Bison News
----------
-Changes in version 1.49a:
+* Changes in version ?.? (????-??-??):
-* Large grammars
- Are now supported (large token numbers, large grammar size (= sum of
- the LHS and RHS lengths).
+** Java skeleton improvements:
-* The initial rule is explicit.
+ 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".
+
+** Variable api.tokens.prefix
+
+ The variable api.tokens.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.tokens.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.namespace
+
+ The "namespace" variable is renamed "api.namespace". Backward
+ compatibility is ensured, but upgrading is recommended.
+
+* Changes in version 2.5 (????-??-??):
+
+** IELR(1) and Canonical LR(1) Support
+
+ IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm. That
+ is, given any context-free grammar, IELR(1) generates parser tables
+ with the full language recognition power of canonical LR(1) but with
+ nearly the same number of parser states as LALR(1). This reduction in
+ parser states is often an order of magnitude. More importantly,
+ because canonical LR(1)'s extra parser states may contain duplicate
+ conflicts in the case of non-LR(1) grammars, the number of conflicts
+ for IELR(1) is often an order of magnitude less as well. This can
+ significantly reduce the complexity of developing of a grammar.
+
+ Bison can now generate IELR(1) and canonical LR(1) parser tables in
+ place of its traditional LALR(1) parser tables, which remain the
+ default. You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
+ file with these directives:
+
+ %define lr.type "LALR"
+ %define lr.type "IELR"
+ %define lr.type "canonical LR"
+
+ The default reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
+ adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'. See the documentation
+ for `%define lr.type' and `%define lr.default-reductions' in the
+ section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual for the
+ details.
+
+ These features are experimental. More user feedback will help to
+ stabilize them.
+
+** Multiple %define's for any variable is now an error not a warning.
+
+** %define can now be invoked via the command line.
+
+ Each of these command-line options
+
+ -D NAME[=VALUE]
+ --define=NAME[=VALUE]
+
+ -F NAME[=VALUE]
+ --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]
+
+ is equivalent to this grammar file declaration
+
+ %define NAME ["VALUE"]
+
+ except that the manner in which Bison processes multiple definitions
+ for the same NAME differs. Most importantly, -F and --force-define
+ quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not. For further
+ details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
+
+** %define variables renamed.
+
+ The following %define variables
+
+ api.push_pull
+ lr.keep_unreachable_states
+
+ have been renamed to
+
+ api.push-pull
+ lr.keep-unreachable-states
+
+ The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
+ for backward compatibility.
+
+** Symbols names
+
+ Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and variables
+ (e.g. push-pull), symbol names may include dashes in any position,
+ similarly to periods and underscores. This is GNU extension over
+ POSIX Yacc whose use is reported by -Wyacc, and rejected in Yacc
+ mode (--yacc).
+
+** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
+
+ Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
+ reductions when the output language defaulted to C (specifically, when
+ neither %yacc, %language, %skeleton, or equivalent command-line
+ options were specified). This allowed actions such as
+
+ exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
+
+ instead of
+
+ exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
+
+ As a first step in removing this misfeature, Bison now issues a
+ warning when it appends a semicolon. Moreover, in cases where Bison
+ cannot easily determine whether a semicolon is needed (for example, an
+ action ending with a cpp directive or a braced compound initializer),
+ it no longer appends one. Thus, the C compiler might now complain
+ about a missing semicolon where it did not before. Future releases of
+ Bison will cease to append semicolons entirely.
+
+* Changes in version 2.4.2 (????-??-??):
+
+** %code is now a permanent feature.
+
+ A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
+
+ %{CODE%}
+
+ To provide a more flexible alternative, Bison 2.3b introduced the
+ %code directive with the following forms for C/C++:
+
+ %code {CODE}
+ %code requires {CODE}
+ %code provides {CODE}
+ %code top {CODE}
+
+ These forms are now considered permanent features of Bison. See the
+ %code entries in the section "Bison Declaration Summary" in the Bison
+ manual for a summary of their functionality. See the section
+ "Prologue Alternatives" for a detailed discussion including the
+ advantages of %code over the traditional Yacc prologue directive.
+
+ Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
+ is still considered experimental.
+
+* Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
+
+** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
+ declarations have been fixed.
+
+** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
+
+ Bison used to prepend a trailing semicolon at the end of the user
+ action for reductions. This allowed actions such as
+
+ exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3 };
+
+ instead of
+
+ exp: exp "+" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; };
+
+ Some grammars still depend on this `feature'. Bison 2.4.1 restores
+ the previous behavior in the case of C output (specifically, when
+ neither %language or %skeleton or equivalent command-line options
+ are used) to leave more time for grammars depending on the old
+ behavior to be adjusted. Future releases of Bison will disable this
+ feature.
