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1 Bison News
2 ----------
3
4 * Changes in version 2.5 (????-??-??):
5
6 ** Named References Support
7
8 Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
9 ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
10 actions code.
11
12 Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
13 When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
14 as named references:
15
16 if_stmt : 'if' cond_expr 'then' then_stmt ';'
17 { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
18
19 In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
20
21 stmt[res] : 'if' expr[cond] 'then' stmt[then] 'else' stmt[else] ';'
22 { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
23
24 Location information is also accessible using @name syntax. When
25 accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
26 ($[sym.1]) must be used.
27
28 These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
29 will help to stabilize them.
30
31 ** IELR(1) and Canonical LR(1) Support
32
33 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
34 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
35 with the full language recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
36 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction in
37 parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
38 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
39 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
40 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
41 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
42
43 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
44 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
45 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
46 file with these directives:
47
48 %define lr.type lalr
49 %define lr.type ielr
50 %define lr.type canonical-lr
51
52 The default reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
53 adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'. See the documentation
54 for `%define lr.type' and `%define lr.default-reductions' in the
55 section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual for the
56 details.
57
58 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
59 stabilize them.
60
61 ** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now an error not a warning.
62
63 ** %define improvements.
64
65 *** Unrecognized variables are now an error not a warning.
66
67 *** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
68
69 *** Can now be invoked via the command line.
70
71 Each of these command-line options
72
73 -D NAME[=VALUE]
74 --define=NAME[=VALUE]
75
76 -F NAME[=VALUE]
77 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
78
79 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
80
81 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
82
83 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
84 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
85 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
86 details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
87
88 *** Variables renamed.
89
90 The following %define variables
91
92 api.push_pull
93 lr.keep_unreachable_states
94
95 have been renamed to
96
97 api.push-pull
98 lr.keep-unreachable-states
99
100 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
101 for backward compatibility.
102
103 *** Values no longer need to be quoted in grammar file.
104
105 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
106 within quotations marks. For example,
107
108 %define api.push-pull "push"
109
110 can be rewritten as
111
112 %define api.push-pull push
113
114 ** Symbol names.
115
116 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and variables
117 (e.g. push-pull), symbol names may include dashes in any position,
118 similarly to periods and underscores. This is GNU extension over
119 POSIX Yacc whose use is reported by -Wyacc, and rejected in Yacc
120 mode (--yacc).
121
122 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
123
124 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
125 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
126 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
127 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
128
129 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
130
131 instead of
132
133 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
134
135 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
136 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
137 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
138 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
139 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
140 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
141 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
142
143 ** Character literals not of length one.
144
145 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
146 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
147 the following grammar to be the same token:
148
149 exp: exp '++'
150 | exp '+' exp
151 ;
152
153 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
154 some future release, Bison will report an error instead.
155
156 ** Verbose error messages fixed for nonassociative tokens.
157
158 When %error-verbose is specified, syntax error messages produced by
159 the generated parser include the unexpected token as well as a list of
160 expected tokens. Previously, this list erroneously included tokens
161 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
162 were resolved with %nonassoc. Such tokens are now properly omitted
163 from the list.
164
165 * Changes in version 2.4.2 (????-??-??):
166
167 ** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
168
169 ** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS and
170 YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL in C/C++ parsers are now avoided.
171
172 ** %code is now a permanent feature.
173
174 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
175
176 %{CODE%}
177
178 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
179 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
180
181 %code {CODE}
182 %code requires {CODE}
183 %code provides {CODE}
184 %code top {CODE}
185
186 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
187 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
188 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
189 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
190 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
191
192 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
193 is still considered experimental.
194
195 ** Internationalization.
196
197 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
198 message translations were not installed although supported by the
199 host system.
200
201 * Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
202
203 ** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
204 declarations have been fixed.
205
206 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
207
208 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
209 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
210
211 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
212
213 instead of
214
215 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
216
217 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
218 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
219 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
220 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
221 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
222 feature.
223
224 ** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
225
226 * Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
227
228 ** %language is an experimental feature.
229
230 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
231 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
232 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
233 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
234 in future releases.
235
236 ** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
237
238 ** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
239 fixed.
240
241 * Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
242
243 ** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
244 are now deprecated:
245
246 %define NAME "VALUE"
247
248 ** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
249
250 %define api.pure
251
252 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
253 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
254
255 ** Push Parsing
256
257 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
258 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
259 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
260 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
261 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
262
263 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
264 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
265
266 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
267
268 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
269 feedback will help to stabilize it.
