xref: /freebsd/contrib/bc/NEWS.md (revision 9768746b)
1# News
2
3## 6.2.4
4
5This is a production release that fixes a test failure that happens when
6`tests/bc/scripts/timeconst.bc` doesn't exist. This should only affect
7packagers.
8
9This bug happened because I forgot something I added in the previous release:
10better error checking in tests to help packagers. Unfortunately, I was too
11zealous with the error checking.
12
13## 6.2.3
14
15This is a production release that moves `bc` to <https://git.gavinhoward.com>.
16
17That's all it does: update links. Users do ***NOT*** need to upgrade; there are
18redirects that will stay in place indefinitely. This release is only for new
19users.
20
21## 6.2.2
22
23This is a production release that fixes a bug.
24
25The bug was that if an array element was used as a parameter, and then a later
26parameter had the same name as the array whose element was used, `bc` would grab
27the element from the new array parameter, not the actual element from before the
28function call.
29
30## 6.2.1
31
32This is a production release with one bug fix for a memory bug in history.
33
34## 6.2.0
35
36This is a production release with a new feature and a few bug fixes.
37
38The bug fixes include:
39
40* A crash when `bc` and `dc` are built using editline, but history is not
41  activated.
42* A missing local in the `uint*()` family of functions in the extended math
43  library.
44* A failure to clear the tail call list in `dc` on error.
45* A crash when attempting to swap characters in command-line history when no
46  characters exist.
47* `SIGWINCH` was activated even when history was not.
48
49The new feature is that stack traces are now given for runtime errors. In debug
50mode, the C source file and line of errors are given as well.
51
52## 6.1.1
53
54This is a production release that fixes a build issue with predefined builds and
55generated tests.
56
57## 6.1.0
58
59This is a production release that fixes a discrepancy from the `bc` standard,
60a couple of memory bugs, and adds new features.
61
62The discrepancy from the `bc` standard was with regards to the behavior of the
63`quit` command. This `bc` used to quit whenever it encountered `quit` during
64parsing, even if it was parsing a full file. Now, `bc` only quits when
65encountering `quit` *after* it has executed all executable statements up to that
66point.
67
68This behavior is slightly different from GNU `bc`, but users will only notice
69the difference if they put `quit` on the same line as other statements.
70
71The first memory bug could be reproduced by assigning a string to a non-local
72variable in a function, then redefining the function with use of the same
73non-local variable, which would still refer to a string in the previous version
74of the function.
75
76The second memory bug was caused by passing an array argument to the `asciify()`
77built-in function. In certain cases, that was wrongly allowed, and the
78interpreter just assumed everything was correct and accessed memory. Now that
79arrays are allowed as arguments (see below), this is not an issue.
80
81The first feature was the addition of the `is_number()` built-in function (`u`
82in `dc`) that returns 1 if the runtime argument is a number and 0 otherwise.
83
84The second feature was the addition of the `is_string()` built-in function (`t`
85in `dc`) that returns 1 if the runtime argument is a string and 0 otherwise.
86
87These features were added because I realized that type-checking is necessary now
88that strings can be assigned to variables in `bc` and because they've always
89been assignable to variables in `dc`.
90
91The last added feature is the ability of the `asciify()` built-in function in
92`bc` to convert a full array of numbers into a string. This means that
93character-by-character printing will not be necessary, and more strings than
94just single-character ones will be able to be created.
95
96## 6.0.4
97
98This is a production release that most users will not need to upgrade to.
99
100This fixes a build bug for `bcl` only on OpenBSD. Users that do not need `bcl`
101or have not run into build errors with `bcl` do ***NOT*** need to upgrade.
102
103## 6.0.3
104
105This is a production release that fixes a build bug for cross-compilation.
106
107Users that do not need cross-compilation do ***NOT*** need to upgrade.
108
109## 6.0.2
110
111This is a production release that fixes two bugs:
112
113* The `-l` option overrode the `-S` option.
114* A double-free and crash when sending a `SIGINT` while executing expressions
115  given on the command-line.
116
117## 6.0.1
118
119This is a production release that fixes memory bugs and memory leaks in `bcl`.
120
121Users that do not use `bcl` (use only `bc` and/or `dc`) do ***NOT*** need to
122upgrade.
123
124These happened because I was unaware that the `bcl` test was not hooked into the
125Valgrind test infrastructure. Then, when I ran the release script, which tests
126everything under Valgrind (or so I thought), it caught nothing, and I thought it
127was safe.
128
129But it was not.
130
131Nevertheless, I have now run it under Valgrind and fixed all of the memory bugs
132(caused by not using `memset()` where I should have but previously didn't have
133to) and memory leaks.