+
+** A few minor improvements to the Bison manual.
+
+* Changes in version 2.4 (2008-11-02):
+
+** %language is an experimental feature.
+
+ We first introduced this feature in test release 2.3b as a cleaner
+ alternative to %skeleton. Since then, we have discussed the possibility of
+ modifying its effect on Bison's output file names. Thus, in this release,
+ we consider %language to be an experimental feature that will likely evolve
+ in future releases.
+
+** Forward compatibility with GNU M4 has been improved.
+
+** Several bugs in the C++ skeleton and the experimental Java skeleton have been
+ fixed.
+
+* Changes in version 2.3b (2008-05-27):
+
+** The quotes around NAME that used to be required in the following directive
+ are now deprecated:
+
+ %define NAME "VALUE"
+
+** The directive `%pure-parser' is now deprecated in favor of:
+
+ %define api.pure
+
+ which has the same effect except that Bison is more careful to warn about
+ unreasonable usage in the latter case.
+
+** Push Parsing
+
+ Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in C with a push interface. That
+ is, instead of invoking `yyparse', which pulls tokens from `yylex', you can
+ push one token at a time to the parser using `yypush_parse', which will
+ return to the caller after processing each token. By default, the push
+ interface is disabled. Either of the following directives will enable it:
+
+ %define api.push_pull "push" // Just push; does not require yylex.
+ %define api.push_pull "both" // Push and pull; requires yylex.
+
+ See the new section `A Push Parser' in the Bison manual for details.
+
+ The current push parsing interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
+ feedback will help to stabilize it.
+
+** The -g and --graph options now output graphs in Graphviz DOT format,
+ not VCG format. Like --graph, -g now also takes an optional FILE argument
+ and thus cannot be bundled with other short options.
+
+** Java
+
+ Bison can now generate an LALR(1) parser in Java. The skeleton is
+ `data/lalr1.java'. Consider using the new %language directive instead of
+ %skeleton to select it.
+
+ See the new section `Java Parsers' in the Bison manual for details.
+
+ The current Java interface is experimental and may evolve. More user
+ feedback will help to stabilize it.
+
+** %language
+
+ This new directive specifies the programming language of the generated
+ parser, which can be C (the default), C++, or Java. Besides the skeleton
+ that Bison uses, the directive affects the names of the generated files if
+ the grammar file's name ends in ".y".
+
+** XML Automaton Report
+
+ 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.
+
+** The grammar file may now specify the name of the parser header file using
+ %defines. For example:
+
+ %defines "parser.h"
+
+** When reporting useless rules, useless nonterminals, and unused terminals,
+ Bison now employs the terms "useless in grammar" instead of "useless",
+ "useless in parser" instead of "never reduced", and "unused in grammar"
+ instead of "unused".
+
+** Unreachable State Removal
+
+ Previously, Bison sometimes generated parser tables containing unreachable
+ states. A state can become unreachable during conflict resolution if Bison
+ disables a shift action leading to it from a predecessor state. Bison now:
+
+ 1. Removes unreachable states.
+
+ 2. Does not report any conflicts that appeared in unreachable states.
+ WARNING: As a result, you may need to update %expect and %expect-rr
+ directives in existing grammar files.
+
+ 3. For any rule used only in such states, Bison now reports the rule as
+ "useless in parser due to conflicts".
+
+ This feature can be disabled with the following directive:
+
+ %define lr.keep_unreachable_states
+
+ See the %define entry in the `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison manual
+ for further discussion.
+
+** Lookahead Set Correction in the `.output' Report
+
+ When instructed to generate a `.output' file including lookahead sets
+ (using `--report=lookahead', for example), Bison now prints each reduction's
+ lookahead set only next to the associated state's one item that (1) is
+ associated with the same rule as the reduction and (2) has its dot at the end
+ of its RHS. Previously, Bison also erroneously printed the lookahead set
+ next to all of the state's other items associated with the same rule. This
+ bug affected only the `.output' file and not the generated parser source
+ code.
+
+** --report-file=FILE is a new option to override the default `.output' file
+ name.
+
+** The `=' that used to be required in the following directives is now
+ deprecated:
+
+ %file-prefix "parser"
+ %name-prefix "c_"
+ %output "parser.c"
+
+** An Alternative to `%{...%}' -- `%code QUALIFIER {CODE}'
+
+ Bison 2.3a provided a new set of directives as a more flexible alternative to
+ the traditional Yacc prologue blocks. Those have now been consolidated into
+ a single %code directive with an optional qualifier field, which identifies
+ the purpose of the code and thus the location(s) where Bison should generate
+ it:
+
+ 1. `%code {CODE}' replaces `%after-header {CODE}'
+ 2. `%code requires {CODE}' replaces `%start-header {CODE}'
+ 3. `%code provides {CODE}' replaces `%end-header {CODE}'
+ 4. `%code top {CODE}' replaces `%before-header {CODE}'
+
+ See the %code entries in section `Bison Declaration Summary' in the Bison
+ manual for a summary of the new functionality. See the new section `Prologue
+ Alternatives' for a detailed discussion including the advantages of %code
+ over the traditional Yacc prologues.
