Re: bison and downwards compatibility

[Bob Rossi]

On Tue, Oct 24, 2006 at 05:38:27PM +0200, Joerg Hoffmann wrote:
> Dear Bison makers,
> 
> First, thanks for your very useful tool. However, I have to say I'm 
> frustrated by the utter lack of downwards compatibility. Why is this 
> necessary?
> 
> I'm working with code that originated in 1998. It has in the meantime 
> been copied so often that it is impossible to revise all instances. 
> Every time I get a new bison update I get new errors and complaints that 
> are totally cryptic and un-understandable, whereas with the older 
> versions everything worked. Just as a simple example, some old versions 
> allowed to ommit the ";" at the end of a rule. Newer versions don't. In 
> effect, I have spent countless hours in the last 5 years inserting ";" 
> at the points where some programmer in 1998 happened to leave them away.
> 
> It would be so much more convenient if the bison development obeyed some 
> form of downwards compatibility.
> 
> best regards,
> Joerg Hoffmann

Hi Joerg,

It probably would have been a good idea to not hold this in for so long.
If you have a problem with bison, report early, report often.

Anyways, as you see problems, and report them, they can be fixed if they
are bugs. Others will benefit from your frustrations.

Bob Rossi