4 * Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
6 ** Java skeleton improvements:
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".
12 ** Variable api.tokens.prefix
14 The variable api.tokens.prefix changes the way tokens are identified in
15 the generated files. This is especially useful to avoid collisions
16 with identifiers in the target language. For instance
19 %define api.tokens.prefix "TOK_"
21 start: FILE for ERROR;
23 will generate the definition of the symbols TOK_FILE, TOK_for, and
24 TOK_ERROR in the generated sources. In particular, the scanner must
25 use these prefixed token names, although the grammar itself still
26 uses the short names (as in the sample rule given above).
28 ** Variable api.namespace
30 The "namespace" variable is renamed "api.namespace". Backward
31 compatibility is ensured, but upgrading is recommended.
33 ** Variable parse.error
35 The variable error controls the verbosity of error messages. The
36 use of the %error-verbose directive is deprecated in favor of
37 %define parse.error "verbose".
39 * Changes in version 2.5 (????-??-??):
41 ** IELR(1) and Canonical LR(1) Support
43 IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
44 is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
45 with the full language recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
46 nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction in
47 parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
48 because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
49 conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
50 for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
51 significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
53 Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
54 place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
55 default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
56 file with these directives:
60 %define lr.type canonical-lr
62 The default reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
63 adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'. See the documentation
64 for `%define lr.type' and `%define lr.default-reductions' in the
65 section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual for the
68 These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
71 ** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now an error not a warning.
73 ** %define improvements.
75 *** Unrecognized variables are now an error not a warning.
77 *** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
79 *** Can now be invoked via the command line.
81 Each of these command-line options
87 --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
89 is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
91 %define NAME ["VALUE"]
93 except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
94 for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
95 quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
96 details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
98 *** Variables renamed.
100 The following %define variables
103 lr.keep_unreachable_states
108 lr.keep-unreachable-states
110 The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
111 for backward compatibility.
113 *** Values no longer need to be quoted in grammar file.
115 If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
116 within quotations marks. For example,
118 %define api.push-pull "push"
122 %define api.push-pull push
126 Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and variables
127 (e.g. push-pull), symbol names may include dashes in any position,
128 similarly to periods and underscores. This is GNU extension over
129 POSIX Yacc whose use is reported by -Wyacc, and rejected in Yacc
132 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
134 Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
135 reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
136 neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
137 options were specified). This allowed actions such as
139 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
143 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
145 As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
146 warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
147 cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
148 action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
149 it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
150 about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
151 Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
153 ** Character literals not of length one.
155 Previously, Bison quietly converted all character literals to length
156 one. For example, without warning, Bison interpreted the operators in
157 the following grammar to be the same token:
163 Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one. In
164 some future release, Bison will report an error instead.
166 ** Verbose error messages fixed for nonassociative tokens.
168 When %error-verbose is specified, syntax error messages produced by
169 the generated parser include the unexpected token as well as a list of
170 expected tokens. Previously, this list erroneously included tokens
171 that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
172 were resolved with %nonassoc. Such tokens are now properly omitted
175 * Changes in version 2.4.2 (????-??-??):
177 ** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
179 ** %code is now a permanent feature.
181 A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
185 To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
186 %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
189 %code requires {CODE}
190 %code provides {CODE}
193 These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
194 %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
195 manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
196 "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
197 advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
199 Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
200 is still considered experimental.
202 ** Internationalization.
204 Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
205 message translations were not installed although supported by the
208 * Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
210 ** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
211 declarations have been fixed.
213 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
215 Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
216 action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
218 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
222 exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
224 Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
225 the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
226 neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
227 are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
228 behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
231 ** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
233 * Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
235 ** %language is an experimental feature.
237 We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
238 alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
239 modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
240 we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
243 ** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
245 ** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
248 * Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
250 ** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
255 ** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
259 which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
260 unreasonable usage in the latter case.
264 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
265 is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
266 push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
267 return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
268 interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
270 %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
271 %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
273 See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
275 The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
276 feedback will help to stabilize it.
278 ** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
279 not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
280 and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
284 Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
285 `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
286 %skeleton to select it.
288 See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
290 The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
291 feedback will help to stabilize it.
295 This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
296 parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
297 that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
298 the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
300 ** XML Automaton Report
302 Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
303 `--xml' option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
304 user feedback will help to stabilize it.
306 ** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
307 %defines. For example:
311 ** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
312 Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
313 "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
316 ** Unreachable State Removal
318 Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
319 states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
320 disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
322 1. Removes unreachable states.
324 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
325 WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
326 directives in existing grammar files.
328 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
329 "useless in parser due to conflicts".
331 This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
333 %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
335 See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
336 for further discussion.