270
271 ** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
272 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
273 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
274
275 ** Java
276
277 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
278 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
279 %skeleton to select it.
280
281 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
282
283 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
284 feedback will help to stabilize it.
285
286 ** %language
287
288 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
289 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
290 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
291 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
292
293 ** XML Automaton Report
294
295 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
296 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
297 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
298
299 ** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
300 %defines. For example:
301
302 %defines "parser.h"
303
304 ** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
305 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
306 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
307 instead of "unused".
308
309 ** Unreachable State Removal
310
311 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
312 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
313 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
314
315 1. Removes unreachable states.
316
317 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
318 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
319 directives in existing grammar files.
320
321 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
322 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
323
324 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
325
326 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
327
328 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
329 for further discussion.
330
331 ** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
332
333 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
334 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
335 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
336 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
337 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
338 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
339 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
340 code.
341
342 ** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
343 name.
344
345 ** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
346 deprecated:
347
348 %file-prefix "parser"
349 %name-prefix "c_"
350 %output "parser.c"
351
352 ** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
353
354 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
355 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
356 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
357 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
358 it:
359
360 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
361 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
362 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
363 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
364
365 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
366 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
367 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
368 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
369
370 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
371 determine whether they should become permanent features.
372
373 ** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
374
375 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
376 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
377 about unused $2 in:
378
379 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
380
381 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
382 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
383
384 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
385
386 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
387 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
388 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
389
390 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
391 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
392
393 ** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
394
395 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
396 %printer's:
397
398 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
399 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
400 declared semantic type tags.
401
402 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
403 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
404 type tags.
405
406 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
407 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
408 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
409 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
410
411 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
412 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
413 features.
414
415 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
416 details.
417
418 ** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
419 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
420 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
421
422 ** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
423 completely removed from Bison.
424
425 * Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
426
427 ** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
428 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
429 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
430 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
431 and is required by POSIX.
432
433 ** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
434 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
435
436 ** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
437
438 For example:
439
440 %union { char *string; }
441 %token <string> STRING1
442 %token <string> STRING2
443 %type <string> string1
444 %type <string> string2
445 %union { char character; }
446 %token <character> CHR
447 %type <character> chr
448 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
449 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
450 %destructor { } <character>
451
452 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
453 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
454 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
455 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
456 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
457
458 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
459 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
460 future versions.]
461
462 ** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
463 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
464 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
465 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
466 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
467
468 ** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
469 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
470
471 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
472 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
473 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
474 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
475 declared after the first %union.
476
477 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
478 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
479 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
480 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
481 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
482 after the token definitions.
483
484 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
485 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
486
487 ** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
488 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
489 %after-header.
490
491 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
492 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
493 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
494 convenient for you:
495
496 %before-header {
497 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
498 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
499 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
500 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
501 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
502 }
503 %start-header {
504 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
505 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
506 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
507 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
508 }
509 %union {
510 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
511 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
512 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
513 }
514 %end-header {
515 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
516 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
517 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
518 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
519 * definitions. */
520 }
521 %after-header {
522 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
523 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
524 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
525 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
526 * Bison-generated definitions. */
527 }
528
529 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
530 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
531
532 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
533 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
534
535 ** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
536 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
537 in a future release.
538
539 * Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
540
541 ** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
542 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
543
544 ** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
545 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
546
547 * Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
548
549 ** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
550 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
551 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
552
553 ** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
554
555 ** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
556
557 ** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
558 their contents together.
559
560 ** New warning: unused values
561 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
562 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
563
564 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
565 | exp "+" exp
566 ;
567
568 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
569 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
570 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
571
572 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
573 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
574 | exp "+" exp
575 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
576 ;
577
578 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
579 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
580 values are used, e.g.:
581
582 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
583 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
584 ;
585
586 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
587 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
588
589 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
590
591 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
592 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
593
594 ** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
595 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
596 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
597 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
598
599 ** %expect, %expect-rr
600 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
601 instead of warnings.
602
603 ** GLR, YACC parsers.
604 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
605 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
606
607 ** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
608
609 ** %require "VERSION"
610 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
611 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
612
613 ** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
614 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
615 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
616 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
617 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
618
619 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
620 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
621 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
622 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
623
624 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
625 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
626
627 ** DJGPP support added.
628 \f
629 * Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
630
631 ** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
632
633 ** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
634 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
635 language is still English. For details, please see the new
636 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
637 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
638 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
639
640 ** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
641 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
642 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
643 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
644
645 ** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
646 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
647 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
648
649 ** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
650 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
651 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
652 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
653 unexpected "number"'.
