* Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?]
-** Future changes:
+** Bug fixes
+
+*** Portability issues in the test suite.
+
+*** Fixes of the -Werror option
+
+ Options such as "-Werror -Wno-error=foo" were still turning "foo"
+ diagnostics into errors instead of warnings. This is fixed.
+
+ Actually, for consistency with GCC, "-Wno-error=foo -Werror" now also
+ leaves "foo" diagnostics as warnings. Similarly, with "-Werror=foo
+ -Wno-error", "foo" diagnostics are now errors.
+
+*** GLR Predicates
+
+ As demonstrated in the documentation, one can now leave spaces between
+ "%?" and its "{".
+
+* Noteworthy changes in release 3.0 (2013-07-25) [stable]
+
+** WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!
+
+ Like other GNU packages, Bison will start using some of the C99 features
+ for its own code, especially the definition of variables after statements.
+ The generated C parsers still aim at C90.
+
+** Backward incompatible changes
+
+*** Obsolete features
+
+ Support for YYFAIL is removed (deprecated in Bison 2.4.2): use YYERROR.
+
+ Support for yystype and yyltype is removed (deprecated in Bison 1.875):
+ use YYSTYPE and YYLTYPE.
+
+ Support for YYLEX_PARAM and YYPARSE_PARAM is removed (deprecated in Bison
+ 1.875): use %lex-param, %parse-param, or %param.
+
+ Missing semicolons at the end of actions are no longer added (as announced
+ in the release 2.5).
+
+*** Use of YACC='bison -y'
+
+ TL;DR: With Autoconf <= 2.69, pass -Wno-yacc to (AM_)YFLAGS if you use
+ Bison extensions.
+
+ Traditional Yacc generates 'y.tab.c' whatever the name of the input file.
+ Therefore Makefiles written for Yacc expect 'y.tab.c' (and possibly
+ 'y.tab.h' and 'y.outout') to be generated from 'foo.y'.
+
+ To this end, for ages, AC_PROG_YACC, Autoconf's macro to look for an
+ implementation of Yacc, was using Bison as 'bison -y'. While it does
+ ensure compatible output file names, it also enables warnings for
+ incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc. In other words, 'bison -y' triggers
+ warnings for Bison extensions.
+
+ Autoconf 2.70+ fixes this incompatibility by using YACC='bison -o y.tab.c'
+ (which also generates 'y.tab.h' and 'y.output' when needed).
+ Alternatively, disable Yacc warnings by passing '-Wno-yacc' to your Yacc
+ flags (YFLAGS, or AM_YFLAGS with Automake).
+
+** Bug fixes
+
+*** The epilogue is no longer affected by internal #defines (glr.c)
+
+ The glr.c skeleton uses defines such as #define yylval (yystackp->yyval) in
+ generated code. These weren't properly undefined before the inclusion of
+ the user epilogue, so functions such as the following were butchered by the
+ preprocessor expansion:
+
+ int yylex (YYSTYPE *yylval);
+
+ This is fixed: yylval, yynerrs, yychar, and yylloc are now valid
+ identifiers for user-provided variables.
+
+*** stdio.h is no longer needed when locations are enabled (yacc.c)
+
+ Changes in Bison 2.7 introduced a dependency on FILE and fprintf when
+ locations are enabled. This is fixed.
+
+*** Warnings about useless %pure-parser/%define api.pure are restored
+
+** Diagnostics reported by Bison
+
+ Most of these features were contributed by Théophile Ranquet and Victor
+ Santet.
+
+*** Carets
+
+ Version 2.7 introduced caret errors, for a prettier output. These are now
+ activated by default. The old format can still be used by invoking Bison
+ with -fno-caret (or -fnone).
+
+ Some error messages that reproduced excerpts of the grammar are now using
+ the caret information only. For instance on:
+
+ %%
+ exp: 'a' | 'a';
+
+ Bison 2.7 reports:
+
+ in.y: warning: 1 reduce/reduce conflict [-Wconflicts-rr]
+ in.y:2.12-14: warning: rule useless in parser due to conflicts: exp: 'a' [-Wother]
+
+ Now bison reports:
+
+ in.y: warning: 1 reduce/reduce conflict [-Wconflicts-rr]
+ in.y:2.12-14: warning: rule useless in parser due to conflicts [-Wother]
+ exp: 'a' | 'a';
+ ^^^
+
+ and "bison -fno-caret" reports:
+
+ in.y: warning: 1 reduce/reduce conflict [-Wconflicts-rr]
+ in.y:2.12-14: warning: rule useless in parser due to conflicts [-Wother]
+
+*** Enhancements of the -Werror option
+
+ The -Werror=CATEGORY option is now recognized, and will treat specified
+ warnings as errors. The warnings need not have been explicitly activated
+ using the -W option, this is similar to what GCC 4.7 does.
+
+ For example, given the following command line, Bison will treat both
+ warnings related to POSIX Yacc incompatibilities and S/R conflicts as
+ errors (and only those):
+
+ $ bison -Werror=yacc,error=conflicts-sr input.y
+
+ If no categories are specified, -Werror will make all active warnings into
+ errors. For example, the following line does the same the previous example:
+
+ $ bison -Werror -Wnone -Wyacc -Wconflicts-sr input.y
+
+ (By default -Wconflicts-sr,conflicts-rr,deprecated,other is enabled.)