+
+ The prologue alternatives are experimental. More user feedback will help to
+ determine whether they should become permanent features.
+
+** Revised warning: unset or unused mid-rule values
+
+ Since Bison 2.2, Bison has warned about mid-rule values that are set but not
+ used within any of the actions of the parent rule. For example, Bison warns
+ about unused $2 in:
+
+ exp: '1' { $$ = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $1 + $4; };
+
+ Now, Bison also warns about mid-rule values that are used but not set. For
+ example, Bison warns about unset $$ in the mid-rule action in:
+
+ exp: '1' { $1 = 1; } '+' exp { $$ = $2 + $4; };
+
+ However, Bison now disables both of these warnings by default since they
+ sometimes prove to be false alarms in existing grammars employing the Yacc
+ constructs $0 or $-N (where N is some positive integer).
+
+ To enable these warnings, specify the option `--warnings=midrule-values' or
+ `-W', which is a synonym for `--warnings=all'.
+
+** Default %destructor or %printer with `<*>' or `<>'
+
+ Bison now recognizes two separate kinds of default %destructor's and
+ %printer's:
+
+ 1. Place `<*>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
+ %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols for which you have formally
+ declared semantic type tags.
+
+ 2. Place `<>' in a %destructor/%printer symbol list to define a default
+ %destructor/%printer for all grammar symbols without declared semantic
+ type tags.
+
+ Bison no longer supports the `%symbol-default' notation from Bison 2.3a.
+ `<*>' and `<>' combined achieve the same effect with one exception: Bison no
+ longer applies any %destructor to a mid-rule value if that mid-rule value is
+ not actually ever referenced using either $$ or $n in a semantic action.
+
+ The default %destructor's and %printer's are experimental. More user
+ feedback will help to determine whether they should become permanent
+ features.
+
+ See the section `Freeing Discarded Symbols' in the Bison manual for further
+ details.
+
+** %left, %right, and %nonassoc can now declare token numbers. This is required
+ by POSIX. However, see the end of section `Operator Precedence' in the Bison
+ manual for a caveat concerning the treatment of literal strings.
+
+** The nonfunctional --no-parser, -n, and %no-parser options have been
+ completely removed from Bison.
+
+* Changes in version 2.3a, 2006-09-13:
+
+** Instead of %union, you can define and use your own union type
+ YYSTYPE if your grammar contains at least one <type> tag.
+ Your YYSTYPE need not be a macro; it can be a typedef.
+ This change is for compatibility with other Yacc implementations,
+ and is required by POSIX.
+
+** Locations columns and lines start at 1.
+ In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
+
+** You may now declare per-type and default %destructor's and %printer's:
+
+ For example:
+
+ %union { char *string; }
+ %token <string> STRING1
+ %token <string> STRING2
+ %type <string> string1
+ %type <string> string2
+ %union { char character; }
+ %token <character> CHR
+ %type <character> chr
+ %destructor { free ($$); } %symbol-default
+ %destructor { free ($$); printf ("%d", @$.first_line); } STRING1 string1
+ %destructor { } <character>
+
+ guarantees that, when the parser discards any user-defined symbol that has a
+ semantic type tag other than `<character>', it passes its semantic value to
+ `free'. However, when the parser discards a `STRING1' or a `string1', it
+ also prints its line number to `stdout'. It performs only the second
+ `%destructor' in this case, so it invokes `free' only once.
+
+ [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the default
+ %destructor's and %printer's were experimental, and they were rewritten in
+ future versions.]
+
+** Except for LALR(1) parsers in C with POSIX Yacc emulation enabled (with `-y',
+ `--yacc', or `%yacc'), Bison no longer generates #define statements for
+ associating token numbers with token names. Removing the #define statements
+ helps to sanitize the global namespace during preprocessing, but POSIX Yacc
+ requires them. Bison still generates an enum for token names in all cases.
+
+** Handling of traditional Yacc prologue blocks is now more consistent but
+ potentially incompatible with previous releases of Bison.
+
+ As before, you declare prologue blocks in your grammar file with the
+ `%{ ... %}' syntax. To generate the pre-prologue, Bison concatenates all
+ prologue blocks that you've declared before the first %union. To generate
+ the post-prologue, Bison concatenates all prologue blocks that you've
+ declared after the first %union.
