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1 Bison News
2 ----------
3
4 * Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
5
6 * Changes in version 2.4.2 (????-??-??):
7
8 * Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
9
10 * Java skeleton improvements:
11
12 The constants for token names were moved to the Lexer interface.
13 Also, it is possible to add code to the parser's constructors using
14 "%code init" and "%define init_throws".
15
16 Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
17
18 * %language is an experimental feature.
19
20 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
21 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
22 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
23 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
24 in future releases.
25
26 * Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
27
28 * Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
29 fixed.
30
31 Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
32
33 * The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
34 are now deprecated:
35
36 %define NAME "VALUE"
37
38 * The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
39
40 %define api.pure
41
42 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
43 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
44
45 * Push Parsing
46
47 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
48 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
49 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
50 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
51 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
52
53 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
54 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
55
56 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
57
58 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
59 feedback will help to stabilize it.
60
61 * The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
62 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
63 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
64
65 * Java
66
67 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
68 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
69 %skeleton to select it.
70
71 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
72
73 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
74 feedback will help to stabilize it.
75
76 * %language
77
78 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
79 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
80 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
81 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
82
83 * XML Automaton Report
84
85 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
86 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
87 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
88
89 * The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
90 %defines. For example:
91
92 %defines "parser.h"
93
94 * When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
95 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
96 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
97 instead of "unused".
98
99 * Unreachable State Removal
100
101 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
102 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
103 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
104
105 1. Removes unreachable states.
106
107 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
108 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
109 directives in existing grammar files.
110
111 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
112 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
113
114 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
115
116 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
117
118 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
119 for further discussion.
120
121 * Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
122
123 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
124 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
125 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
126 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
127 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
128 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
129 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
130 code.
131
132 * --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
133 name.
134
135 * The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
136 deprecated:
137
138 %file-prefix "parser"
139 %name-prefix "c_"
140 %output "parser.c"
141
142 * An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
143
144 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
145 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
146 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
147 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
148 it:
149
150 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
151 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
152 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
153 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
154
155 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
156 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
157 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
158 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
159
160 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
161 determine whether they should become permanent features.
162
163 * Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
164
165 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
166 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
167 about unused $2 in:
168
169 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
170
171 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
172 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
173
174 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
175
176 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
177 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
178 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
179
180 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
181 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
182
183 * Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
184
185 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
186 %printer's:
187
188 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
189 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
190 declared semantic type tags.
191
192 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
193 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
194 type tags.
195
196 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
197 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
198 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
199 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
200
201 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
202 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
203 features.
204
205 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
206 details.
207
208 * %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
209 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
210 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
211
212 * The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
213 completely removed from Bison.
214
215 Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
216
217 * Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
218 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
219 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
220 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
221 and is required by POSIX.
222
223 * Locations columns and lines start at 1.
224 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
225
226 * You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
227
228 For example:
229
230 %union { char *string; }
231 %token <string> STRING1
232 %token <string> STRING2
233 %type <string> string1
234 %type <string> string2
235 %union { char character; }
236 %token <character> CHR
237 %type <character> chr
238 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
239 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
240 %destructor { } <character>
241
242 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
243 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
244 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
245 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
246 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
247
248 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
249 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
250 future versions.]
251
252 * Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
253 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
254 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
255 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
256 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
257
258 * Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
259 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
260
261 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
262 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
263 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
264 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
265 declared after the first %union.
266
267 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
268 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
269 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
270 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
271 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
272 after the token definitions.
273
274 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
275 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
276
277 * Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
278 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
279 %after-header.
280
281 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
282 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
283 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
284 convenient for you:
285
286 %before-header {
287 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
288 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
289 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
290 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
291 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
292 }
293 %start-header {
294 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
295 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
296 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
297 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
298 }
299 %union {
300 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
301 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
302 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
303 }
304 %end-header {
305 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
306 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
307 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
308 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
309 * definitions. */
310 }
311 %after-header {
312 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
313 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
314 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
315 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
316 * Bison-generated definitions. */
317 }
318
319 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
320 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
321
322 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
323 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
324
325 * The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
326 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
327 in a future release.
328
329 Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
330
331 * GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
332 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
333
334 * It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
335 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
336
337 Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
338
339 * The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
340 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
341 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
342
343 * %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
344
345 * The C++ parsers export their token_type.
346
347 * Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
348 their contents together.
349
350 * New warning: unused values
351 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
352 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
353
354 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
355 | exp "+" exp
356 ;
357
358 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
359 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
360 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
361
362 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
363 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
364 | exp "+" exp
365 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
366 ;
367
368 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
369 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
370 values are used, e.g.:
371
372 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
373 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
374 ;
375
376 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
377 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
378
379 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
380
381 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
382 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
383
384 * %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
385 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
386 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
387 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
388
389 * %expect, %expect-rr
390 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
391 instead of warnings.