+
+ Note that the categories in this -Werror option may not be prefixed with
+ "no-". However, -Wno-error[=CATEGORY] is valid.
+
+ Note that -y enables -Werror=yacc. Therefore it is now possible to require
+ Yacc-like behavior (e.g., always generate y.tab.c), but to report
+ incompatibilities as warnings: "-y -Wno-error=yacc".
+
+*** The display of warnings is now richer
+
+ The option that controls a given warning is now displayed:
+
+ foo.y:4.6: warning: type clash on default action: <foo> != <bar> [-Wother]
+
+ In the case of warnings treated as errors, the prefix is changed from
+ "warning: " to "error: ", and the suffix is displayed, in a manner similar
+ to GCC, as [-Werror=CATEGORY].
+
+ For instance, where the previous version of Bison would report (and exit
+ with failure):
+
+ bison: warnings being treated as errors
+ input.y:1.1: warning: stray ',' treated as white space
+
+ it now reports:
+
+ input.y:1.1: error: stray ',' treated as white space [-Werror=other]
+
+*** Deprecated constructs
+
+ The new 'deprecated' warning category flags obsolete constructs whose
+ support will be discontinued. It is enabled by default. These warnings
+ used to be reported as 'other' warnings.
+
+*** Useless semantic types
+
+ Bison now warns about useless (uninhabited) semantic types. Since
+ semantic types are not declared to Bison (they are defined in the opaque
+ %union structure), it is %printer/%destructor directives about useless
+ types that trigger the warning:
+
+ %token <type1> term
+ %type <type2> nterm
+ %printer {} <type1> <type3>
+ %destructor {} <type2> <type4>
+ %%
+ nterm: term { $$ = $1; };
+
+ 3.28-34: warning: type <type3> is used, but is not associated to any symbol
+ 4.28-34: warning: type <type4> is used, but is not associated to any symbol
+
+*** Undefined but unused symbols
+
+ Bison used to raise an error for undefined symbols that are not used in
+ the grammar. This is now only a warning.
+
+ %printer {} symbol1
+ %destructor {} symbol2
+ %type <type> symbol3
+ %%
+ exp: "a";
+
+*** Useless destructors or printers
+
+ Bison now warns about useless destructors or printers. In the following
+ example, the printer for <type1>, and the destructor for <type2> are
+ useless: all symbols of <type1> (token1) already have a printer, and all
+ symbols of type <type2> (token2) already have a destructor.
+
+ %token <type1> token1
+ <type2> token2
+ <type3> token3
+ <type4> token4
+ %printer {} token1 <type1> <type3>
+ %destructor {} token2 <type2> <type4>
+
+*** Conflicts
+
+ The warnings and error messages about shift/reduce and reduce/reduce
+ conflicts have been normalized. For instance on the following foo.y file:
+
+ %glr-parser
+ %%
+ exp: exp '+' exp | '0' | '0';
+
+ compare the previous version of bison:
+
+ $ bison foo.y
+ foo.y: conflicts: 1 shift/reduce, 2 reduce/reduce
+ $ bison -Werror foo.y
+ bison: warnings being treated as errors
+ foo.y: conflicts: 1 shift/reduce, 2 reduce/reduce
+
+ with the new behavior:
+
+ $ bison foo.y
+ foo.y: warning: 1 shift/reduce conflict [-Wconflicts-sr]
+ foo.y: warning: 2 reduce/reduce conflicts [-Wconflicts-rr]
+ $ bison -Werror foo.y
+ foo.y: error: 1 shift/reduce conflict [-Werror=conflicts-sr]
+ foo.y: error: 2 reduce/reduce conflicts [-Werror=conflicts-rr]
+
+ When %expect or %expect-rr is used, such as with bar.y:
+
+ %expect 0
+ %glr-parser
+ %%
+ exp: exp '+' exp | '0' | '0';
+
+ Former behavior:
+
+ $ bison bar.y
+ bar.y: conflicts: 1 shift/reduce, 2 reduce/reduce
+ bar.y: expected 0 shift/reduce conflicts
+ bar.y: expected 0 reduce/reduce conflicts
+
+ New one:
+
+ $ bison bar.y
+ bar.y: error: shift/reduce conflicts: 1 found, 0 expected
+ bar.y: error: reduce/reduce conflicts: 2 found, 0 expected
+
+** Incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc
+
+ The 'yacc' category is no longer part of '-Wall', enable it explicitly
+ with '-Wyacc'.
+
+** Additional yylex/yyparse arguments
+
+ The new directive %param declares additional arguments to both yylex and
+ yyparse. The %lex-param, %parse-param, and %param directives support one
+ or more arguments. Instead of
+
+ %lex-param {arg1_type *arg1}
+ %lex-param {arg2_type *arg2}
+ %parse-param {arg1_type *arg1}
+ %parse-param {arg2_type *arg2}
+
+ one may now declare
+
+ %param {arg1_type *arg1} {arg2_type *arg2}
+
+** Types of values for %define variables
+
+ Bison used to make no difference between '%define foo bar' and '%define
+ foo "bar"'. The former is now called a 'keyword value', and the latter a
+ 'string value'. A third kind was added: 'code values', such as '%define
+ foo {bar}'.
