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Frequently Asked Questions about Bison:
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Q1. Is Bison Y2K compliant?
A1. If you're looking for a guarantee or certification, I can't
provide it. With a little thought you can answer this one for
yourself, though. (Hint: does a parser generator rely on the
date or time for anything?) If you're still confused, see
http://www.gnu.org/software/year2000.html for more information.
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Q2. I can't build Bison because "make" complains that "msgfmt" is not
found. What should I do?
A2. Like most GNU packages with internationalization support, that
feature is turned on by default. If you have problems building
in the "po" subdirectory, it indicates that your system's
internationalization support is lacking. You can re-configure
Bison with "--disable-nls" to turn off this support, or you can
install GNU gettext from ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gettext/ and
re-configure Bison. See the file "ABOUT-NLS" for more
information.
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Q3. I'm having trouble using Bison. Where can I find help?
A3. First, read the fine manual which comes with bison. Beyond that,
you can send mail to <help-bison@gnu.org>. This mailing list is
intended to be populated with people who are willing to answer
questions about using and installing Bison. Please keep in mind
that (most of) the people on the list have aspects of their lives
which are not related to Bison (!), so you may not receive an
answer to your question right away. This can be frustrating, but
please try not to honk them off; remember that any help they
provide is purely voluntary and out of the kindness of their
hearts.
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Q4. I found a bug. What should I include in the bug report?
A4. Before you send a bug report, make sure you are using the latest
version. Check ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/bison/ or one of its
mirrors. Be sure to include the version number in your bug
report. If the bug is present in the latest version but not in a
previous version, try to determine the most recent version which
did not contain the bug.
If the bug is parser-related, you should include the smallest
grammar you can which demonstrates the bug. The grammar file
should also be complete (i.e., I should be able to run it through
Bison without having to edit or add anything). The smaller and
simpler the grammar, the easier it will be to fix the bug.
Include information about your compilation environment, including
your operating system's name and version and your compiler's name
and version. If you have trouble compiling, you should also
include a transcript of the build session, starting with the
invocation of `configure'. Depending on the nature of the bug,
you may be asked to send additional files as well (such as
`config.h' or `config.cache').
Patches are most welcome, but not required. That is, do not
hesitate to send a bug report just because you can not provide a
fix.
Send bug reports to <bug-bison@gnu.org>.
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Q5. Will Bison ever have C++ support?
A5. Yes, it's in the works. Things are very chaotic right now, but
what little information floats around is posted to the bug-bison
mailing list. If you're interested in testing C++ support when
it becomes available, please consider subscribing to the list,
especially if you are willing to beta test other releases as
well.
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Q6. What is involved in being a beta tester?
A6. It's not terribly involved. Basically, you would download a test
release, compile it, and use it to build and run a parser or two.
After that, you would submit either a bug report or a message
saying that everything is okay. It is important to report
successes as well as failures because test releases eventually
become mainstream releases, but only if they are adequately
tested. If no one tests, development is essentially halted.
Beta testers are particularly needed for operating systems to
which I do not have access. I currently have easy access to
Linux (x86 glibc 2.1), Solaris (SPARC) 2.6 and 2.7, and HP-UX
10.20. Reports about other operating systems are especially
welcome.
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Q7. How do I join the help-bison and bug-bison mailing lists?
A7. See http://www.gnu.org/ (the section about "GNU mailing lists")
for more information.
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