392
393 * GLR, YACC parsers.
394 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
395 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
396
397 * Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
398
399 * %require "VERSION"
400 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
401 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
402
403 * lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
404 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
405 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
406 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
407 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
408
409 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
410 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
411 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
412 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
413
414 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
415 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
416
417 * DJGPP support added.
418 \f
419 Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
420
421 * The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
422
423 * Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
424 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
425 language is still English. For details, please see the new
426 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
427 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
428 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
429
430 * Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
431 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
432 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
433 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
434
435 * Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
436 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
437 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
438
439 * When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
440 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
441 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
442 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
443 unexpected "number"'.
444 \f
445 Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
446
447 * Possibly-incompatible changes
448
449 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
450 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
451 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
452 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
453 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
454
455 - Error token location.
456 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
457 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
458 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
459 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
460
461 - Semicolon changes:
462 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
463 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
464
465 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
466 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
467 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
468 forget a closing quote.
469
470 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
471
472 * New features
473
474 - GLR grammars now support locations.
475
476 - New directive: %initial-action.
477 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
478 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
479
480 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
481 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
482
483 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
484 This is a GNU extension.
485
486 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
487 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
488
489 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
490
491 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
492 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
493
494 * Bug fixes
495
496 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
497 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
498 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
499 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
500 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
501 these violations will become errors again.
502
503 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
504 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
505
506 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
507 \f
508 Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
509
510 * The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
511 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
512
513 * syntax error processing
514
515 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
516 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
517
518 - %destructor
519 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
520 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
521
522 - %error-verbose
523 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
524
525 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
526 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
527
528 * POSIX conformance
529
530 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
531 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
532 compatibility with Yacc.
533
534 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
535 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
536 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
537 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
538 be consistent.
539
540 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
541 declared before use. C99 requires this.
542
543 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
544 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
545
546 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
547 output as "foo\\bar.y".
548
549 - Yacc command and library now available
550 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
551 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
552 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
553 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
554
555 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
556
557 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
558 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
559 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
560
561 * Other compatibility issues
562
563 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
564 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
565 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
566 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
567 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
568 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
569
570 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
571 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
572
573 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
574 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
575
576 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
577 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
578 withdrawn in a future release.
579
580 * GLR parser notes
581
582 - GLR and inline
583 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
584 C keyword `inline'.
585
586 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
587 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
588
589 * Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
590 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
591 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
592
593 * #line in output files
594 - --no-line works properly.
595
596 * Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
597 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
598 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
599 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
600 \f
601 Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
602
603 * Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
604
605 * Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
606
607 * GLR parsers
608 Fix spurious parse errors.
609
610 * Pure parsers
611 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
612 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
613
614 * Type Clashes
615 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
616 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
617
618 untyped: ... typed;
619
620 but the converse remains an error:
621
622 typed: ... untyped;
623
624 * Values of mid-rule actions
625 The following code:
626
627 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
628
629 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
630 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
631 \f
632 Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
633
634 * GLR parsing
635 The declaration
636 %glr-parser
637 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
638 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
639 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
640 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
641
642 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
643 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
644
645 * Output Directory
646 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
647 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
648 now creates `bar.c'.
649
650 * Undefined token
651 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
652 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
653
654 * Unknown token numbers
655 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
656 no longer the case.
657
658 * Error token
659 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
660 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
661 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
662 will be mapped onto another number.
663
664 * Verbose error messages
665 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
666 error recovery is possible.
667
668 * End token
669 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
670
671 * Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
672 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
673 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
674 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
675 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
676 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
677 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
678 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
679 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
680
681 * Traces
682 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
683
684 * Larger grammars
685 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
686 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
687 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
688 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
689
690 * Explicit initial rule
691 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
692 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
693 graphs as rule 0.
694
695 * Useless rules
696 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
697 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
698
699 * Useless rules, useless nonterminals
700 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
701
702 * Rules never reduced
703 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
704 reported.
705
706 * Incorrect `Token not used'
707 On a grammar such as
708
709 %token useless useful
710 %%
711 exp: '0' %prec useful;
712
713 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
714 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
715
716 * Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
717 as they caused too many portability hassles.
718
719 * Default locations
720 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
721 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
722 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
723 the computation of @$.