+
+ Keyword variables are used for fixed value sets, e.g.,
+
+ %define lr.type lalr
+
+ Code variables are used for value in the target language, e.g.,
+
+ %define api.value.type {struct semantic_type}
+
+ String variables are used remaining cases, e.g. file names.
+
+** Variable api.token.prefix
+
+ The variable api.token.prefix changes the way tokens are identified in
+ the generated files. This is especially useful to avoid collisions
+ with identifiers in the target language. For instance
+
+ %token FILE for ERROR
+ %define api.token.prefix {TOK_}
+ %%
+ start: FILE for ERROR;
+
+ will generate the definition of the symbols TOK_FILE, TOK_for, and
+ TOK_ERROR in the generated sources. In particular, the scanner must
+ use these prefixed token names, although the grammar itself still
+ uses the short names (as in the sample rule given above).
+
+** Variable api.value.type
+
+ This new %define variable supersedes the #define macro YYSTYPE. The use
+ of YYSTYPE is discouraged. In particular, #defining YYSTYPE *and* either
+ using %union or %defining api.value.type results in undefined behavior.
+
+ Either define api.value.type, or use "%union":
+
+ %union
+ {
+ int ival;
+ char *sval;
+ }
+ %token <ival> INT "integer"
+ %token <sval> STRING "string"
+ %printer { fprintf (yyo, "%d", $$); } <ival>
+ %destructor { free ($$); } <sval>
+
+ /* In yylex(). */
+ yylval.ival = 42; return INT;
+ yylval.sval = "42"; return STRING;
+
+ The %define variable api.value.type supports both keyword and code values.
+
+ The keyword value 'union' means that the user provides genuine types, not
+ union member names such as "ival" and "sval" above (WARNING: will fail if
+ -y/--yacc/%yacc is enabled).
+
+ %define api.value.type union
+ %token <int> INT "integer"
+ %token <char *> STRING "string"
+ %printer { fprintf (yyo, "%d", $$); } <int>
+ %destructor { free ($$); } <char *>
+
+ /* In yylex(). */
+ yylval.INT = 42; return INT;
+ yylval.STRING = "42"; return STRING;
+
+ The keyword value variant is somewhat equivalent, but for C++ special
+ provision is made to allow classes to be used (more about this below).
+
+ %define api.value.type variant
+ %token <int> INT "integer"
+ %token <std::string> STRING "string"
+
+ Code values (in braces) denote user defined types. This is where YYSTYPE
+ used to be used.
+
+ %code requires
+ {
+ struct my_value
+ {
+ enum
+ {
+ is_int, is_string
+ } kind;
+ union
+ {
+ int ival;
+ char *sval;
+ } u;
+ };
+ }
+ %define api.value.type {struct my_value}
+ %token <u.ival> INT "integer"
+ %token <u.sval> STRING "string"
+ %printer { fprintf (yyo, "%d", $$); } <u.ival>
+ %destructor { free ($$); } <u.sval>
+
+ /* In yylex(). */
+ yylval.u.ival = 42; return INT;
+ yylval.u.sval = "42"; return STRING;
+
+** Variable parse.error
+
+ This variable controls the verbosity of error messages. The use of the
+ %error-verbose directive is deprecated in favor of "%define parse.error
+ verbose".
+
+** Renamed %define variables
+
+ The following variables have been renamed for consistency. Backward
+ compatibility is ensured, but upgrading is recommended.
+
+ lr.default-reductions -> lr.default-reduction
+ lr.keep-unreachable-states -> lr.keep-unreachable-state
+ namespace -> api.namespace
+ stype -> api.value.type
+
+** Semantic predicates
+
+ Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
+
+ The new, experimental, semantic-predicate feature allows actions of the
+ form "%?{ BOOLEAN-EXPRESSION }", which cause syntax errors (as for
+ YYERROR) if the expression evaluates to 0, and are evaluated immediately
+ in GLR parsers, rather than being deferred. The result is that they allow
+ the programmer to prune possible parses based on the values of run-time
+ expressions.
+
+** The directive %expect-rr is now an error in non GLR mode
+
+ It used to be an error only if used in non GLR mode, _and_ if there are
+ reduce/reduce conflicts.
+
+** Tokens are numbered in their order of appearance
+
+ Contributed by Valentin Tolmer.
+
+ With '%token A B', A had a number less than the one of B. However,
+ precedence declarations used to generate a reversed order. This is now
+ fixed, and introducing tokens with any of %token, %left, %right,
+ %precedence, or %nonassoc yields the same result.
+
+ When mixing declarations of tokens with a litteral character (e.g., 'a')
+ or with an identifier (e.g., B) in a precedence declaration, Bison
+ numbered the litteral characters first. For example
+
+ %right A B 'c' 'd'
+
+ would lead to the tokens declared in this order: 'c' 'd' A B. Again, the
+ input order is now preserved.
+
+ These changes were made so that one can remove useless precedence and
+ associativity declarations (i.e., map %nonassoc, %left or %right to
+ %precedence, or to %token) and get exactly the same output.
+
+** Useless precedence and associativity
+
+ Contributed by Valentin Tolmer.