654 \f
655 * Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
656
657 ** Possibly-incompatible changes
658
659 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
660 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
661 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
662 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
663 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
664
665 - Error token location.
666 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
667 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
668 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
669 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
670
671 - Semicolon changes:
672 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
673 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
674
675 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
676 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
677 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
678 forget a closing quote.
679
680 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
681
682 ** New features
683
684 - GLR grammars now support locations.
685
686 - New directive: %initial-action.
687 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
688 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
689
690 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
691 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
692
693 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
694 This is a GNU extension.
695
696 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
697 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
698
699 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
700
701 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
702 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
703
704 ** Bug fixes
705
706 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
707 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
708 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
709 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
710 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
711 these violations will become errors again.
712
713 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
714 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
715
716 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
717 \f
718 * Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
719
720 ** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
721 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
722
723 ** syntax error processing
724
725 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
726 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
727
728 - %destructor
729 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
730 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
731
732 - %error-verbose
733 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
734
735 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
736 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
737
738 ** POSIX conformance
739
740 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
741 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
742 compatibility with Yacc.
743
744 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
745 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
746 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
747 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
748 be consistent.
749
750 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
751 declared before use. C99 requires this.
752
753 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
754 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
755
756 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
757 output as "foo\\bar.y".
758
759 - Yacc command and library now available
760 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
761 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
762 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
763 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
764
765 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
766
767 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
768 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
769 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
770
771 ** Other compatibility issues
772
773 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
774 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
775 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
776 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
777 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
778 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
779
780 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
781 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
782
783 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
784 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
785
786 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
787 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
788 withdrawn in a future release.
789
790 ** GLR parser notes
791
792 - GLR and inline
793 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
794 C keyword `inline'.
795
796 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
797 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
798
799 ** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
800 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
801 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
802
803 ** #line in output files
804 - --no-line works properly.
805
806 ** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
807 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
808 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
809 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
810 \f
811 * Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
812
813 ** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
814
815 ** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
816
817 ** GLR parsers
818 Fix spurious parse errors.
819
820 ** Pure parsers
821 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
822 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
823
824 ** Type Clashes
825 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
826 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
827
828 untyped: ... typed;
829
830 but the converse remains an error:
831
832 typed: ... untyped;
833
834 ** Values of mid-rule actions
835 The following code:
836
837 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
838
839 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
840 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
841 \f
842 * Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
843
844 ** GLR parsing
845 The declaration
846 %glr-parser
847 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
848 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
849 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
850 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
851
852 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
853 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
854
855 ** Output Directory
856 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
857 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
858 now creates `bar.c'.
859
860 ** Undefined token
861 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
862 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
863
864 ** Unknown token numbers
865 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
866 no longer the case.
867
868 ** Error token
869 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
870 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
871 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
872 will be mapped onto another number.
873
874 ** Verbose error messages
875 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
876 error recovery is possible.
877
878 ** End token
879 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
880
881 ** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
882 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
883 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
884 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
885 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
886 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
887 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
888 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
889 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
890
891 ** Traces
892 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
893
894 ** Larger grammars
895 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
896 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
897 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
898 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
899
900 ** Explicit initial rule
901 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
902 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
903 graphs as rule 0.
904
905 ** Useless rules
906 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
907 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
908
909 ** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
910 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
911
912 ** Rules never reduced
913 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
914 reported.
915
916 ** Incorrect `Token not used'
917 On a grammar such as
918
919 %token useless useful
920 %%
921 exp: '0' %prec useful;
922
923 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
924 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
925
926 ** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
927 as they caused too many portability hassles.
928
929 ** Default locations
930 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
931 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
932 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
933 the computation of @$.
934
935 ** Token end-of-file
936 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
937 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
938 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
939 For instance
940 %token MYEOF 0
941 or
942 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
943
944 ** Semantic parser
945 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
946
947 ** New translations
948 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
949 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
950
951 ** Incorrect token definitions
952 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
953
954 ** Token definitions as enums
955 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
956 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
957 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
958
959 ** Reports
960 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
961 produces additional information:
962 - itemset
963 complete the core item sets with their closure
964 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
965 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
966 - solved
967 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
968 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
969 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
970
971 ** Type clashes
972 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
973 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
974
975 %type <foo> bar
976 %%
977 bar: '0' {} '0';
978
979 This is fixed.
980
981 ** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
982 \f
983 * Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
984
985 ** C Skeleton
986 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
987 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
988 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
989
990 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
991 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
992 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
993 kludge will be disabled.
