Changes in version 2.3+:
+* Locations columns and lines start at 1.
+ In accordance with the GNU Coding Standards and Emacs.
+
* 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.
+
* 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.