+
+ When developing and maintaining a grammar, useless associativity and
+ precedence directives are common. They can be a nuisance: new ambiguities
+ arising are sometimes masked because their conflicts are resolved due to
+ the extra precedence or associativity information. Furthermore, it can
+ hinder the comprehension of a new grammar: one will wonder about the role
+ of a precedence, where in fact it is useless. The following changes aim
+ at detecting and reporting these extra directives.
+
+*** Precedence warning category
+
+ A new category of warning, -Wprecedence, was introduced. It flags the
+ useless precedence and associativity directives.
+
+*** Useless associativity
+
+ Bison now warns about symbols with a declared associativity that is never
+ used to resolve conflicts. In that case, using %precedence is sufficient;
+ the parsing tables will remain unchanged. Solving these warnings may raise
+ useless precedence warnings, as the symbols no longer have associativity.
+ For example:
+
+ %left '+'
+ %left '*'
+ %%
+ exp:
+ "number"
+ | exp '+' "number"
+ | exp '*' exp
+ ;
+
+ will produce a
+
+ warning: useless associativity for '+', use %precedence [-Wprecedence]
+ %left '+'
+ ^^^
+
+*** Useless precedence
+
+ Bison now warns about symbols with a declared precedence and no declared
+ associativity (i.e., declared with %precedence), and whose precedence is
+ never used. In that case, the symbol can be safely declared with %token
+ instead, without modifying the parsing tables. For example:
+
+ %precedence '='
+ %%
+ exp: "var" '=' "number";
+
+ will produce a
+
+ warning: useless precedence for '=' [-Wprecedence]
+ %precedence '='
+ ^^^
+
+*** Useless precedence and associativity
+
+ In case of both useless precedence and associativity, the issue is flagged
+ as follows:
+
+ %nonassoc '='
+ %%
+ exp: "var" '=' "number";
+
+ The warning is:
+
+ warning: useless precedence and associativity for '=' [-Wprecedence]
+ %nonassoc '='
+ ^^^
+
+** Empty rules
+
+ With help from Joel E. Denny and Gabriel Rassoul.
+
+ Empty rules (i.e., with an empty right-hand side) can now be explicitly
+ marked by the new %empty directive. Using %empty on a non-empty rule is
+ an error. The new -Wempty-rule warning reports empty rules without
+ %empty. On the following grammar:
+
+ %%
+ s: a b c;
+ a: ;
+ b: %empty;
+ c: 'a' %empty;
+
+ bison reports:
+
+ 3.4-5: warning: empty rule without %empty [-Wempty-rule]
+ a: {}
+ ^^
+ 5.8-13: error: %empty on non-empty rule
+ c: 'a' %empty {};
+ ^^^^^^
+
+** Java skeleton improvements
+
+ The constants for token names were moved to the Lexer interface. Also, it
+ is possible to add code to the parser's constructors using "%code init"
+ and "%define init_throws".
+ Contributed by Paolo Bonzini.
+
+ The Java skeleton now supports push parsing.
+ Contributed by Dennis Heimbigner.
+
+** C++ skeletons improvements
+
+*** The parser header is no longer mandatory (lalr1.cc, glr.cc)
+
+ Using %defines is now optional. Without it, the needed support classes
+ are defined in the generated parser, instead of additional files (such as
+ location.hh, position.hh and stack.hh).
- The next major release will drop support for generating parsers in K&R C,
- and remove the definition of yystype (removal announced since Bison
- 1.875).
+*** Locations are no longer mandatory (lalr1.cc, glr.cc)
-** Changes in regular C parsers (yacc.c):
+ Both lalr1.cc and glr.cc no longer require %location.
-*** The generated header is included
+*** syntax_error exception (lalr1.cc)
+
+ The C++ parser features a syntax_error exception, which can be
+ thrown from the scanner or from user rules to raise syntax errors.
+ This facilitates reporting errors caught in sub-functions (e.g.,
+ rejecting too large integral literals from a conversion function
+ used by the scanner, or rejecting invalid combinations from a
+ factory invoked by the user actions).
+
+*** %define api.value.type variant
+
+ This is based on a submission from Michiel De Wilde. With help
+ from Théophile Ranquet.
+
+ In this mode, complex C++ objects can be used as semantic values. For
+ instance:
+
+ %token <::std::string> TEXT;
+ %token <int> NUMBER;
+ %token SEMICOLON ";"
+ %type <::std::string> item;
+ %type <::std::list<std::string>> list;
+ %%
+ result:
+ list { std::cout << $1 << std::endl; }
+ ;
+
+ list:
+ %empty { /* Generates an empty string list. */ }
+ | list item ";" { std::swap ($$, $1); $$.push_back ($2); }
+ ;
+
+ item:
+ TEXT { std::swap ($$, $1); }
+ | NUMBER { $$ = string_cast ($1); }
+ ;
+
+*** %define api.token.constructor
+
+ When variants are enabled, Bison can generate functions to build the
+ tokens. This guarantees that the token type (e.g., NUMBER) is consistent
+ with the semantic value (e.g., int):
+
+ parser::symbol_type yylex ()
+ {
+ parser::location_type loc = ...;
+ ...
+ return parser::make_TEXT ("Hello, world!", loc);
+ ...