994
995 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
996 extended.
997 \f
998 * Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
999
1000 ** File name clashes are detected
1001 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
1002 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
1003
1004 ** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
1005 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1006 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1007 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1008 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1009 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1010
1011 ** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
1012 many portability hassles.
1013
1014 ** DJGPP support added.
1015
1016 ** Fix test suite portability problems.
1017 \f
1018 * Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
1019
1020 ** Fix C++ issues
1021 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1022 under some conditions.
1023
1024 ** Catch invalid @n
1025 As is done with $n.
1026 \f
1027 * Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
1028
1029 ** Fix Yacc output file names
1030
1031 ** Portability fixes
1032
1033 ** Italian, Dutch translations
1034 \f
1035 * Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
1036
1037 ** Many Bug Fixes
1038
1039 ** GNU Gettext and %expect
1040 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1041 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1042 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
1043 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
1044
1045 ** Use of alloca in parsers
1046 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1047 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1048
1049 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1050 problems as on AIX.
1051
1052 ** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
1053
1054 ** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
1055 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1056
1057 ** User Actions
1058 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1059 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1060 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1061
1062 ** Better C++ compliance
1063 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
1064 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
1065
1066 ** Reduced Grammars
1067 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1068
1069 ** 64 bit hosts
1070 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1071
1072 ** Error messages
1073 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1074
1075 ** %expect
1076 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1077 any warning.
1078
1079 ** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
1080
1081 ** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
1082
1083 ** Swedish translation
1084
1085 ** Parse errors
1086 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1087 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1088 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1089
1090 ** Fixed parser memory leaks.
1091 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1092 previous allocations were not freed.
1093
1094 ** Fixed verbose output file.
1095 Some newlines were missing.
1096 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1097
1098 ** Fixed conflict report.
1099 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1100
1101 ** %expect
1102 Was not used.
1103 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1104
1105 ** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
1106
1107 ** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
1108
1109 ** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
1110
1111 ** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
1112 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1113
1114 ** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
1115
1116 ** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
1117 New.
1118
1119 ** --output
1120 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
1121 \f
1122 * Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
1123
1124 ** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
1125 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
1126 argument.
1127
1128 ** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
1129 experiment.
1130
1131 ** Portability fixes.
1132 \f
1133 * Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
1134
1135 ** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
1136 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1137 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
1138 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
1139
1140 ** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
1141
1142 ** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
1143
1144 ** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
1145
1146 ** Russian translation added.
1147
1148 ** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
1149
1150 ** Added the old Bison reference card.
1151
1152 ** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
1153
1154 ** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
1155
1156 ** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
1157
1158 ** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
1159 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1160
1161 ** New directives.
1162 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
1163 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
1164
1165 ** @$
1166 Automatic location tracking.
1167 \f
1168 * Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
1169
1170 ** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
1171
1172 ** Added NLS.
1173
1174 ** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
1175
1176 ** There is now a FAQ.
1177 \f
1178 * Changes in version 1.27:
1179
1180 ** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
1181 some systems has been fixed.
1182 \f
1183 * Changes in version 1.26:
1184
1185 ** Bison now uses automake.
1186
1187 ** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
1188
1189 ** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
1190
1191 ** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
1192
1193 ** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
1194
1195 ** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
1196
1197 ** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
1198 not provide alloca().
1199 \f
1200 * Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
1201
1202 ** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
1203 the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
1204
1205 ** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
1206 example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1207 of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1208
1209 ** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
1210 and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1211 table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1212 purposes.
1213
1214 ** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
1215 directives in the parser file.
1216
1217 ** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
1218 Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1219
1220 ** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
1221 the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1222 The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1223 a switch statement body.
1224 \f
1225 * Changes in version 1.23:
1226
1227 The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1228 passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1229 actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1230 by casting it to the proper pointer type.
1231
1232 Line numbers in output file corrected.
1233 \f
1234 * Changes in version 1.22:
1235
1236 --help option added.
1237 \f
1238 * Changes in version 1.20:
1239
1240 Output file does not redefine const for C++.
1241
1242 Local Variables:
1243 mode: outline
1244 End:
1245
1246 -----
1247
1248 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
1249 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1250
1251 This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
1252
1253 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1254 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1255 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1256 (at your option) any later version.
1257
1258 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1259 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1260 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1261 GNU General Public License for more details.
1262
1263 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1264 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.