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.  Don't mention it in the
   5 ChangeLog.
   6
   7 Everything related to the development of Bison is on Savannah:
   8
   9         http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/bison/
  10
  11
  12 * Administrivia
  13
  14 ** If you incorporate a change from somebody on the net:
  15 First, if it is a large change, you must make sure they have signed
  16 the appropriate paperwork.  Second, be sure to add their name and
  17 email address to THANKS.
  18
  19 ** If a change fixes a test, mention the test in the ChangeLog entry.
  20
  21 ** Bug reports
  22 If somebody reports a new bug, mention his name in the ChangeLog entry
  23 and in the test case you write.  Put him into THANKS.
  24
  25 The correct response to most actual bugs is to write a new test case
  26 which demonstrates the bug.  Then fix the bug, re-run the test suite,
  27 and check everything in.
  28
  29
  30 * Hacking
  31
  32 ** Visible changes
  33 Which include serious bug fixes, must be mentioned in NEWS.
  34
  35 ** Translations
  36 Only user visible strings are to be translated: error messages, bits
  37 of the .output file etc.  This excludes impossible error messages
  38 (comparable to assert/abort), and all the --trace output which is
  39 meant for the maintainers only.
  40
  41
  42 * Test suite
  43
  44 ** make check
  45 Use liberally.
  46
  47 ** Release checks
  48 Try to run the test suite with more severe conditions before a
  49 release:
  50
  51 - Configure the package with --enable-gcc-warnings, so that one checks
  52   that 1. Bison compiles cleanly, 2. the parsers it produces compile
  53   cleanly too.
  54
  55 - run `make maintainer-check' which:
  56   - runs `valgrind -q bison' to run Bison under Valgrind.
  57   - runs the parsers under Valgrind.
  58   - runs the test suite with G++ as C compiler...
  59
  60 - Change tests/atlocal/CFLAGS to add your preferred options.  For
  61   instance, `-traditional' to check that the parsers are K&R.  Note
  62   that it does not make sense for glr.c, which should be ANSI,
  63   but currently is actually GNU C, nor for lalr1.cc, which anyway is
  64   not exercised yet in the test suite.
  65
  66
  67 * Release Procedure
  68
  69 ** Tests
  70 See above.
  71
  72 ** Update the foreign files
  73 Running `make update' in the top level should make it all for you.
  74 This covers PO files too.  Beware that it happens that some PO files
  75 contain serious problems and are rejected by recent Gettext releases:
  76 fix them all, and complain to the Translation Project!
  77
  78 Note that there might be *new* PO files.  Don't forget to update the
  79 whole machinery, which not only includes LINGUAS, but `cvs add'ing the
  80 PO files too.
  81
  82 ** Update NEWS
  83 The version number, *and* the date of the release (including for
  84 betas).
  85
  86 ** Update ChangeLog
  87 Should have an entry similar to `Version 1.49b.'.
  88 Check all this in once `make distcheck' passes.
  89
  90 ** make alpha
  91 Running `make alpha' is absolutely perfect for beta releases: it makes
  92 the tarballs, the xdeltas, and prepares (in /tmp/) a proto
  93 announcement.  It is so neat, that that's what I use anyway for
  94 genuine releases, but adjusting things by hand (e.g., the urls in the
  95 announcement file, the ChangeLog which is not needed etc.).
  96
  97 If it fails, you're on your own...
  98
  99 It requires GNU Make.
 100
 101 ** Upload
 102 Put the tarballs/xdeltas where they should be.  Or put it somewhere,
 103 and send the URL to ftp-upload@gnu.org.
 104
 105 ** Bump the version number
 106 In configure.ac.  Run `make', check this in.
 107
 108 ** Announce
 109 Complete/fix the announcement file, and send it at least to
 110 info-gnu@gnu.org (if a real release, or a ``serious beta''),
 111 bison@gnu.org, and translation@iro.umontreal.ca.
 112
 113 Send the same announcement on the comp.compilers newsgroup.  Do not
 114 make any Cc as the moderator will throw away anything cross-posted or
 115 Cc'ed.  It really needs to be a separate message.
 116
 117
 118 -----
 119
 120 Copyright (C) 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 121
 122 This file is part of GNU Bison.
 123
 124 GNU Bison is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 125 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 126 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
 127 any later version.
 128
 129 GNU Bison is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 130 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 131 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 132 GNU General Public License for more details.
 133
 134 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 135 along with GNU Bison; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the Free
 136 Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
 137 02111-1307, USA.