+ return parser::make_NUMBER (42, loc);
+ ...
+ return parser::make_SEMICOLON (loc);
+ ...
+ }
+
+*** C++ locations
+
+ There are operator- and operator-= for 'location'. Negative line/column
+ increments can no longer underflow the resulting value.
+
+* Noteworthy changes in release 2.7.1 (2013-04-15) [stable]
+
+** Bug fixes
+
+*** Fix compiler attribute portability (yacc.c)
+
+ With locations enabled, __attribute__ was used unprotected.
+
+*** Fix some compiler warnings (lalr1.cc)
+
+* Noteworthy changes in release 2.7 (2012-12-12) [stable]
+
+** Bug fixes
+
+ Warnings about uninitialized yylloc in yyparse have been fixed.
+
+ Restored C90 compliance (yet no report was ever made).
+
+** Diagnostics are improved
+
+ Contributed by Théophile Ranquet.
+
+*** Changes in the format of error messages
+
+ This used to be the format of many error reports:
+
+ input.y:2.7-12: %type redeclaration for exp
+ input.y:1.7-12: previous declaration
+
+ It is now:
+
+ input.y:2.7-12: error: %type redeclaration for exp
+ input.y:1.7-12: previous declaration
+
+*** New format for error reports: carets
+
+ Caret errors have been added to Bison:
+
+ input.y:2.7-12: error: %type redeclaration for exp
+ %type <sval> exp
+ ^^^^^^
+ input.y:1.7-12: previous declaration
+ %type <ival> exp
+ ^^^^^^
+
+ or
+
+ input.y:3.20-23: error: ambiguous reference: '$exp'
+ exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
+ ^^^^
+ input.y:3.1-3: refers to: $exp at $$
+ exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
+ ^^^
+ input.y:3.6-8: refers to: $exp at $1
+ exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
+ ^^^
+ input.y:3.14-16: refers to: $exp at $3
+ exp: exp '+' exp { $exp = $1 + $3; };
+ ^^^
+
+ The default behavior for now is still not to display these unless
+ explicitly asked with -fcaret (or -fall). However, in a later release, it
+ will be made the default behavior (but may still be deactivated with
+ -fno-caret).
+
+** New value for %define variable: api.pure full
+
+ The %define variable api.pure requests a pure (reentrant) parser. However,
+ for historical reasons, using it in a location-tracking Yacc parser
+ resulted in a yyerror function that did not take a location as a
+ parameter. With this new value, the user may request a better pure parser,
+ where yyerror does take a location as a parameter (in location-tracking
+ parsers).
+
+ The use of "%define api.pure true" is deprecated in favor of this new
+ "%define api.pure full".
+
+** New %define variable: api.location.type (glr.cc, lalr1.cc, lalr1.java)
+
+ The %define variable api.location.type defines the name of the type to use
+ for locations. When defined, Bison no longer generates the position.hh
+ and location.hh files, nor does the parser will include them: the user is
+ then responsible to define her type.
+
+ This can be used in programs with several parsers to factor their location
+ and position files: let one of them generate them, and the others just use
+ them.
+
+ This feature was actually introduced, but not documented, in Bison 2.5,
+ under the name "location_type" (which is maintained for backward
+ compatibility).
+
+ For consistency, lalr1.java's %define variables location_type and
+ position_type are deprecated in favor of api.location.type and
+ api.position.type.
+
+** Exception safety (lalr1.cc)
+
+ The parse function now catches exceptions, uses the %destructors to
+ release memory (the lookahead symbol and the symbols pushed on the stack)
+ before re-throwing the exception.
+
+ This feature is somewhat experimental. User feedback would be
+ appreciated.
+
+** Graph improvements in DOT and XSLT
+
+ Contributed by Théophile Ranquet.
+
+ The graphical presentation of the states is more readable: their shape is
+ now rectangular, the state number is clearly displayed, and the items are
+ numbered and left-justified.
+
+ The reductions are now explicitly represented as transitions to other
+ diamond shaped nodes.
+
+ These changes are present in both --graph output and xml2dot.xsl XSLT
+ processing, with minor (documented) differences.
+
+** %language is no longer an experimental feature.
+
+ The introduction of this feature, in 2.4, was four years ago. The
+ --language option and the %language directive are no longer experimental.
+
+** Documentation
+
+ The sections about shift/reduce and reduce/reduce conflicts resolution
+ have been fixed and extended.
+
+ Although introduced more than four years ago, XML and Graphviz reports
+ were not properly documented.
+
+ The translation of mid-rule actions is now described.
+
+* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.5 (2012-11-07) [stable]
+
+ We consider compiler warnings about Bison generated parsers to be bugs.
+ Rather than working around them in your own project, please consider
+ reporting them to us.
+
+** Bug fixes
+
+ Warnings about uninitialized yylval and/or yylloc for push parsers with a
+ pure interface have been fixed for GCC 4.0 up to 4.8, and Clang 2.9 to
+ 3.2.
+
+ Other issues in the test suite have been addressed.
+
+ Null characters are correctly displayed in error messages.
+
+ When possible, yylloc is correctly initialized before calling yylex. It
+ is no longer necessary to initialize it in the %initial-action.