+
+ Previous releases of Bison inserted the pre-prologue into both the header
+ file and the code file in all cases except for LALR(1) parsers in C. In the
+ latter case, Bison inserted it only into the code file. For parsers in C++,
+ the point of insertion was before any token definitions (which associate
+ token numbers with names). For parsers in C, the point of insertion was
+ after the token definitions.
+
+ Now, Bison never inserts the pre-prologue into the header file. In the code
+ file, it always inserts it before the token definitions.
+
+** Bison now provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional Yacc
+ prologue blocks: %before-header, %start-header, %end-header, and
+ %after-header.
+
+ For example, the following declaration order in the grammar file reflects the
+ order in which Bison will output these code blocks. However, you are free to
+ declare these code blocks in your grammar file in whatever order is most
+ convenient for you:
+
+ %before-header {
+ /* Bison treats this block like a pre-prologue block: it inserts it into
+ * the code file before the contents of the header file. It does *not*
+ * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to put
+ * #include's that you want at the top of your code file. A common
+ * example is `#include "system.h"'. */
+ }
+ %start-header {
+ /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
+ * In both files, the point of insertion is before any Bison-generated
+ * token, semantic type, location type, and class definitions. This is a
+ * good place to define %union dependencies, for example. */
+ }
+ %union {
+ /* Unlike the traditional Yacc prologue blocks, the output order for the
+ * new %*-header blocks is not affected by their declaration position
+ * relative to any %union in the grammar file. */
+ }
+ %end-header {
+ /* Bison inserts this block into both the header file and the code file.
+ * In both files, the point of insertion is after the Bison-generated
+ * definitions. This is a good place to declare or define public
+ * functions or data structures that depend on the Bison-generated
+ * definitions. */
+ }
+ %after-header {
+ /* Bison treats this block like a post-prologue block: it inserts it into
+ * the code file after the contents of the header file. It does *not*
+ * insert it into the header file. This is a good place to declare or
+ * define internal functions or data structures that depend on the
+ * Bison-generated definitions. */
+ }
+
+ If you have multiple occurrences of any one of the above declarations, Bison
+ will concatenate the contents in declaration order.
+
+ [Although we failed to mention this here in the 2.3a release, the prologue
+ alternatives were experimental, and they were rewritten in future versions.]
+
+** The option `--report=look-ahead' has been changed to `--report=lookahead'.
+ The old spelling still works, but is not documented and may be removed
+ in a future release.
+
+* Changes in version 2.3, 2006-06-05:
+
+** GLR grammars should now use `YYRECOVERING ()' instead of `YYRECOVERING',
+ for compatibility with LALR(1) grammars.
+
+** It is now documented that any definition of YYSTYPE or YYLTYPE should
+ be to a type name that does not contain parentheses or brackets.
+
+* Changes in version 2.2, 2006-05-19:
+
+** The distribution terms for all Bison-generated parsers now permit
+ using the parsers in nonfree programs. Previously, this permission
+ was granted only for Bison-generated LALR(1) parsers in C.
+
+** %name-prefix changes the namespace name in C++ outputs.
+
+** The C++ parsers export their token_type.
+
+** Bison now allows multiple %union declarations, and concatenates
+ their contents together.
+
+** New warning: unused values
+ Right-hand side symbols whose values are not used are reported,
+ if the symbols have destructors. For instance:
+
+ exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; }
+ | 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
+ { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; if ($1) free ($3); }
+ ;
+
+ However, if the original actions were really intended, memory leaks
+ and all, the warnings can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the
+ values are used, e.g.:
+
+ exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) ($$, $5); }
+ | exp "+" exp { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
+ ;
+
+ 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.
+
+ exp: exp { push ($1); } '+' exp { push ($3); sum (); };
+
+ The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
+ If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
+
+** %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
+ Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,
+ and YYERROR, for all objects on the stack, other than objects
+ corresponding to the right-hand side of the current rule.
+
+** %expect, %expect-rr
+ Incorrect numbers of expected conflicts are now actual errors,
+ instead of warnings.
+
+** GLR, YACC parsers.
+ The %parse-params are available in the destructors (and the
+ experimental printers) as per the documentation.
+
+** Bison now warns if it finds a stray `$' or `@' in an action.
+
+** %require "VERSION"
+ This specifies that the grammar file depends on features implemented
+ in Bison version VERSION or higher.
+
+** lalr1.cc: The token and value types are now class members.
+ The tokens were defined as free form enums and cpp macros. YYSTYPE
+ was defined as a free form union. They are now class members:
+ tokens are enumerations of the `yy::parser::token' struct, and the
+ semantic values have the `yy::parser::semantic_type' type.
