Prefer M4 to CPP.

[bison.git] / NEWS

diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index e4bb63f5fe9f3b1eeb171b748b09b0cea0045ec3..7553a8614ca416b21955d37434d8377cad2fce87 100644 (file)
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -3,6 +3,31 @@ Bison News
 
 * Changes in version 2.5 (????-??-??):
 
 
 * Changes in version 2.5 (????-??-??):
 

+** Named References Support
+
+  Historically, Yacc and Bison have supported positional references
+  ($n, $$) to allow access to symbol values from inside of semantic
+  actions code.
+
+  Starting from this version, Bison can also accept named references.
+  When no ambiguity is possible, original symbol names may be used
+  as named references:
+
+    if_stmt : 'if' cond_expr 'then' then_stmt ';'
+    { $if_stmt = mk_if_stmt($cond_expr, $then_stmt); }
+
+  In the more common case, explicit names may be declared:
+
+    stmt[res] : 'if' expr[cond] 'then' stmt[then] 'else' stmt[else] ';'
+    { $res = mk_if_stmt($cond, $then, $else); }
+
+  Location information is also accessible using @name syntax.  When
+  accessing symbol names containing dots or dashes, explicit bracketing
+  ($[sym.1]) must be used.
+
+  These features are experimental in this version.  More user feedback
+  will help to stabilize them.
+

 ** IELR(1) and Canonical LR(1) Support
 
   IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm.  That
 ** IELR(1) and Canonical LR(1) Support
 
   IELR(1) is a minimal LR(1) parser table generation algorithm.  That


@@ -20,9 +45,9 @@ Bison News
   default.  You can specify the type of parser tables in the grammar
   file with these directives:
 
   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"
+    %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
 
   The default reduction optimization in the parser tables can also be
   adjusted using `%define lr.default-reductions'.  See the documentation


@@ -33,9 +58,15 @@ Bison News
   These features are experimental.  More user feedback will help to
   stabilize them.
 
   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.
+** Unrecognized %code qualifiers are now an error not a warning.
+
+** %define improvements.
+
+*** Unrecognized variables are now an error not a warning.

 
 

-** %define can now be invoked via the command line.
+*** Multiple invocations for any variable is now an error not a warning.
+
+*** Can now be invoked via the command line.

 
   Each of these command-line options
 
 
   Each of these command-line options
 


@@ -54,7 +85,7 @@ Bison News
   quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not.  For further
   details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
 
   quietly override %define, but -D and --define do not.  For further
   details, see the section "Bison Options" in the Bison manual.
 

-** %define variables renamed.
+*** Variables renamed.

 
   The following %define variables
 
 
   The following %define variables
 


@@ -69,7 +100,18 @@ Bison News
   The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
   for backward compatibility.
 
   The old names are now deprecated but will be maintained indefinitely
   for backward compatibility.
 

-** Symbols names
+*** Values no longer need to be quoted in grammar file.
+
+  If a %define value is an identifier, it no longer needs to be placed
+  within quotations marks.  For example,
+
+    %define api.push-pull "push"
+
+  can be rewritten as
+
+    %define api.push-pull push
+
+** Symbol names.

 
   Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and variables
   (e.g. push-pull), symbol names may include dashes in any position,
 
   Consistently with directives (such as %error-verbose) and variables
   (e.g. push-pull), symbol names may include dashes in any position,


@@ -77,6 +119,17 @@ Bison News
   POSIX Yacc whose use is reported by -Wyacc, and rejected in Yacc
   mode (--yacc).
 
   POSIX Yacc whose use is reported by -Wyacc, and rejected in Yacc
   mode (--yacc).
 

+** YYFAIL now produces warnings and Java parsers no longer implement it.
+
+  YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
+  deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison.  More recently, it was
+  a documented feature of Bison's experimental Java parsers.  As
+  promised in Bison 2.4.2's NEWS entry, any appearance of YYFAIL in a
+  semantic action now produces a deprecation warning, and Java parsers
+  no longer implement YYFAIL at all.  For further details, including a
+  discussion of how to suppress C preprocessor warnings about YYFAIL
+  being unused, see the Bison 2.4.2 NEWS entry.
+

 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
 
   Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for
 ** Temporary hack for adding a semicolon to the user action.
 