+
+* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.4 (2012-10-23) [stable]
+
+ Bison 2.6.3's --version was incorrect. This release fixes this issue.
+
+* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.3 (2012-10-22) [stable]
+
+** Bug fixes
+
+ Bugs and portability issues in the test suite have been fixed.
+
+ Some errors in translations have been addressed, and --help now directs
+ users to the appropriate place to report them.
+
+ Stray Info files shipped by accident are removed.
+
+ Incorrect definitions of YY_, issued by yacc.c when no parser header is
+ generated, are removed.
+
+ All the generated headers are self-contained.
+
+** Header guards (yacc.c, glr.c, glr.cc)
+
+ In order to avoid collisions, the header guards are now
+ YY_<PREFIX>_<FILE>_INCLUDED, instead of merely <PREFIX>_<FILE>.
+ For instance the header generated from
+
+ %define api.prefix "calc"
+ %defines "lib/parse.h"
+
+ will use YY_CALC_LIB_PARSE_H_INCLUDED as guard.
+
+** Fix compiler warnings in the generated parser (yacc.c, glr.c)
+
+ The compilation of pure parsers (%define api.pure) can trigger GCC
+ warnings such as:
+
+ input.c: In function 'yyparse':
+ input.c:1503:12: warning: 'yylval' may be used uninitialized in this
+ function [-Wmaybe-uninitialized]
+ *++yyvsp = yylval;
+ ^
+
+ This is now fixed; pragmas to avoid these warnings are no longer needed.
+
+ Warnings from clang ("equality comparison with extraneous parentheses" and
+ "function declared 'noreturn' should not return") have also been
+ addressed.
+
+* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.2 (2012-08-03) [stable]
+
+** Bug fixes
+
+ Buffer overruns, complaints from Flex, and portability issues in the test
+ suite have been fixed.
+
+** Spaces in %lex- and %parse-param (lalr1.cc, glr.cc)
+
+ Trailing end-of-lines in %parse-param or %lex-param would result in
+ invalid C++. This is fixed.
+
+** Spurious spaces and end-of-lines
+
+ The generated files no longer end (nor start) with empty lines.
+
+* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6.1 (2012-07-30) [stable]
+
+ Bison no longer executes user-specified M4 code when processing a grammar.
+
+** Future Changes
+
+ In addition to the removal of the features announced in Bison 2.6, the
+ next major release will remove the "Temporary hack for adding a semicolon
+ to the user action", as announced in the release 2.5. Instead of:
+
+ exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
+
+ write:
+
+ exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
+
+** Bug fixes
+
+*** Type names are now properly escaped.
+
+*** glr.cc: set_debug_level and debug_level work as expected.
+
+*** Stray @ or $ in actions
+
+ While Bison used to warn about stray $ or @ in action rules, it did not
+ for other actions such as printers, destructors, or initial actions. It
+ now does.
+
+** Type names in actions
+
+ For consistency with rule actions, it is now possible to qualify $$ by a
+ type-name in destructors, printers, and initial actions. For instance:
+
+ %printer { fprintf (yyo, "(%d, %f)", $<ival>$, $<fval>$); } <*> <>;
+
+ will display two values for each typed and untyped symbol (provided
+ that YYSTYPE has both "ival" and "fval" fields).
+
+* Noteworthy changes in release 2.6 (2012-07-19) [stable]
+
+** Future changes
+
+ The next major release of Bison will drop support for the following
+ deprecated features. Please report disagreements to bug-bison@gnu.org.
+
+*** K&R C parsers
+
+ Support for generating parsers in K&R C will be removed. Parsers
+ generated for C support ISO C90, and are tested with ISO C99 and ISO C11
+ compilers.
+
+*** Features deprecated since Bison 1.875
+
+ The definitions of yystype and yyltype will be removed; use YYSTYPE and
+ YYLTYPE.
+
+ YYPARSE_PARAM and YYLEX_PARAM, deprecated in favor of %parse-param and
+ %lex-param, will no longer be supported.
+
+ Support for the preprocessor symbol YYERROR_VERBOSE will be removed, use
+ %error-verbose.
+
+*** The generated header will be included (yacc.c)
Instead of duplicating the content of the generated header (definition of
- YYSTYPE, yyltype etc.), the generated parser now includes it, as was
- already the case for GLR or C++ parsers.
+ YYSTYPE, yyparse declaration etc.), the generated parser will include it,
+ as is already the case for GLR or C++ parsers. This change is deferred
+ because existing versions of ylwrap (e.g., Automake 1.12.1) do not support
+ it.
+
+** Generated Parser Headers
+
+*** Guards (yacc.c, glr.c, glr.cc)
+
+ The generated headers are now guarded, as is already the case for C++
+ parsers (lalr1.cc). For instance, with --defines=foo.h:
+
+ #ifndef YY_FOO_H
+ # define YY_FOO_H
+ ...
+ #endif /* !YY_FOO_H */
+
+*** New declarations (yacc.c, glr.c)
+
+ The generated header now declares yydebug and yyparse. Both honor
+ --name-prefix=bar_, and yield
+
+ int bar_parse (void);
+
+ rather than
+
+ #define yyparse bar_parse
+ int yyparse (void);
+
+ in order to facilitate the inclusion of several parser headers inside a
+ single compilation unit.