+
+ If you do not want or can update to this scheme, the directive
+ `%define "global_tokens_and_yystype" "1"' triggers the global
+ definition of tokens and YYSTYPE. This change is suitable both
+ for previous releases of Bison, and this one.
+
+ If you wish to update, then make sure older version of Bison will
+ fail using `%require "2.2"'.
+
+** DJGPP support added.
+\f
+* Changes in version 2.1, 2005-09-16:
+
+** The C++ lalr1.cc skeleton supports %lex-param.
+
+** Bison-generated parsers now support the translation of diagnostics like
+ "syntax error" into languages other than English. The default
+ language is still English. For details, please see the new
+ Internationalization section of the Bison manual. Software
+ distributors should also see the new PACKAGING file. Thanks to
+ Bruno Haible for this new feature.
+
+** Wording in the Bison-generated parsers has been changed slightly to
+ simplify translation. In particular, the message "memory exhausted"
+ has replaced "parser stack overflow", as the old message was not
+ always accurate for modern Bison-generated parsers.
+
+** Destructors are now called when the parser aborts, for all symbols left
+ behind on the stack. Also, the start symbol is now destroyed after a
+ successful parse. In both cases, the behavior was formerly inconsistent.
+
+** When generating verbose diagnostics, Bison-generated parsers no longer
+ quote the literal strings associated with tokens. For example, for
+ a syntax error associated with '%token NUM "number"' they might
+ print 'syntax error, unexpected number' instead of 'syntax error,
+ unexpected "number"'.
+\f
+* Changes in version 2.0, 2004-12-25:
+
+** Possibly-incompatible changes
+
+ - Bison-generated parsers no longer default to using the alloca function
+ (when available) to extend the parser stack, due to widespread
+ problems in unchecked stack-overflow detection. You can "#define
+ YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA 1" to require the use of alloca, but please read
+ the manual to determine safe values for YYMAXDEPTH in that case.
+
+ - Error token location.
+ During error recovery, the location of the syntax error is updated
+ to cover the whole sequence covered by the error token: it includes
+ the shifted symbols thrown away during the first part of the error
+ recovery, and the lookahead rejected during the second part.
+
+ - Semicolon changes:
+ . Stray semicolons are no longer allowed at the start of a grammar.
+ . Semicolons are now required after in-grammar declarations.
+
+ - Unescaped newlines are no longer allowed in character constants or
+ string literals. They were never portable, and GCC 3.4.0 has
+ dropped support for them. Better diagnostics are now generated if
+ forget a closing quote.
+
+ - NUL bytes are no longer allowed in Bison string literals, unfortunately.
+
+** New features
+
+ - GLR grammars now support locations.
+
+ - New directive: %initial-action.
+ This directive allows the user to run arbitrary code (including
+ initializing @$) from yyparse before parsing starts.
+
+ - A new directive "%expect-rr N" specifies the expected number of
+ reduce/reduce conflicts in GLR parsers.
+
+ - %token numbers can now be hexadecimal integers, e.g., `%token FOO 0x12d'.
+ This is a GNU extension.
+
+ - The option `--report=lookahead' was changed to `--report=look-ahead'.
+ [However, this was changed back after 2.3.]
+
+ - Experimental %destructor support has been added to lalr1.cc.
+
+ - New configure option --disable-yacc, to disable installation of the
+ yacc command and -ly library introduced in 1.875 for POSIX conformance.
+
+** Bug fixes
+
+ - For now, %expect-count violations are now just warnings, not errors.
+ This is for compatibility with Bison 1.75 and earlier (when there are
+ reduce/reduce conflicts) and with Bison 1.30 and earlier (when there
+ are too many or too few shift/reduce conflicts). However, in future
+ versions of Bison we plan to improve the %expect machinery so that
+ these violations will become errors again.
+
+ - Within Bison itself, numbers (e.g., goto numbers) are no longer
+ arbitrarily limited to 16-bit counts.
+
+ - Semicolons are now allowed before "|" in grammar rules, as POSIX requires.
+\f
+* Changes in version 1.875, 2003-01-01:
+
+** The documentation license has been upgraded to version 1.2
+ of the GNU Free Documentation License.
+
+** syntax error processing
+
+ - In Yacc-style parsers YYLLOC_DEFAULT is now used to compute error
+ locations too. This fixes bugs in error-location computation.
+
+ - %destructor
+ It is now possible to reclaim the memory associated to symbols
+ discarded during error recovery. This feature is still experimental.
+
+ - %error-verbose
+ This new directive is preferred over YYERROR_VERBOSE.
+
+ - #defining yyerror to steal internal variables is discouraged.
+ It is not guaranteed to work forever.