338 ** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
340 When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
341 (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
342 lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
343 associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
344 of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
345 next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
346 bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
349 ** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
352 ** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
355 %file-prefix "parser"
359 ** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
361 Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
362 the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
363 a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
364 the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
367 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
368 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
369 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
370 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
372 See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
373 manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
374 Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
375 over the traditional Yacc prologues.
377 The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
378 determine whether they should become permanent features.
380 ** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
382 Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
383 used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
386 exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
388 Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
389 example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
391 exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
393 However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
394 sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
395 constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
397 To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
398 `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
400 ** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
402 Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
405 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
406 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
407 declared semantic type tags.
409 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
410 %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
413 Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
414 `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
415 longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
416 not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
418 The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
419 feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
422 See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
425 ** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
426 by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
427 manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
429 ** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
430 completely removed from Bison.
432 * Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
434 ** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
435 YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
436 Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
437 This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
438 and is required by POSIX.
440 ** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
441 In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
443 ** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
447 %union { char *string; }
448 %token <string> STRING1
449 %token <string> STRING2
450 %type <string> string1
451 %type <string> string2
452 %union { char character; }
453 %token <character> CHR
454 %type <character> chr
455 %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
456 %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
457 %destructor { } <character>
459 guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
460 semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
461 `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
462 also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
463 `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
465 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
466 %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
469 ** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
470 `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
471 associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
472 helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
473 requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
475 ** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
476 potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
478 As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
479 `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
480 prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
481 the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
482 declared after the first %union.
484 Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
485 file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
486 latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
487 the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
488 token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
489 after the token definitions.
491 Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
492 file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
494 ** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
495 prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
498 For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
499 order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
500 declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
504 /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
505 * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
506 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
507 * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
508 * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
511 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
512 * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
513 * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
514 * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
517 /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
518 * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
519 * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
522 /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
523 * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
524 * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
525 * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
529 /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
530 * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
531 * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
532 * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
533 * Bison-generated definitions. */
536 If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
537 will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
539 [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
540 alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
542 ** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
543 The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
546 * Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
548 ** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
549 for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
551 ** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
552 be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
554 * Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
556 ** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
557 using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
558 was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
560 ** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
562 ** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
564 ** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
565 their contents together.
567 ** New warning: unused values
568 Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
569 if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
571 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
575 will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
576 the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
577 most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
579 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
580 { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
582 { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
585 However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
586 and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
587 values are used, e.g.:
589 exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
590 | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
593 If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
594 uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
596 exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
598 The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
599 If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
601 ** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
602 Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
603 and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
604 corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
606 ** %expect, %expect-rr
607 Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
610 ** GLR, YACC parsers.
611 The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
612 experimental printers) as per the documentation.
614 ** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
616 ** %require "VERSION"
617 This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
618 in Bison version VERSION or higher.
620 ** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
621 The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
622 was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
623 tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
624 semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
626 If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
627 `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
628 definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
629 for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
631 If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
632 fail using `%require "2.2"'.
634 ** DJGPP support added.
636 * Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
638 ** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
640 ** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
641 "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
642 language is still English. For details, please see the new
643 Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
644 distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
645 Bruno Haible for this new feature.
647 ** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
648 simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
649 has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
650 always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
652 ** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
653 behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
654 successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
656 ** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
657 quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
658 a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
659 print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
660 unexpected "number"'.
662 * Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
664 ** Possibly-incompatible changes
666 - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
667 (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
668 problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
669 YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
670 the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
672 - Error token location.
673 During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
674 to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
675 the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
676 recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
679 . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
680 . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
682 - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
683 string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
684 dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
685 forget a closing quote.
687 - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
691 - GLR grammars now support locations.
693 - New directive: %initial-action.
694 This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
695 initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
697 - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
698 reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
700 - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
701 This is a GNU extension.
703 - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
704 [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
706 - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
708 - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
709 yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
713 - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
714 This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
715 reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
716 are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
717 versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
718 these violations will become errors again.
720 - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
721 arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
723 - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
725 * Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
727 ** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
728 of the GNU Free Documentation License.
730 ** syntax error processing
732 - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
733 locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
736 It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
737 discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
740 This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
742 - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
743 It is not guaranteed to work forever.
747 - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
748 This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
749 compatibility with Yacc.
751 - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
752 Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
753 and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
754 requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
757 - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
758 declared before use. C99 requires this.
760 - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
761 backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
763 - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
764 output as "foo\\bar.y".
766 - Yacc command and library now available
767 The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
768 Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
769 implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
770 This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
772 - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
774 - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
775 using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
776 For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
778 ** Other compatibility issues
780 - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
781 directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
782 `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
783 The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
784 For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
785 This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
787 - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
788 compatibility with Bison 1.35.
790 - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
791 `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
793 - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
794 typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
795 withdrawn in a future release.
800 Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
803 - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
804 GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
806 ** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
807 e.g., it generates a warning for `bison -d -o foo.h foo.y' since
808 that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
810 ** #line in output files
811 - --no-line works properly.