+
+*** Exported symbols in C++
+
+ The symbols YYTOKEN_TABLE and YYERROR_VERBOSE, which were defined in the
+ header, are removed, as they prevent the possibility of including several
+ generated headers from a single compilation unit.
+
+*** YYLSP_NEEDED
+
+ For the same reasons, the undocumented and unused macro YYLSP_NEEDED is no
+ longer defined.
+
+** New %define variable: api.prefix
+
+ Now that the generated headers are more complete and properly protected
+ against multiple inclusions, constant names, such as YYSTYPE are a
+ problem. While yyparse and others are properly renamed by %name-prefix,
+ YYSTYPE, YYDEBUG and others have never been affected by it. Because it
+ would introduce backward compatibility issues in projects not expecting
+ YYSTYPE to be renamed, instead of changing the behavior of %name-prefix,
+ it is deprecated in favor of a new %define variable: api.prefix.
+
+ The following examples compares both:
+
+ %name-prefix "bar_" | %define api.prefix "bar_"
+ %token <ival> FOO %token <ival> FOO
+ %union { int ival; } %union { int ival; }
+ %% %%
+ exp: 'a'; exp: 'a';
+
+ bison generates:
+
+ #ifndef BAR_FOO_H #ifndef BAR_FOO_H
+ # define BAR_FOO_H # define BAR_FOO_H
+
+ /* Enabling traces. */ /* Enabling traces. */
+ # ifndef YYDEBUG | # ifndef BAR_DEBUG
+ > # if defined YYDEBUG
+ > # if YYDEBUG
+ > # define BAR_DEBUG 1
+ > # else
+ > # define BAR_DEBUG 0
+ > # endif
+ > # else
+ # define YYDEBUG 0 | # define BAR_DEBUG 0
+ > # endif
+ # endif | # endif
+
+ # if YYDEBUG | # if BAR_DEBUG
+ extern int bar_debug; extern int bar_debug;
+ # endif # endif
+
+ /* Tokens. */ /* Tokens. */
+ # ifndef YYTOKENTYPE | # ifndef BAR_TOKENTYPE
+ # define YYTOKENTYPE | # define BAR_TOKENTYPE
+ enum yytokentype { | enum bar_tokentype {
+ FOO = 258 FOO = 258
+ }; };
+ # endif # endif
+
+ #if ! defined YYSTYPE \ | #if ! defined BAR_STYPE \
+ && ! defined YYSTYPE_IS_DECLARED | && ! defined BAR_STYPE_IS_DECLARED
+ typedef union YYSTYPE | typedef union BAR_STYPE
+ { {
+ int ival; int ival;
+ } YYSTYPE; | } BAR_STYPE;
+ # define YYSTYPE_IS_DECLARED 1 | # define BAR_STYPE_IS_DECLARED 1
+ #endif #endif
+
+ extern YYSTYPE bar_lval; | extern BAR_STYPE bar_lval;
+
+ int bar_parse (void); int bar_parse (void);
+
+ #endif /* !BAR_FOO_H */ #endif /* !BAR_FOO_H */
* Noteworthy changes in release 2.5.1 (2012-06-05) [stable]
The header files such as "parser.hh", "location.hh", etc. used a constant
name for preprocessor guards, for instance:
- #ifndef BISON_LOCATION_HH
- # define BISON_LOCATION_HH
- ...
- #endif // !BISON_LOCATION_HH
+ #ifndef BISON_LOCATION_HH
+ # define BISON_LOCATION_HH
+ ...
+ #endif // !BISON_LOCATION_HH
The inclusion guard is now computed from "PREFIX/FILE-NAME", where lower
case characters are converted to upper case, and series of
With "bison -o lang++/parser.cc", "location.hh" would now include:
- #ifndef YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
- # define YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
- ...
- #endif // !YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
+ #ifndef YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
+ # define YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
+ ...
+ #endif // !YY_LANG_LOCATION_HH
*** C++ locations:
These features are experimental in this version. More user feedback
will help to stabilize them.
+ Contributed by Alex Rozenman.
** IELR(1) and canonical LR(1):
These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
stabilize them.
-** LAC (Lookahead Correction) for syntax error handling:
+** LAC (Lookahead Correction) for syntax error handling
+
+ Contributed by Joel E. Denny.
Canonical LR, IELR, and LALR can suffer from a couple of problems
upon encountering a syntax error. First, the parser might perform
to use it. If, for instance, your location structure has "first"
and "last" members, instead of
- # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
- do \
- if (N) \
- { \
- (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
- (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
- } \
- else \
- { \
- (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
- } \
- while (false)
+ # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
+ do \
+ if (N) \
+ { \
+ (Current).first = (Rhs)[1].location.first; \
+ (Current).last = (Rhs)[N].location.last; \
+ } \
+ else \
+ { \
+ (Current).first = (Current).last = (Rhs)[0].location.last; \
+ } \
+ while (false)
use:
- # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
- do \
- if (N) \
- { \
- (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
- (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
- } \
- else \
- { \
- (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
- } \
- while (false)
+ # define YYLLOC_DEFAULT(Current, Rhs, N) \
+ do \
+ if (N) \
+ { \
+ (Current).first = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 1).first; \
+ (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, N).last; \
+ } \
+ else \
+ { \
+ (Current).first = (Current).last = YYRHSLOC (Rhs, 0).last; \
+ } \
+ while (false)
** YYLLOC_DEFAULT in C++:
The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
feedback will help to stabilize it.