134
135## 6.0.0
136
137This is a production release that fixes an oversight in the `bc` parser (that
138sometimes caused the wrong error message) and adds a feature for compatibility
139with the BSD `bc` and `dc`: turning off digit clamping when parsing numbers.
140
141The default for clamping can be set during the build (see the [build
142manual][13]), it can be set with the `BC_DIGIT_CLAMP` and `DC_DIGIT_CLAMP`
143environment variables, and it can be set with the `-c` and `-C` command-line
144options.
145
146Turning off clamping was also added to the `bcl` library.
147
148In addition, signal handling was removed from the `bcl` library in order to add
149the capability for multi-threading. This required a major version bump. I
150apologize to all library users (I don't know of any), but signals and threads do
151not play well together.
152
153To help with building, a convenience option (`-p`) to `configure.sh` was added
154to build a `bc` and `dc` that is by default compatible with either the BSD `bc`
155and `dc` or the GNU `bc` and `dc`.
156
157## 5.3.3
158
159This is a production release that fixes a build problem in the FreeBSD base
160system.
161
162All other users do **NOT** need to upgrade.
163
164## 5.3.2
165
166This is a production release that fixes prompt bugs with editline and readline
167where the `BC_PROMPT` environment variable was not being respected.
168
169This also fixes editline and readline output on `EOF`.
170
171## 5.3.1
172
173This is a production release that fixes a build problem in the FreeBSD base
174system, as well as a problem in the `en_US` locale. If you don't have problems
175with either, you do not need to upgrade.
176
177## 5.3.0
178
179This is a production release that adds features and has a few bug fixes.
180
181First, support for editline and readline history has been added. To use
182editline, pass `-e` to `configure.sh`, and to use readline, pass `-r`.
183
184Second, history support for Windows has been fixed and re-enabled.
185
186Third, command-line options to set `scale`, `ibase`, `obase`, and `seed` were
187added. This was requested long ago, and I originally disagreed with the idea.
188
189Fourth, the manuals had typos and were missing information. That has been fixed.
190
191Fifth, the manuals received different formatting to be more readable as
192manpages.
193
194## 5.2.5
195
196This is a production release that fixes this `bc`'s behavior on `^D` to match
197GNU `bc`.
198
199## 5.2.4
200
201This is a production release that fixes two bugs in history:
202
203* Without prompt, the cursor could not be placed on the first character in a
204  line.
205* Home and End key handling in `tmux` was fixed.
206
207Any users that do not care about these improvements do not need to upgrade.
208
209## 5.2.3
210
211This is a production release that fixes one bug, a parse error when passing a
212file to `bc` using `-f` if that file had a multiline comment or string in it.
213
214## 5.2.2
215
216This is a production release that fixes one bug, a segmentation fault if
217`argv[0]` equals `NULL`.
218
219This is not a critical bug; there will be no vulnerability as far as I can tell.
220There is no need to update if you do not wish to.
221
222## 5.2.1
223
224This is a production release that fixes two parse bugs when in POSIX standard
225mode. One of these bugs was due to a quirk of the POSIX grammar, and the other
226was because `bc` was too strict.
227
228## 5.2.0
229
230This is a production release that adds a new feature, fixes some bugs, and adds
231out-of-source builds and a `pkg-config` file for `bcl`.
232
233The new feature is the ability to turn off exiting on expressions. It is also
234possible to set the default using `configure.sh`. This behavior used to exist
235with the `BC_EXPR_EXIT` environment variable, which is now used again.
236
237Bugs fixed include:
238
239* Some possible race conditions with error handling.
240* Install and uninstall targets for `bcl` did not work.
241
242## 5.1.1
243
244This is a production release that completes a bug fix from `5.1.0`. The bug
245exists in all versions of `bc`.
246
247The bug was that `if` statements without `else` statements would not be handled
248correctly at the end of files or right before a function definition.
249
250## 5.1.0
251
252This is a production release with some fixes and new features.
253
254* Fixed a bug where an `if` statement without an `else` before defining a
255  function caused an error.
256* Fixed a bug with the `bc` banner and `-q`.
257* Fixed a bug on Windows where files were not read correctly.
258* Added a command-line flag (`-z`) to make `bc` and `dc` print leading zeroes on
259  numbers `-1 < x < 1`.
260* Added four functions to `lib2.bc` (`plz()`, `plznl()`, `pnlz()`, and
261  `pnlznl()`) to allow printing numbers with or without leading zeros, despite
262  the use of `-z` or not.
263* Added builtin functions to query global state like line length, global stacks,
264  and leading zeroes.
265* Added a command-line flag (`-L`) to disable wrapping when printing numbers.
266* Improved builds on Windows.
267
268## 5.0.2
269
270This is a production release with one fix for a flaky test. If you have not
271experienced problems with the test suite, you do ***NOT*** need to upgrade.
