script will make the
  35 necessary changes to .git/config.
  36
  37
  38 * Hacking
  39
  40 ** Visible changes
  41 Which include serious bug fixes, must be mentioned in NEWS.
  42
  43 ** Translations
  44 Only user visible strings are to be translated: error messages, bits
  45 of the .output file etc.  This excludes impossible error messages
  46 (comparable to assert/abort), and all the --trace output which is
  47 meant for the maintainers only.
  48
  49
  50 * Test suite
  51
  52 ** make check
  53 Use liberally.
  54
  55 ** Release checks
  56 Try to run the test suite with more severe conditions before a
  57 release:
  58
  59 - Configure the package with --enable-gcc-warnings, so that one checks
  60   that 1. Bison compiles cleanly, 2. the parsers it produces compile
  61   cleanly too.
  62
  63 - run `make maintainer-check' which:
  64   - runs `valgrind -q bison' to run Bison under Valgrind.
  65   - runs the parsers under Valgrind.
  66   - runs the test suite with G++ as C compiler...
  67
  68 - run `make maintainer-push-check', which runs `make maintainer-check'
  69   while activating the push implementation and its pull interface wrappers
  70   in many test cases that were originally written to exercise only the
  71   pull implementation.  This makes certain the push implementation can
  72   perform every task the pull implementation can.
  73
  74 - run `make maintainer-xml-check', which runs `make maintainer-check'
  75   while checking Bison's XML automaton report for every working grammar
  76   passed to Bison in the test suite.  The check just diffs the output of
  77   Bison's included XSLT style sheets with the output of --report=all and
  78   --graph.
  79
  80 - Change tests/atlocal/CFLAGS to add your preferred options.  For
  81   instance, `-traditional' to check that the parsers are K&R.  Note
  82   that it does not make sense for glr.c, which should be ANSI,
  83   but currently is actually GNU C, nor for lalr1.cc.
  84
  85
  86 * Release Procedure
  87
  88 ** Try to get the *.pot files to the Translation Project at least one week
  89 before a stable release, to give them time to translate them.
  90
  91 ** Tests
  92 See above.
  93
  94 ** Update the foreign files
  95 Running `./bootstrap' in the top level should update them all for you.
  96 This covers PO files too.  Sometimes a PO file contains problems that
  97 causes it to be rejected by recent Gettext releases; please report
  98 these to the Translation Project.
  99
 100 ** Update README
 101 Make sure the information in this file is current.  Most notably, make sure it
 102 recommends a version of GNU M4 that is compatible with the latest Bison
 103 sources.
 104
 105 ** Update NEWS
 106 The version number, *and* the date of the release (including for
 107 betas).
 108
 109 ** Update ChangeLog
 110 Should have an entry similar to `Version 1.49b.'.
 111
 112 ** Update configure.ac
 113 Be sure PACKAGE_COPYRIGHT_YEAR is up-to-date.
 114
 115 ** Tag the release
 116 Before Bison will build with the right version number, you must tag the release
 117 in git.  Do this after all other changes.  The command is similar to:
 118
 119   git tag -a v2.3b
 120
 121 The log message can be simply:
 122
 123   Bison 2.3b
 124
 125 ** Push
 126 Once `make distcheck' passes, push your changes and the tag.
 127 `git push' without arguments will not push the tag.
 128
 129 ** make alpha
 130 FIXME: `make alpha' is not maintained and is broken.  These
 131 instructions need to be replaced or removed.
 132
 133 Running `make alpha' is absolutely perfect for beta releases: it makes
 134 the tarballs, the xdeltas, and prepares (in /tmp/) a proto
 135 announcement.  It is so neat, that that's what I use anyway for
 136 genuine releases, but adjusting things by hand (e.g., the urls in the
 137 announcement file, the ChangeLog which is not needed etc.).
 138
 139 If it fails, you're on your own...
 140
 141 It requires GNU Make.
 142
 143 ** Upload
 144 The generic GNU upload procedure is at:
 145
 146   http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/maintain.html#Automated-FTP-Uploads
 147
 148 After following the instructions there to register your information so you're
 149 permitted to upload, here's a brief reminder of how to roll the tarballs and
 150 upload them:
 151
 152 *** make distcheck
 153 *** gpg -b bison-2.3b.tar.gz
 154 *** In a file named `bison-2.3b.tar.gz.directive', type:
 155
 156       version: 1.1
 157       directory: bison
 158       filename: bison-2.3b.tar.gz
 159
 160 *** gpg --clearsign bison-2.3b.tar.gz.directive
 161 *** ftp ftp-upload.gnu.org # Log in as anonymous.
 162 *** cd /incoming/alpha # cd /incoming/ftp for full release.
 163 *** put bison-2.3b.tar.gz # This can take a while.
 164 *** put bison-2.3b.tar.gz.sig
 165 *** put bison-2.3b.tar.gz.directive.asc
 166 *** Repeat all these steps for bison-2.3b.tar.bz2.
 167
 168 ** Announce
 169 To generate a template announcement file:
 170
 171   make RELEASE_TYPE=alpha gpg_key_ID=F125BDF3 announcement
 172
 173 where alpha can be replaced by beta or major and F125BDF3 should be replaced
 174 with your key ID.  For an example of how to fill out the template, search the
 175 mailing list archives for the most recent release announcement.
 176
 177 Complete/fix the announcement file, and send it at least to
 178 info-gnu@gnu.org (if a real release, or a ``serious beta''),
 179 bug-bison@gnu.org, help-bison@gnu.org, bison-patches@gnu.org,
 180 and coordinator@translationproject.org.
 181
 182 Send the same announcement on the comp.compilers newsgroup by sending
 183 email to compilers@iecc.com.  Do not make any Cc as the moderator will
 184 throw away anything cross-posted or Cc'ed.  It really needs to be a
 185 separate message.
 186
 187 ** Bump the version number
 188 In configure.ac.  Run `make'.  So that developers don't accidentally add new
 189 items to the old NEWS entry, create a new empty NEWS entry something like:
 190
 191   Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
 192
 193 Push these changes.
 194
 195
 196 -----
 197
 198 Copyright (C) 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 199
 200 This file is part of GNU Bison.
 201
 202 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 203 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 204 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 205 (at your option) any later version.
 206
 207 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 208 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 209 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 210 GNU General Public License for more details.
 211
 212 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 213 along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.