1 This is the file NEWS for the flex package. It records user -visible
2 changes between releases of flex.
4 See the file COPYING for copying conditions.
6 * version 2.5.37 released 2012-08-03
8 ** Import flex into git. See
9 git://flex.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/flex/flex.
11 ** Fix make install target to not fail when the flex++ program is
14 ** New translations from the translation project: de, fi, pl, vi
16 * version 2.5.36 released 2012-07-20
18 ** various portability fixes that quiet compiler warnings on 64-bit
21 ** various manual fixes, including correcting the name of a %option and
22 updating some simple examples to use ANSI C syntax
24 ** various bug fixes that prevent certain error conditions from
25 persisting when they should not persist
27 ** improvements to the test suite so it behaves better when linking
30 ** new translations from the translation project: ca, da, es, fi, fr,
31 ga, ko, pt_br, ro, ru, sv, tr, zh_cn
33 ** the flex distribution is now built with automake 1.10.1 and automake
36 * version 2.5.35 released 2008-02-26
38 ** fixed bug that prevented flex from accepting certain comments in the
39 scanner file (resolves bugs #1849809 and #1849805)
41 ** fix bug that prevented headers for all functions from being generated
42 (resolves bug #1628314)
44 ** change yy_size_t to be size_t (resolves bug #1849812)
46 ** new de, nl, pl, pt_br, vi translations from the translation project
48 * version 2.5.34 released 2007-12-12
50 ** introduce yylex_init_extra; see the manual for details
52 ** introduce %option extra-type="your_type *" (resolves bug #1744505)
54 ** The flex program now parses multiple short concatenated options (resolves bug
55 #1619820). Thanks to Petr Machata of Red Hat on this issue.
57 ** better checking after yyalloc/yyrealloc (resolves bug #1595967)
59 ** flex now provides for a libfl_pic.a compiled with position
60 independent code. Particularly useful when including a flex scanner
61 in a shared library and with more recent versions of gcc. Thanks to the Debian project for the idea.
63 ** SourceForge feature request #1658379: Expose YY_BUF_SIZE in the
66 ** flex better escapes filenames with special characters in them
67 (resolves bug #1623600)
69 ** a memory leak was plugged(resolves bug #1601111)
71 ** pattern language expanded; see the manual for details on the below
74 *** pattern options added to specify patterns as case-insensitive or
77 *** pattern options to specify whether the "." character should match
80 *** pattern options added to allow ignoring of whitespace in patterns
82 *** POSIX character classes may be negated in patterns
84 *** patterns may now use set difference, union operators
86 ** the manual now contains an appendix listing various common patterns
87 which may be useful when writing scanners
89 ** some memory leaks were removed from the C++ scanner (but the C++
90 scanner is still experimental and may change radically without
93 ** c++ scanners can now use yywrap
95 ** added new unit test for c++ and yywrap
97 ** portability fixes to some unit tests
99 ** flex man page and flex manual in pdf now distributed in the flex
102 ** new ca, vi, ga, nl translations from the translation project
104 ** flex no longer comes with an rpm spec file
106 ** flex development now happens with automake 1.9.6
108 * version 2.5.33 released 2006-2-20
110 ** all flex resources are now to be found from the website at
111 http://flex.sourceforge.net/
113 ** there was no release 2.5.32 published
115 ** numerous bug and security fixes
117 ** new nl, vi, sv, ro, po, ga, ca, fr, tr translations from the translation project
119 ** upgrade to use gettext 0.12 (this now makes the "pdf" and "ps"
120 targets in the build system able to be run successfully)
122 * version 2.5.31 released 2003-4-1
124 ** remove --enable-maintainer-mode configure option; none of the
125 Makefiles were using it and it can be unduely confusing
127 * version 2.5.30 released 2003-4-1
129 ** yylineno is per-buffer in reentrant scanners
131 ** added %top directive for placing code at the top of the generated
132 scanner; see manual for details
134 ** flex now uses m4 to generate scanners; while this means that
135 scanners are more readable, it means that flex requires m4 to be
136 installed; see manual for details
138 * version 2.5.29 released 2003-3-5
140 ** Automatic stack management for multiple input buffers in C and C++ scanners
142 ** moved the flex documentation to a new doc/ subdirectory
144 ** cleanups to the yy namespace
146 * version 2.5.28 released 2003-2-12
148 ** flex is now hosted at sourceforge
150 ** Fixed trailing slash bug in YY_INPUT macro def
152 ** Flex now warns if always-interactive is specified with fast or full
154 * version 2.5.27 released 2003-1-21
156 ** flex now works with recent bison versions
158 ** new pt_br translation from the translation project
160 * version 2.5.26 released 2003-1-14
162 ** Fixed table deserialization bug on big-endian archs. Patch sent from Bryce Nichols <bryce@bnichols.org>
164 ** yyleng has proper declarations now; this caused flex to generate
165 unusable scanners for some programs
167 ** the flex distribution now includes a spec file suitable for use
