Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/maint'

[bison.git] / README-hacking

diff --git a/README-hacking b/README-hacking
index bb91ac063ac9cba844b42f82cb914c082350c010..716801003d097305624933d4f57058c262de3ba1 100644 (file)
--- a/README-hacking
+++ b/README-hacking
@@ -35,6 +35,13 @@ of the .output file etc.  This excludes impossible error messages
 (comparable to assert/abort), and all the --trace output which is
 meant for the maintainers only.
 
+** Horizontal tabs
+Do not add horizontal tab characters to any file in Bison's repository
+except where required.  For example, do not use tabs to format C code.
+However, make files, ChangeLog, and some regular expressions require
+tabs.  Also, test cases might need to contain tabs to check that Bison
+properly processes tabs in its input.
+
 
 * Working from the repository
 
@@ -43,16 +50,17 @@ These requirements do not apply when building from a distribution tarball.
 
 ** Requirements
 
-We've opted to keep only the highest-level sources in the repository.
-This eases our maintenance burden, (fewer merges etc.), but imposes more
+We've opted to keep only the highest-level sources in the repository.  This
+eases our maintenance burden, (fewer merges etc.), but imposes more
 requirements on anyone wishing to build from the just-checked-out sources.
 For example, you have to use the latest stable versions of the maintainer
 tools we depend upon, including:
 
-- Automake <http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/>
 - Autoconf <http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/>
+- Automake <http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/>
 - Flex <http://www.gnu.org/software/flex/>
 - Gettext <http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/>
+- Graphviz <http://www.graphviz.org>
 - Gzip <http://www.gnu.org/software/gzip/>
 - Perl <http://www.cpan.org/>
 - Rsync <http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/>
@@ -61,16 +69,16 @@ tools we depend upon, including:
 Valgrind <http://valgrind.org/> is also highly recommended, if it supports
 your architecture.
 
-Bison is written using Bison grammars, so there are bootstrapping
-issues.  The bootstrap script attempts to discover when the C code
-generated from the grammars is out of date, and to bootstrap with an
-out-of-date version of the C code, but the process is not foolproof.
-Also, you may run into similar problems yourself if you modify Bison.
+Bison is written using Bison grammars, so there are bootstrapping issues.
+The bootstrap script attempts to discover when the C code generated from the
+grammars is out of date, and to bootstrap with an out-of-date version of the
+C code, but the process is not foolproof.  Also, you may run into similar
+problems yourself if you modify Bison.
 
-Only building the initial full source tree will be a bit painful.
-Later, after synchronizing from the repository a plain 'make' should
-be sufficient.  Note, however, that when gnulib is updated, running
-'./bootstrap' again might be needed.
+Only building the initial full source tree will be a bit painful.  Later,
+after synchronizing from the repository a plain 'make' should be sufficient.
+Note, however, that when gnulib is updated, running './bootstrap' again
+might be needed.
 
 ** First checkout
 
@@ -168,6 +176,41 @@ decide whether to update.
 ** make check
 Use liberally.
 
+** TESTSUITEFLAGS
+
+The default is for make check to run all tests sequentially. This can be
+very time consumming when checking repeatedly or on slower setups. This can
+be sped up in two ways:
+
+Using -j, in a make-like fashion, for example:
+  $ make check TESTSUITEFLAGS='-j8'
+
+Running only the tests of a certain category, as specified in the AT files
+with AT_KEYWORDS([[category]]). Categories include:
+  - c++, for c++ parsers
+  - deprec, for tests concerning deprecated constructs.
+  - glr, for glr parsers
+  - java, for java parsers
+  - report, for automaton dumps
+
+To run a specific set of tests, use -k (for "keyword"). For example:
+  $ make check TESTSUITEFLAGS='-k c++'
+
+Both can be combined.
+
+** Typical errors
+If the test suite shows failures such as the following one
+
+  .../bison/lib/getopt.h:196:8: error: redefinition of 'struct option'
+  /usr/include/getopt.h:54:8: error: previous definition of 'struct option'
+
+it probably means that some file was compiled without
+AT_DATA_SOURCE_PROLOGUE.  This error is due to the fact that our -I options
+pick up gnulib's replacement headers, such as getopt.h, and this will go
+wrong if config.h was not included first.
+
+See tests/local.at for details.
+
 ** make maintainer-check-valgrind
 This target uses valgrind both to check bison, and the generated parsers.
 
@@ -226,6 +269,9 @@ release:
   that it does not make sense for glr.c, which should be ANSI, but
   currently is actually GNU C, nor for lalr1.cc.
 
+- Test with a very recent version of GCC for both C and C++.  Testing
+  with older versions that are still in use is nice too.
+
 
 * Release Procedure
 This section needs to be updated to take into account features from