+
+** POSIX conformance
+
+ - Semicolons are once again optional at the end of grammar rules.
+ This reverts to the behavior of Bison 1.33 and earlier, and improves
+ compatibility with Yacc.
+
+ - `parse error' -> `syntax error'
+ Bison now uniformly uses the term `syntax error'; formerly, the code
+ and manual sometimes used the term `parse error' instead. POSIX
+ requires `syntax error' in diagnostics, and it was thought better to
+ be consistent.
+
+ - The documentation now emphasizes that yylex and yyerror must be
+ declared before use. C99 requires this.
+
+ - Bison now parses C99 lexical constructs like UCNs and
+ backslash-newline within C escape sequences, as POSIX 1003.1-2001 requires.
+
+ - File names are properly escaped in C output. E.g., foo\bar.y is
+ output as "foo\\bar.y".
+
+ - Yacc command and library now available
+ The Bison distribution now installs a `yacc' command, as POSIX requires.
+ Also, Bison now installs a small library liby.a containing
+ implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions.
+ This library is normally not useful, but POSIX requires it.
+
+ - Type clashes now generate warnings, not errors.
+
+ - If the user does not define YYSTYPE as a macro, Bison now declares it
+ using typedef instead of defining it as a macro.
+ For consistency, YYLTYPE is also declared instead of defined.
+
+** Other compatibility issues
+
+ - %union directives can now have a tag before the `{', e.g., the
+ directive `%union foo {...}' now generates the C code
+ `typedef union foo { ... } YYSTYPE;'; this is for Yacc compatibility.
+ The default union tag is `YYSTYPE', for compatibility with Solaris 9 Yacc.
+ For consistency, YYLTYPE's struct tag is now `YYLTYPE' not `yyltype'.
+ This is for compatibility with both Yacc and Bison 1.35.
+
+ - `;' is output before the terminating `}' of an action, for
+ compatibility with Bison 1.35.
+
+ - Bison now uses a Yacc-style format for conflict reports, e.g.,
+ `conflicts: 2 shift/reduce, 1 reduce/reduce'.
+
+ - `yystype' and `yyltype' are now obsolescent macros instead of being
+ typedefs or tags; they are no longer documented and are planned to be
+ withdrawn in a future release.
+
+** GLR parser notes
+
+ - GLR and inline
+ Users of Bison have to decide how they handle the portability of the
+ C keyword `inline'.
+
+ - `parsing stack overflow...' -> `parser stack overflow'
+ GLR parsers now report `parser stack overflow' as per the Bison manual.
+
+** 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.
+
+** #line in output files
+ - --no-line works properly.
+
+** Bison can no longer be built by a K&R C compiler; it requires C89 or
+ later to be built. This change originally took place a few versions
+ ago, but nobody noticed until we recently asked someone to try
+ building Bison with a K&R C compiler.
+\f
+* Changes in version 1.75, 2002-10-14:
+
+** Bison should now work on 64-bit hosts.
+
+** Indonesian translation thanks to Tedi Heriyanto.
+
+** GLR parsers
+ Fix spurious parse errors.
+
+** Pure parsers
+ Some people redefine yyerror to steal yyparse' private variables.
+ Reenable this trick until an official feature replaces it.
+
+** Type Clashes
+ In agreement with POSIX and with other Yaccs, leaving a default
+ action is valid when $$ is untyped, and $1 typed:
+
+ untyped: ... typed;
+
+ but the converse remains an error:
+
+ typed: ... untyped;
+
+** Values of mid-rule actions
+ The following code:
+
+ 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.
+\f
+* Changes in version 1.50, 2002-10-04:
+
+** GLR parsing
+ The declaration
+ %glr-parser
+ causes Bison to produce a Generalized LR (GLR) parser, capable of handling
+ almost any context-free grammar, ambiguous or not. The new declarations
+ %dprec and %merge on grammar rules allow parse-time resolution of
+ ambiguities. Contributed by Paul Hilfinger.
+
+ Unfortunately Bison 1.50 does not work properly on 64-bit hosts
+ like the Alpha, so please stick to 32-bit hosts for now.
+
+** Output Directory
+ When not in Yacc compatibility mode, when the output file was not
+ specified, running `bison foo/bar.y' created `foo/bar.c'. It
+ now creates `bar.c'.
+
+** Undefined token
+ The undefined token was systematically mapped to 2 which prevented
+ the use of 2 by the user. This is no longer the case.
+
+** Unknown token numbers
+ If yylex returned an out of range value, yyparse could die. This is
+ no longer the case.
+
+** Error token
+ According to POSIX, the error token must be 256.
+ Bison extends this requirement by making it a preference: *if* the
+ user specified that one of her tokens is numbered 256, then error
+ will be mapped onto another number.