170 ** some more c++ fixes
172 ** new es translation from the translation project
174 ** slight tweeks to the flex_int*_t types
176 ** flex now warns about pattern ranges that might be ambiguous when
177 generating a case-insensitive scanner
180 * version 2.5.25 released 2002-12-2
182 ** flex now uses flex_int*_t types. For C99 systems, they are just the
183 int*_t types; for non-C99 systems, we just make some typedefs
185 ** new pt_br translation from the translation project
187 * version 2.5.24 released 2002-11-25
189 * more portability fixes
191 ** the manual continues to be updated and edited, but it's still got a
194 ** it is possible to have multiple c++ scanners in the same program again
196 ** new turkish translation from the translation project
198 * version 2.5.23 released 2002-10-21
200 ** more portability fixes
202 ** the manual includes a title page and a table-of-contents when printed
204 ** the test suite can be run with "make check" from the top-level
207 ** configure now accepts the --enable-maintainer-mode option
209 ** gettext functionality is now only available externally
211 ** the constant FLEX_BETA is defined if flex is a beta release
213 ** the script create-test was not included in the distribution and it
216 * version 2.5.22 released 2002-10-10
218 ** more portability fixes around how we get ahold of the integral
219 types; there is a constant FLEX_NEED_INTEGRAL_TYPE_DEFINITIONS
220 which you should define if you don't have the <inttypes.h> header
221 file (after you complain to your C vendor for not providing a
222 reasonable C environment)
224 ** more test suite cleanups; in particular, the test suite should run
225 correctly when build from a different directory
227 ** upgraded automake to 1.7 and consequently autoconf to 2.54; this
228 means, among other things, that there is some support for
229 formatting the manual in postscript and pdf in the distributed
230 Makefile.in (and therefore in the Makefile built by configure)
232 ** the flex.1 manpage is generated by help2man; (this has been true
233 for quite a while but was not listed here)
235 ** flex now includes three defined constants to indicate which version
236 of flex generated a scanner (YY_FLEX_{MAJOR,MINOR,SUBMINOR}_VERSION)
238 ** flex tries its best to output only the relevant portions of the
239 skeleton when generating a scanner, thus avoiding as much
240 conditional compilation as possible
242 * version 2.5.21 released 2002-9-17
244 ** one of the tests in the test suite broke the dist target
246 * version 2.5.20 released 2002-9-16
248 ** A flex scanner has the ability to save the DFA tables to a file,
249 and load them at runtime when needed; see the manual for details
251 ** Added %option bison-bridge (--bison-bridge)
253 ** Removed %option reentrant-bison/--reentrant-bison/-Rb
255 ** yylineno is present in all scanners; Modified nasty performance
256 penalty warning with yylineno in documentation
258 ** test-table-opts is now run last in the test suite because it's so fat
260 ** flex can, to some extent, diagnose where internal problems occur
262 ** new translations from the translation project: fr, ca, de, ru, sv
264 **Flex generates C99 defs now; see YY_TRADITIONAL_FUNC_DEFS in the
265 manual if that's not a good thing for you
267 * version 2.5.19 released 2002-9-5
269 ** prevent segfault on input lines which are longer than the allocated
270 space (problem report from Manoj Srivastava
271 <srivasta@golden-gryphon.com>)
273 ** Changed option 'header' to 'header-file'
275 * version 2.5.18 released 2002-9-4
277 ** portability fixes for integer constants and in the way the test
278 suite reports its results
280 ** the test for bison was reporting bison missing when it was, in
283 ** if we don't find GNU indent, we're more careful when we're not
286 * version 2.5.17 released 2002-8-29
288 ** more portability fixes
290 ** updated config.sub and config.guess
292 ** flex is indented by GNU indent (this was done earlier but not
293 explicitly documented)
295 * version 2.5.16 released 2002-8-28
297 ** c++ scanners compile again
299 ** there is now an indent target in the top-level Makefile; configure
300 checks for GNU indent which is required for proper operation of the
303 ** some more portability fixes were made
305 ** %options and invocation sections of manual merged
307 ** a c++ test was added to the test suite
309 ** we're trying to clean up more files in the test suite's make clean
312 * version 2.5.15 released 2002-8-21
314 ** reject-state buffer is now dynamically allocated and REJECT buffer
315 variables are reentrant-safe
317 ** manual now discusses memory usage
319 ** skeleton now processed by m4 before mkskel.sh; (this only matters
320 if you want to change the skeleton or if you're doing flex development)
322 ** zh_cn translation added from translation project
324 ** a bug that caused a segfault has now been fixed
326 ** the test suite now respects the usual CFLAGS, etc. variables
328 ** removed some warnings which some tests trigggered with the -s option
330 ** the flex-generated header file now tries to be smarter about
331 conditionally including start conditions
333 ** tables code omitted from generated scanner when not used