+ Contributed by Paolo Bonzini.
** %language
Bison can now generate an XML report of the LALR(1) automaton using the new
"--xml" option. The current XML schema is experimental and may evolve. More
user feedback will help to stabilize it.
+ Contributed by Wojciech Polak.
** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
%defines. For example:
if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
- | exp "+" exp
- ;
+ | exp "+" exp
+ ;
will trigger a warning about $$ and $5 in the first rule, and $3 in
the second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule). This example
most likely contains three errors, and could be rewritten as:
exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp
- { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
- | exp "+" exp
- { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
- ;
+ { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; free ($1 ? $5 : $3); free ($1); }
+ | exp "+" exp
+ { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
+ ;
However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
values are used, e.g.:
exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
- | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
- ;
+ | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
+ ;
If there are mid-rule actions, the warning is issued if no action
uses it. The following triggers no warning: $1 and $3 are used.
- "parsing stack overflow..." -> "parser stack overflow"
GLR parsers now report "parser stack overflow" as per the Bison manual.
+** %parse-param and %lex-param
+ The macros YYPARSE_PARAM and YYLEX_PARAM provide a means to pass
+ additional context to yyparse and yylex. They suffer from several
+ shortcomings:
+
+ - a single argument only can be added,
+ - their types are weak (void *),
+ - this context is not passed to ancillary functions such as yyerror,
+ - only yacc.c parsers support them.
+
+ The new %parse-param/%lex-param directives provide a more precise control.
+ For instance:
+
+ %parse-param {int *nastiness}
+ %lex-param {int *nastiness}
+ %parse-param {int *randomness}
+
+ results in the following signatures:
+
+ int yylex (int *nastiness);
+ int yyparse (int *nastiness, int *randomness);
+
+ or, if both %pure-parser and %locations are used:
+
+ int yylex (YYSTYPE *lvalp, YYLTYPE *llocp, int *nastiness);
+ int yyparse (int *nastiness, int *randomness);
+
** Bison now warns if it detects conflicting outputs to the same file,
e.g., it generates a warning for "bison -d -o foo.h foo.y" since
that command outputs both code and header to foo.h.
In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
- untyped: ... typed;
+ untyped: ... typed;
but the converse remains an error:
- typed: ... untyped;
+ typed: ... untyped;
** Values of mid-rule actions
The following code:
- foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
+ foo: { ... } { $$ = $1; } ...
was incorrectly rejected: $1 is defined in the second mid-rule
action, and is equal to the $$ of the first mid-rule action.
** Incorrect "Token not used"
On a grammar such as
- %token useless useful
- %%
- exp: '0' %prec useful;
+ %token useless useful
+ %%
+ exp: '0' %prec useful;
where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
bison reported both "useful" and "useless" as useless tokens.
the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
error messages instead of "$end", which remains being the default.
For instance
- %token MYEOF 0
+ %token MYEOF 0
or
- %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
+ %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
** Semantic parser
This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
Previous versions don't complain when there is a type clash on
the default action if the rule has a mid-rule action, such as in:
- %type <foo> bar
- %%
- bar: '0' {} '0';
+ %type <foo> bar
+ %%
+ bar: '0' {} '0';
This is fixed.
-----
-Copyright (C) 1995-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+Copyright (C) 1995-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
LocalWords: struct yystype DJGPP lex param Haible NUM alloca YYSTACK NUL goto
LocalWords: YYMAXDEPTH Unescaped UCNs YYLTYPE's yyltype typedefs inline Yaccs
LocalWords: Heriyanto Reenable dprec Hilfinger Eggert MYEOF Folle Menezes EOF
- LocalWords: Lackovic define's itemset Groff Gettext malloc NEWS'ed YYDEBUG
+ LocalWords: Lackovic define's itemset Groff Gettext malloc NEWS'ed YYDEBUG YY
LocalWords: namespaces strerror const autoconfiguration Dconst Autoconf's FDL
- LocalWords: Automake TMPDIR LESSEQ
+ LocalWords: Automake TMPDIR LESSEQ ylwrap endif yydebug YYTOKEN YYLSP ival hh
+ LocalWords: extern YYTOKENTYPE TOKENTYPE yytokentype tokentype STYPE lval pdf
+ LocalWords: lang yyoutput dvi html ps POSIX lvalp llocp Wother nterm arg init
+ LocalWords: TOK calc yyo fval Wconflicts parsers yystackp yyval yynerrs
+ LocalWords: Théophile Ranquet Santet fno fnone stype associativity Tolmer
+ LocalWords: Wprecedence Rassoul Wempty Paolo Bonzini parser's Michiel loc
+ LocalWords: redeclaration sval fcaret reentrant XSLT xsl Wmaybe yyvsp Tedi
+ LocalWords: pragmas noreturn untyped Rozenman unexpanded Wojciech Polak
+ LocalWords: Alexandre MERCHANTABILITY yytype
Local Variables:
mode: outline