   Previously, Bison appended a semicolon to every user action for


@@ -111,8 +164,30 @@ Bison News
   Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one.  In
   some future release, Bison will report an error instead.
 
   Bison now warns when a character literal is not of length one.  In
   some future release, Bison will report an error instead.
 

+** Verbose error messages fixed for nonassociative tokens.
+
+  When %error-verbose is specified, syntax error messages produced by
+  the generated parser include the unexpected token as well as a list of
+  expected tokens.  Previously, this list erroneously included tokens
+  that would actually induce a syntax error because conflicts for them
+  were resolved with %nonassoc.  Such tokens are now properly omitted
+  from the list.
+
+** Destructor calls fixed for lookaheads altered in semantic actions.
+
+  Previously for deterministic parsers in C, if a user semantic action
+  altered yychar, the parser in some cases used the old yychar value to
+  determine which destructor to call for the lookahead upon a syntax
+  error or upon parser return.  This bug has been fixed.
+

 * Changes in version 2.4.2 (????-??-??):
 
 * Changes in version 2.4.2 (????-??-??):
 

+** Detection of GNU M4 1.4.6 or newer during configure is improved.
+
+** Warnings from gcc's -Wundef option about undefined YYENABLE_NLS,
+   YYLTYPE_IS_TRIVIAL, and __STRICT_ANSI__ in C/C++ parsers are now
+   avoided.
+

 ** %code is now a permanent feature.
 
   A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:
 ** %code is now a permanent feature.
 
   A traditional Yacc prologue directive is written in the form:


@@ -136,6 +211,51 @@ Bison News
   Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
   is still considered experimental.
 
   Bison's Java feature as a whole including its current usage of %code
   is still considered experimental.
 

+** YYFAIL is deprecated and will eventually be removed.
+
+  YYFAIL has existed for many years as an undocumented feature of
+  deterministic parsers in C generated by Bison.  Previously, it was
+  documented for Bison's experimental Java parsers.  YYFAIL is no longer
+  documented for Java parsers and is formally deprecated in both cases.
+  Users are strongly encouraged to migrate to YYERROR, which is
+  specified by POSIX.
+
+  Like YYERROR, you can invoke YYFAIL from a semantic action in order to
+  induce a syntax error.  The most obvious difference from YYERROR is
+  that YYFAIL will automatically invoke yyerror to report the syntax
+  error so that you don't have to.  However, there are several other
+  subtle differences between YYERROR and YYFAIL, and YYFAIL suffers from
+  inherent flaws when %error-verbose or `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE' is
+  used.  For a more detailed discussion, see:
+
+    http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bison-patches/2009-12/msg00024.html
+
+  The upcoming Bison 2.5 will remove YYFAIL from Java parsers, but
+  deterministic parsers in C will continue to implement it.  However,
+  because YYFAIL is already flawed, it seems futile to try to make new
+  Bison features compatible with it.  Thus, during parser generation,
+  Bison 2.5 will produce a warning whenever it discovers YYFAIL in a
+  rule action.  In a later release, YYFAIL will be disabled for
+  %error-verbose and `#define YYERROR_VERBOSE'.  Eventually, YYFAIL will
+  be removed altogether.
+
+  There exists at least one case where Bison 2.5's YYFAIL warning will
+  be a false positive.  Some projects add phony uses of YYFAIL and other
+  Bison-defined macros for the sole purpose of suppressing C
+  preprocessor warnings (from GCC cpp's -Wunused-macros, for example).
+  To avoid Bison's future warning, such YYFAIL uses can be moved to the
+  epilogue (that is, after the second `%%') in the Bison input file.  In
+  this release (2.4.2), Bison already generates its own code to suppress
+  C preprocessor warnings for YYFAIL, so projects can remove their own
+  phony uses of YYFAIL if compatibility with Bison releases prior to
+  2.4.2 is not necessary.
+
+** Internationalization.
+
+  Fix a regression introduced in Bison 2.4: Under some circumstances,
+  message translations were not installed although supported by the
+  host system.
+

 * Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
 
 ** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc
 * Changes in version 2.4.1 (2008-12-11):
 
 ** In the GLR defines file, unexpanded M4 macros in the yylval and yylloc