335 * version 2.5.14 released 2002-8-15
337 ** the tests using the reentrant c scanner as c++ were reworked
338 slightly to be sure that the c++ was enforced
340 ** de translation now included in the distribution
342 ** various portability fixes regarding nls support, c++ include
345 * version 2.5.13 released 2002-8-15
347 ** the header file output with %option header is now much smaller
349 ** Fixed type mismatch in printf in scanner skeleton
351 ** yylex_init now reports errors
353 * version 2.5.12 released 2002-8-8
355 ** updated gettext support to 0.11.5
357 ** new fr translation from the translation project
359 ** bison is no longer needed to build flex; If you are building flex
360 from a release (i.e., not from a cvs snapshot), then you don't need
361 to have a pre-built lex around either (unless you modify scan.l, of
362 course); (This has been true for some time, but was not mentioned
365 * version 2.5.11 released 2002-7-31
367 ** Fixed bug where yyless did not consider yylineno
369 ** the yylineno performance hit is now gone
371 ** fixed some typos in the manual and we now include texinfo.tex in
374 ** traditional prototypes output for C scanners, controlled by a
375 preprocessor symbol; see documentation for details
377 * version 2.5.10 released 2002-7-24
379 ** yy_globals renamed to yyscanner and yy_globals_t renamed to
382 ** added dist-bzip2 option to Makefile.am so we now produce a bzip2'd
383 archive in addition to the standard gzip archive
387 ** new tests in test suite: test-mem-{nr,r}, test-posix,
388 test-posixly-correct, test-debug-{nr,r}
390 ** made changes to work with gcc-3.2 development code
392 ** ability to choose which memory functions are used in flex
394 ** new yylex_destroy() function for the non-reentrant scanner
396 ** new handling of POSIXLY_CORRECT environment variable
398 ** the test suite now has its copyrights explicitly described
400 ** new ca, de, fr, ru, sv, tr translations
404 ** a new --posix option generates scanners with posix-style abc{1,3}
405 compatible parsing, see manual for the screwy details
409 ** configure.in now includes a call to AC_PREREQ to enforce the
410 requirement for autoconf at least 2.50 (This only effects you if
411 you're doing flex development.)
413 ** configure now uses autoconf's versioning information and configure
414 --help reports the bug-reporting address for flex
416 ** test suite now only reports success versus failure; reporting
417 skipped is problematic under the current setup
419 ** compilation with --disable-nls now works
421 ** flex can now be built in a separate directory
425 ** gettext support added (from gettext 0.11)
427 *** translations for ca, da, de, es, fr, ko, ru, sv, tr included
429 ** distribution now built under automake 1.6 and autoconf 2.53
431 ** command-line option parsing happens differently now:
433 *** Added long option parsing
435 *** Options -n and -c, previously deprecated, now simply do nothing
437 *** Options are now parsed left to right
439 ** added a number of new options
441 *** All positive %options are now accessible from the command line
443 *** Added option -D, to define a preprocessor symbol
445 *** Added option --header=FILE to specify a C .h file to generate
447 *** added option --yywrap to call yywrap on EOF
449 *** added option --yylineno to track line count in yylineno
451 *** --yyclass=NAME name of C++ class when generating c++ scanners
453 *** for long option names which are associated with existing short
454 options, see accompanying documentation
456 *** new %option nounistd or command-line --nounistd added to prevent
457 flex from generating #include <unistd.h> on systems that don't
458 have that include file
460 ** Support for reentrant C scanners has been added
462 *** Updated the manual with the new reentrant API
464 *** Two new options %option reentrant (-R) and
465 %option reentrant-bison (-Rb)
467 *** All globals optionally placed into struct yyglobals_t
469 *** All access to globals replaced by macro invocations
471 *** All functions optionally take one additional
474 *** New style for invoking reentrant scanner:
475 yylex_init(void** scanner );
477 yylex_destroy( scanner );
479 *** Added get/set functions for members of struct yy_globals_t
480 e.g., yyget_text, yyget_leng, etc
482 *** Prefix substitution added for new functions
484 *** Macro shortcuts to the lengthy get/set functions
485 provided for use in actions, e.g., yytext, yyleng, etc
487 *** Arbitrary, user-defined data, "yyextra", may be added to scanner
489 ** %option nomain no longer implies %option yywrap
490 But the inverse is still true
492 ** Developer test suite added
494 *** TESTS/ directory has been added. Users can
495 'make test' in the TESTS directory to execute the test suite
497 ** Support for bison variables yylval and yylloc added
499 ** automake support for the build process
501 ** manual is now in texinfo/info format
503 *** flex.1 removed from distribution
505 ** flex no longer generates C-language scanners with C++-style
508 ** flex now generates scanners in c++ which are compatible with
511 ** flex input scanner now recognizes '\r' as an EOL character
513 See the file ONEWS for changes in earlier releases.