+
+** Verbose error messages
+ They no longer report `..., expecting error or...' for states where
+ error recovery is possible.
+
+** End token
+ Defaults to `$end' instead of `$'.
+
+** Error recovery now conforms to documentation and to POSIX
+ When a Bison-generated parser encounters a syntax error, it now pops
+ the stack until it finds a state that allows shifting the error
+ token. Formerly, it popped the stack until it found a state that
+ allowed some non-error action other than a default reduction on the
+ error token. The new behavior has long been the documented behavior,
+ and has long been required by POSIX. For more details, please see
+ Paul Eggert, "Reductions during Bison error handling" (2002-05-20)
+ <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2002-05/msg00038.html>.
+
+** Traces
+ Popped tokens and nonterminals are now reported.
+
+** Larger grammars
+ Larger grammars are now supported (larger token numbers, larger grammar
+ size (= sum of the LHS and RHS lengths), larger LALR tables).
+ Formerly, many of these numbers ran afoul of 16-bit limits;
+ now these limits are 32 bits on most hosts.
+
+** Explicit initial rule
Bison used to play hacks with the initial rule, which the user does
not write. It is now explicit, and visible in the reports and
graphs as rule 0.
-
-* Useless rules are actually removed.
+
+** Useless rules
Before, Bison reported the useless rules, but, although not used,
- included them in the parsers.
-
-* False `Token not used' report fixed.
+ included them in the parsers. They are now actually removed.
+
+** Useless rules, useless nonterminals
+ They are now reported, as a warning, with their locations.
+
+** Rules never reduced
+ Rules that can never be reduced because of conflicts are now
+ reported.
+
+** Incorrect `Token not used'
On a grammar such as
%token useless useful
where a token was used to set the precedence of the last rule,
bison reported both `useful' and `useless' as useless tokens.
-* Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
- many portability hassles.
+** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31
+ as they caused too many portability hassles.
-* Items overflow
- Bison no longer dumps core when there are too many items, it just
- dies.
+** Default locations
+ By an accident of design, the default computation of @$ was
+ performed after another default computation was performed: @$ = @1.
+ The latter is now removed: YYLLOC_DEFAULT is fully responsible of
+ the computation of @$.
-* Token end-of-file
+** Token end-of-file
The token end of file may be specified by the user, in which case,
the user symbol is used in the reports, the graphs, and the verbose
- error messages instead of `$', which remains being the defaults.
+ error messages instead of `$end', which remains being the default.
For instance
- %token YYEOF 0
+ %token MYEOF 0
or
- %token YYEOF 0 "end of file"
+ %token MYEOF 0 "end of file"
+
+** Semantic parser
+ This old option, which has been broken for ages, is removed.
+
+** New translations
+ Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Alexandre Folle de Menezes.
+ Croatian, thanks to Denis Lackovic.
+
+** Incorrect token definitions
+ When given `%token 'a' "A"', Bison used to output `#define 'a' 65'.
+
+** Token definitions as enums
+ Tokens are output both as the traditional #define's, and, provided
+ the compiler supports ANSI C or is a C++ compiler, as enums.
+ This lets debuggers display names instead of integers.
+
+** Reports
+ In addition to --verbose, bison supports --report=THINGS, which
+ produces additional information:
+ - itemset
+ complete the core item sets with their closure
+ - lookahead [changed to `look-ahead' in 1.875e through 2.3, but changed back]
+ explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
+ - solved
+ describe shift/reduce conflicts solving.
+ Bison used to systematically output this information on top of
+ the report. Solved conflicts are now attached to their states.
+
+** Type clashes
+ 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';
+
+ This is fixed.
+
+** GNU M4 is now required when using Bison.
\f
-Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
+* Changes in version 1.35, 2002-03-25:
-* Many Bug Fixes
+** C Skeleton
+ Some projects use Bison's C parser with C++ compilers, and define
+ YYSTYPE as a class. The recent adjustment of C parsers for data
+ alignment and 64 bit architectures made this impossible.
-* GNU Gettext and %expect
+ Because for the time being no real solution for C++ parser
+ generation exists, kludges were implemented in the parser to
+ maintain this use. In the future, when Bison has C++ parsers, this
+ kludge will be disabled.
+
+ This kludge also addresses some C++ problems when the stack was
+ extended.
+\f
+* Changes in version 1.34, 2002-03-12:
+
+** File name clashes are detected
+ $ bison foo.y -d -o foo.x
+ fatal error: header and parser would both be named `foo.x'
+
+** A missing `;' at the end of a rule triggers a warning
+ In accordance with POSIX, and in agreement with other
+ Yacc implementations, Bison will mandate this semicolon in the near
+ future. This eases the implementation of a Bison parser of Bison
+ grammars by making this grammar LALR(1) instead of LR(2). To
+ facilitate the transition, this release introduces a warning.