813 ** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
814 later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
815 ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
816 building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
818 * Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
820 ** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
822 ** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
825 Fix spurious parse errors.
828 Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
829 Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
832 In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
833 action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
837 but the converse remains an error:
841 ** Values of mid-rule actions
844 foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
846 was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
847 action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
849 * Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
854 causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
855 almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
856 %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
857 ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
859 Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
860 like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
863 When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
864 specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
868 The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
869 the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
871 ** Unknown token numbers
872 If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
876 According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
877 Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
878 user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
879 will be mapped onto another number.
881 ** Verbose error messages
882 They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
883 error recovery is possible.
886 Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
888 ** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
889 When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
890 the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
891 token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
892 allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
893 error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
894 and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
895 Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
896 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
899 Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
902 Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
903 size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
904 Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
905 now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
907 ** Explicit initial rule
908 Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
909 not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
913 Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
914 included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
916 ** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
917 They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
919 ** Rules never reduced
920 Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
923 ** Incorrect `Token not used'
926 %token useless useful
928 exp: '0' %prec useful;
930 where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
931 bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
933 ** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
934 as they caused too many portability hassles.
937 By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
938 performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
939 The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
940 the computation of @$.
943 The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
944 the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
945 error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
949 %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
952 This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
955 Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
956 Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
958 ** Incorrect token definitions
959 When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
961 ** Token definitions as enums
962 Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
963 the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
964 This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
967 In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
968 produces additional information:
970 complete the core item sets with their closure
971 - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
972 explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
974 describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
975 Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
976 the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
979 Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
980 the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
988 ** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
990 * Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
993 Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
994 YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
995 alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
997 Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
998 generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
999 maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
1000 kludge will be disabled.
1002 This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
1005 * Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
1007 ** File name clashes are detected
1008 $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
1009 fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
1011 ** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
1012 In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
1013 Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
1014 future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
1015 grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
1016 facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
1018 ** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
1019 many portability hassles.
1021 ** DJGPP support added.
1023 ** Fix test suite portability problems.
1025 * Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
1028 Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
1029 under some conditions.
1034 * Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
1036 ** Fix Yacc output file names
1038 ** Portability fixes
1040 ** Italian, Dutch translations
1042 * Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
1046 ** GNU Gettext and %expect
1047 GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
1048 Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
1049 too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
1050 does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
1052 ** Use of alloca in parsers
1053 If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
1054 malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
1056 alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
1059 ** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
1061 ** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
1062 (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
1065 Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
1066 ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
1067 is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
1069 ** Better C++ compliance
1070 The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
1071 [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
1074 Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
1077 The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
1080 Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
1083 When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
1086 ** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
1088 ** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
1090 ** Swedish translation
1093 Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
1094 Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
1095 Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
1097 ** Fixed parser memory leaks.
1098 When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
1099 previous allocations were not freed.
1101 ** Fixed verbose output file.
1102 Some newlines were missing.
1103 Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
1105 ** Fixed conflict report.
1106 Option -v was needed to get the result.
1110 Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
1112 ** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
1114 ** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
1116 ** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
1118 ** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
1119 Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
1121 ** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
1123 ** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
1127 New, aliasing `--output-file'.
1129 * Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
1131 ** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
1132 output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
1135 ** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
1138 ** Portability fixes.
1140 * Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
1142 ** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
1143 with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
1144 that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
1145 `-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
1147 ** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
1149 ** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
1151 ** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
1153 ** Russian translation added.
1155 ** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
1157 ** Added the old Bison reference card.
1159 ** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
1161 ** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
1163 ** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
1165 ** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
1166 of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
1169 `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
1170 `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
1173 Automatic location tracking.
1175 * Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
1177 ** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
1181 ** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
1183 ** There is now a FAQ.
1185 * Changes in version 1.27:
1187 ** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
1188 some systems has been fixed.
1190 * Changes in version 1.26:
1192 ** Bison now uses automake.
1194 ** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
1196 ** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
1198 ** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
1200 ** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
1202 ** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
1204 ** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
1205 not provide alloca().
1207 * Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
1209 ** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
1210 the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
1212 ** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
1213 example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
1214 of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
1216 ** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
1217 and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
1218 table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
1221 ** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
1222 directives in the parser file.
1224 ** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
1225 Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
1227 ** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
1228 the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
1229 The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
1230 a switch statement body.
1232 * Changes in version 1.23:
1234 The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
1235 passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
1236 actually point to an object. Grammar actions can access the variable
1237 by casting it to the proper pointer type.
1239 Line numbers in output file corrected.
1241 * Changes in version 1.22:
1243 --help option added.
1245 * Changes in version 1.20:
1247 Output file does not redefine const for C++.
1255 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
1256 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1258 This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
1260 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1261 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1262 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1263 (at your option) any later version.
1265 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1266 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1267 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1268 GNU General Public License for more details.
1270 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1271 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.