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