+
+** Revert the C++ namespace changes introduced in 1.31, as they caused too
+ many portability hassles.
+
+** DJGPP support added.
+
+** Fix test suite portability problems.
+\f
+* Changes in version 1.33, 2002-02-07:
+
+** Fix C++ issues
+ Groff could not be compiled for the definition of size_t was lacking
+ under some conditions.
+
+** Catch invalid @n
+ As is done with $n.
+\f
+* Changes in version 1.32, 2002-01-23:
+
+** Fix Yacc output file names
+
+** Portability fixes
+
+** Italian, Dutch translations
+\f
+* Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
+
+** Many Bug Fixes
+
+** GNU Gettext and %expect
GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7. Now that
Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
-* Use of alloca in parsers
+** Use of alloca in parsers
If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
malloc exclusively. Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
problems as on AIX.
-* When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
+** yyparse now returns 2 if memory is exhausted; formerly it dumped core.
+
+** When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
(as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
-* User Actions
+** User Actions
Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
ending semicolon. Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
-* Better C++ compliance
+** Better C++ compliance
The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
+ [This turned out to be a failed experiment, and it was reverted later.]
-* Reduced Grammars
+** Reduced Grammars
Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
-* 64 bit hosts
+** 64 bit hosts
The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
-* Error messages
+** Error messages
Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
-* %expect
+** %expect
When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
any warning.
-* The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
+** The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
-* Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
+** Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
-* Swedish translation
+** Swedish translation
-* Parse errors
+** Parse errors
Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
-* Fixed parser memory leaks.
+** Fixed parser memory leaks.
When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
previous allocations were not freed.
-* Fixed verbose output file.
+** Fixed verbose output file.
Some newlines were missing.
Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
-* Fixed conflict report.
+** Fixed conflict report.
Option -v was needed to get the result.
-* %expect
+** %expect
Was not used.
Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
-* Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
+** Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
-* Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
+** Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
-* Fixed some typos in the documentation.
+** Fixed some typos in the documentation.
-* %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
+** %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
-* doc/refcard.tex is updated.
+** doc/refcard.tex is updated.
-* %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
+** %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
New.
-* --output
+** --output
New, aliasing `--output-file'.
\f
-Changes in version 1.30:
+* Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
-* `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optionnal argument which is the
- output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change, they do not take any
+** `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optional argument which is the
+ output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change; they do not take any
argument.
-* `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
+** `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
experiment.
-* Portability fixes.
+** Portability fixes.
\f
-Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
+* Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
-* The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
+** The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
with common autoconfiguration schemes. If you still use ancient compilers
that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
`-Dconst='. autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
-* Added `-g' and `--graph'.
+** Added `-g' and `--graph'.
-* The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
+** The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
-* The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
+** The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
-* Russian translation added.
+** Russian translation added.
-* NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
+** NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
-* Added the old Bison reference card.
+** Added the old Bison reference card.
-* Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
+** Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
-* Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
+** Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
-* `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
+** `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
-* Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
+** Special characters are escaped when output. This solves the problems
of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
-* New directives.
+** New directives.
`%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
`%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
-* @$
+** @$
Automatic location tracking.
\f
-Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
+* Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
-* Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
+** Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
-* Added NLS.
+** Added NLS.
-* Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
+** Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
-* There is now a FAQ.
+** There is now a FAQ.
\f
-Changes in version 1.27:
+* Changes in version 1.27:
-* The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
+** The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
some systems has been fixed.
\f
-Changes in version 1.26:
+* Changes in version 1.26:
-* Bison now uses automake.
+** Bison now uses automake.
-* New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
+** New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
-* Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
+** Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
-* Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
+** Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
-* A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
+** A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
-* Problems when closing files should now be reported.
+** Problems when closing files should now be reported.
-* Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
+** Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
not provide alloca().
\f
-Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
+* Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
-* Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
+** Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
-* Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
+** Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
-* The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
+** The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
and numbers) into the parser file. The yylex function can use this
table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
purposes.
-* The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
+** The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
directives in the parser file.
-* The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
+** The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
-* The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
+** The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
a switch statement body.
\f
-Changes in version 1.23:
+* Changes in version 1.23:
The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
passed into yyparse. The argument should have type void *. It should
Line numbers in output file corrected.
\f
-Changes in version 1.22:
+* Changes in version 1.22:
--help option added.
\f
-Changes in version 1.20:
+* Changes in version 1.20:
Output file does not redefine const for C++.
Local Variables:
mode: outline
End:
+
+-----
+
+Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
+2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+This file is part of Bison, the GNU Parser Generator.
+
+This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+(at your option) any later version.
+
+This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
projects / bison.git / blobdiff