-/* <assert.h>'s assertions are too heavyweight, and can be disabled
- too easily, so use aver rather than assert. */
-static inline void
-aver (bool assertion)
-{
- if (! assertion)
- abort ();
-}
+/* In the past, Bison defined aver to simply invoke abort in the case of
+ a failed assertion. The rationale was that <assert.h>'s assertions
+ were too heavyweight and could be disabled too easily. See
+ discussions at
+ <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2006-01/msg00080.html>
+ <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2006-09/msg00111.html>.
+
+ However, normal assert output can be helpful during development and
+ in bug reports from users. Moreover, it's not clear now that
+ <assert.h>'s assertions are significantly heavyweight. Finally, if
+ users want to experiment with disabling assertions, it's debatable
+ whether it's our responsibility to stop them. See discussion
+ starting at
+ <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-09/msg00013.html>.
+
+ For now, we use assert but we call it aver throughout Bison in case
+ we later wish to try another scheme.
+*/
+#include <assert.h>
+#define aver assert