724
725 * Token end-of-file
726 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
727 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
728 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
729 For instance
730 %token MYEOF 0
731 or
732 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
733
734 * Semantic parser
735 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
736
737 * New translations
738 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
739 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
740
741 * Incorrect token definitions
742 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
743
744 * Token definitions as enums
745 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
746 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
747 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
748
749 * Reports
750 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
751 produces additional information:
752 - itemset
753 complete the core item sets with their closure
754 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
755 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
756 - solved
757 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
758 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
759 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
760
761 * Type clashes
762 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
763 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
764
765 %type <foo> bar
766 %%
767 bar: '0' {} '0';
768
769 This is fixed.
770
771 * GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
772 \f
773 Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
774
775 * C Skeleton
776 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
777 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
778 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
779
780 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
781 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
782 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
783 kludge will be disabled.
784
785 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
786 extended.
787 \f
788 Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
789
790 * File name clashes are detected
791 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
792 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
793
794 * A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
795 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
796 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
797 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
798 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
799 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
800
801 * Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
802 many portability hassles.
803
804 * DJGPP support added.
805
806 * Fix test suite portability problems.
807 \f
808 Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
809
810 * Fix C++ issues
811 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
812 under some conditions.
813
814 * Catch invalid @n
815 As is done with $n.
816 \f
817 Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
818
819 * Fix Yacc output file names
820
821 * Portability fixes
822
823 * Italian, Dutch translations
824 \f
825 Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
826
827 * Many Bug Fixes
828
829 * GNU Gettext and %expect
830 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
831 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
832 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
833 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
834
835 * Use of alloca in parsers
836 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
837 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
838
839 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
840 problems as on AIX.
841
842 * yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
843
844 * When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
845 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
846
847 * User Actions
848 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
849 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
850 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
851
852 * Better C++ compliance
853 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
854 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
855
856 * Reduced Grammars
857 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
858
859 * 64 bit hosts
860 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
861
862 * Error messages
863 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
864
865 * %expect
866 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
867 any warning.
868
869 * The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
870
871 * Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
872
873 * Swedish translation
874
875 * Parse errors
876 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
877 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
878 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
879
880 * Fixed parser memory leaks.
881 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
882 previous allocations were not freed.
883
884 * Fixed verbose output file.
885 Some newlines were missing.
886 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
887
888 * Fixed conflict report.
889 Option -v was needed to get the result.
890
891 * %expect
892 Was not used.
893 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
894
895 * Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
896
897 * Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
898
899 * Fixed some typos in the documentation.
900
901 * %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
902 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
903
904 * doc/refcard.tex is updated.
905
906 * %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
907 New.
908
909 * --output
910 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
911 \f
912 Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
913
914 * `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
915 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
916 argument.
917
918 * `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
919 experiment.
920
921 * Portability fixes.
922 \f
923 Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
924
925 * The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
926 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
927 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
928 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
929
930 * Added `-g' and `--graph'.
931
932 * The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
933
934 * The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
935
936 * Russian translation added.
937
938 * NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
939
940 * Added the old Bison reference card.
941
942 * Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
943
944 * Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
945
946 * `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
947
948 * Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
949 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
950
951 * New directives.
952 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
953 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
954
955 * @$
956 Automatic location tracking.
957 \f
958 Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
959
960 * Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
961
962 * Added NLS.
963
964 * Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
965
966 * There is now a FAQ.
967 \f
968 Changes in version 1.27:
969
970 * The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
971 some systems has been fixed.
972 \f
973 Changes in version 1.26:
974
975 * Bison now uses automake.
976
977 * New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
978
979 * Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
980
981 * Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
982
983 * A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
984
985 * Problems when closing files should now be reported.
986
987 * Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
988 not provide alloca().
989 \f
990 Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
991
992 * Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
993 the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
994
995 * Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
996 example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
997 of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
998
999 * The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
1000 and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1001 table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1002 purposes.
1003
1004 * The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
1005 directives in the parser file.
1006
1007 * The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
1008 Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1009
1010 * The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
1011 the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1012 The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1013 a switch statement body.
1014 \f
1015 Changes in version 1.23:
1016
1017 The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1018 passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1019 actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1020 by casting it to the proper pointer type.
1021
1022 Line numbers in output file corrected.
1023 \f
1024 Changes in version 1.22:
1025
1026 --help option added.
1027 \f
1028 Changes in version 1.20:
1029
1030 Output file does not redefine const for C++.
1031
1032 Local Variables:
1033 mode: outline
1034 End:
1035
1036 -----
1037
1038 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
1039 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1040
1041 This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
1042
1043 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1044 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1045 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1046 (at your option) any later version.
1047
1048 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1049 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1050 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1051 GNU General Public License for more details.
1052
1053 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1054 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.