1 GNU m4 NEWS - User visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1992, 1993, 1994, 2004, 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 Version 1.4.4 - ??? 2005, by ???
6 * ./configure --infodir=/usr/share/info now works correctly.
8 Version 1.4.3 - March 2005, by Gary V. Vaughan
10 * DESTDIR installs now work correctly.
11 * Don't segfault with uncompilable regexps to changeword().
12 * Always use \n line-endings for frozen files (fixes a cygwin bug).
13 * Portability fix for systems lacking mkstemp(3).
14 * Approximately 20% speed up in the common case of usage with autoconf.
15 * Supported on QNX 6.3.
17 Version 1.4.2 - August 2004, by Paul Eggert
19 * No user visible changes; portability bug fixes only.
21 Version 1.4.1 - June 2004, by Paul Eggert
23 * maketemp now creates an empty file with the given name, instead of merely
24 returning the name of a nonexistent file. This closes a security hole.
26 Version 1.4 - October 1994, by Franc,ois Pinard
28 (No user visible changes)
30 Version 1.3 - September 1994, by Franc,ois Pinard
32 * Diversions are created as needed. Option `-N' is still accepted, but
33 otherwise ignored. Users should use only negative diversion numbers,
34 instead of high positive numbers, for diverting to nowhere.
36 * Diversions should also work faster. No temporary files will be needed
37 at all if all diversions taken altogether do not use more than 512K.
39 * Frozen state files may be produced with the `--freeze-state' (-F)
40 option and later brought back through the `--reload-state' (-R) option.
42 Version 1.2 - July 1994, by Franc,ois Pinard
44 * In patsubst(STRING, REGEXP, REPLACEMENT), \& in REPLACEMENT has been
45 changed to represent this part of STRING matched by the whole REGEXP,
46 instead of the whole STRING as before. \0 does the same, but emits a
47 diagnostic saying it will disappear in some subsequent release.
49 * eval(EXPR) emits a diagnostic if EXPR has suffixed crumb. The same for
50 other numeric conversions in incr(), decr(), divert(), etc.
52 * `--fatal-warnings' (-E) stops execution at first warning.
54 * `--nesting-limit=LEVEL' (-L LEVEL) sets a limit to macro nesting.
55 It is initially fixed at 250.
57 * `--word-regexp=REGEXP' (-W REGEXP) modifies macro name syntax, like
58 does the new `changeword(REGEXP)' macro. This feature is experimental,
59 tell me your opinions about it. You do need --enable-changeword at
60 configure time to get these things. Do *not* depend on them yet.
62 * Trace output format is scannable by GNU Emacs' next-error function.
64 * Stack overflow is detected and diagnosed on some capable systems.
66 * Various bugs have been corrected, m4 should be more portable. See the
67 ChangeLog for details.
69 Version 1.1 - November 1993, by Franc,ois Pinard
71 Changes which might affect existing GNU m4 scripts:
73 * Option `-V' has been removed, use `--version' instead. `--version'
74 writes on standard output instead of standard error, and inhibits any
77 * `--no-gnu-extensions' has been renamed `--traditional'.
79 * In `eval', `^' used to indicate exponentiation, use `**' instead.
81 * The automatic undiversion which takes place at end of all input is
82 forced into the main output stream.
84 Changes which are unlikely to affect existing scripts:
86 * `--help' prints an usage summary on standard output. Script execution
89 * `--prefix-builtins' (-P) prefixes all builtin macros by `m4_'.
91 * Most builtin macros for which arguments are mandatory, called without
92 any arguments, are no more recognized as builtin macros: they are
93 consequently copied verbatim to the output stream.
95 * `define' and `pushdef' are usable with only one argument, they give
96 this argument an empty definition.
98 * `eval' new operators for binary representation handling: `^' for
99 exclusive-or, `~' for the bitwise negation, `<<' and `>>' for shifts.
101 * `eval' recognizes the notation 0bDIGITS for binary numbers and the
102 notation 0rRADIX:DIGITS for numbers in any radix from 1 to 36.
104 Version 1.0.3 - December 1992, by Franc,ois Pinard
106 Changes for the user:
108 * `dnl' outputs a diagnostic if immediately followed by `('. Usually,
109 `dnl' is followed by newline or whitespace.
111 * `ifelse' accepts without complaining the common idiom of having only
112 one argument. This is useful for introducing long comments.
114 * `eval' always expresses values as signed, whatever the radix.
116 * M4OPTS environment variable is no longer obeyed.
118 * `--no-warnings' option is renamed `--silent'.
120 * Debug lines use a new format more compatible with GNU standards.
122 * Various bugs have been corrected. See the ChangeLog for details.
124 Changes for the installer:
126 * GNU m4 now uses an Autoconf-generated configure script, and should be
127 more easily portable in many ways. (Cray is not supported yet).
129 * `make check' has been made more portable, expect no errors.
131 Changes for the programmer:
133 * Sources have been fully reindented to comply with GNU standards, and
134 cleaned up in many ways.
136 * Sources have been protoized. Non-ANSI compilers are automatically
137 detected, then sources are unprotoized on the fly before compilation.
139 * GNU m4 uses newer versions of obstack, regex, getopt, etc.
141 Version 1.0 - October 1991, by Rene' Seindal
143 * Uses GNU configure, taken from the gdb distribution.
145 * Uses GNU getopt(), with long option names.
147 * The -Q/+quiet option is added, which suppresses warnings about missing
148 or superflous arguments to built-in macros.
150 * Added default options via the M4OPTS environment variable.
152 * Several minor bugs have been fixed.
154 Version 0.99 - July 1991, by Rene' Seindal
156 * The builtins `incr' and `decr' are now implemented without use of
159 * The builtin `indir' is added, to allow for indirect macro calls
160 (allows use of "illegal" macro names).
162 * The debugging and tracing facilities has been enhanced considerably.
163 See the manual for details.
165 * The -tMACRO option is added, marks MACRO for tracing as soon as it
168 * Builtins are traced after renaming iff they were before.
170 * Named files can now be undiverted.
172 * The -Nnum option can be used to increase the number of divertions
175 * Calling changecom without arguments now disables all comment handling.
177 * A bug in `dnl' is fixed.
179 * A bug in the multi-character quoting code is fixed.
181 * Several typos in the manual has been corrected. More probably persist.
183 Version 0.75 - November 1990, by Rene' Seindal
185 * Implemented search path for include files (-I option and M4PATH
186 environment variable).
188 * Implemented builtin `format' for printf-like formatting.
190 * Implemented builtin `regexp' for searching for regular expressions.
192 * Implemented builtin `patsubst' for substitution with regular
195 * Implemented builtin `esyscmd', which expands to a shell commands output.
197 * Implemented `__file__' and `__line__' for use in error messages.
199 * Implemented character ranges in `translit'.
201 * Implemented control over debugging output.
203 * Implemented multi-character quotes.
205 * Implemented multi-character comment delimiters.
207 * Changed predefined macro `gnu' to `__gnu__'.
209 * Changed predefined macro `unix' to `__unix__', when the -G option is
210 not used. With -G, `unix' is still defined.
212 * Added program name to error messages.
214 * Fixed two missing null bytes bugs.
216 Version 0.50 - January 1990, by Rene' Seindal
218 * Initial beta release.