272
273The test was one that tested whether `bc` fails gracefully when it can't
274allocate memory. Unfortunately, there are cases when Linux and FreeBSD lie and
275pretend to allocate the memory.
276
277The reason they do this is because a lot of programs don't use all of the memory
278they allocate, so those OS's usually get away with it.
279
280However, this `bc` uses all of the memory it allocates (at least at page
281granularity), so when it tries to use the memory, FreeBSD and Linux kill it.
282
283This only happens sometimes, however. Other times (on my machine), they do, in
284fact, refuse the request.
285
286So I changed the test to not test for that because I think the graceful failure
287code won't really change much.
288
289## 5.0.1
290
291This is a production release with two fixes:
292
293* Fix for the build on Mac OSX.
294* Fix for the build on Android.
295
296Users that do not use those platforms do ***NOT*** need to update.
297
298## 5.0.0
299
300This is a major production release with several changes:
301
302* Added support for OpenBSD's `pledge()` and `unveil()`.
303* Fixed print bug where a backslash newline combo was printed even if only one
304  digit was left, something I blindly copied from GNU `bc`, like a fool.
305* Fixed bugs in the manuals.
306* Fixed a possible multiplication overflow in power.
307* Temporary numbers are garbage collected if allocation fails, and the
308  allocation is retried. This is to make `bc` and `dc` more resilient to running
309  out of memory.
310* Limited the number of temporary numbers and made the space for them static so
311  that allocating more space for them cannot fail.
312* Allowed integers with non-zero `scale` to be used with power, places, and
313  shift operators.
314* Added greatest common divisor and least common multiple to `lib2.bc`.
315* Added `SIGQUIT` handling to history.
316* Added a command to `dc` (`y`) to get the length of register stacks.
317* Fixed multi-digit bugs in `lib2.bc`.
318* Removed the no prompt build option.
319* Created settings that builders can set defaults for and users can set their
320  preferences for. This includes the `bc` banner, resetting on `SIGINT`, TTY
321  mode, and prompt.
322* Added history support to Windows.
323* Fixed bugs with the handling of register names in `dc`.
324* Fixed bugs with multi-line comments and strings in both calculators.
325* Added a new error type and message for `dc` when register stacks don't have
326  enough items.
327* Optimized string allocation.
328* Made `bc` and `dc` UTF-8 capable.
329* Fixed a bug with `void` functions.
330* Fixed a misspelled symbol in `bcl`. This is technically a breaking change,
331  which requires this to be `5.0.0`.
332* Added the ability for users to get the copyright banner back.
333* Added the ability for users to have `bc` and `dc` quit on `SIGINT`.
334* Added the ability for users to disable prompt and TTY mode by environment
335  variables.
336* Added the ability for users to redefine keywords. This is another reason this
337  is `5.0.0`.
338* Added `dc`'s modular exponentiation and divmod to `bc`.
339* Added the ability to assign strings to variables and array elements and pass
340  them to functions in `bc`.
341* Added `dc`'s asciify command and stream printing to `bc`.
342* Added a command to `dc` (`Y`) to get the length of an array.
343* Added a command to `dc` (`,`) to get the depth of the execution stack.
344* Added bitwise and, or, xor, left shift, right shift, reverse, left rotate,
345  right rotate, and mod functions to `lib2.bc`.
346* Added the functions `s2u(x)` and `s2un(x,n)`, to `lib2.bc`.
347
348## 4.0.2
349
350This is a production release that fixes two bugs:
351
3521.	If no files are used and the first statement on `stdin` is invalid, `scale`
353	would not be set to `20` even if `-l` was used.
3542.	When using history, `bc` failed to respond properly to `SIGSTOP` and
355	`SIGTSTP`.
356
357## 4.0.1
358
359This is a production release that only adds one thing: flushing output when it
360is printed with a print statement.
361
362## 4.0.0
363
364This is a production release with many fixes, a new command-line option, and a
365big surprise:
366
367* A bug was fixed in `dc`'s `P` command where the item on the stack was *not*
368  popped.
369* Various bugs in the manuals have been fixed.
370* A known bug was fixed where history did not interact well with prompts printed
371  by user code without newlines.
372* A new command-line option, `-R` and `--no-read-prompt` was added to disable
373  just the prompt when using `read()` (`bc`) or `?` (`dc`).
374* And finally, **official support for Windows was added**.
375
376The last item is why this is a major version bump.
377
378Currently, only one set of build options (extra math and prompt enabled, history
379and NLS/locale support disabled, both calculators enabled) is supported on
380Windows. However, both debug and release builds are supported.
381
382In addition, Windows builds are supported for the the library (`bcl`).
383
384For more details about how to build on Windows, see the [README][5] or the
385[build manual][13].
386
387## 3.3.4
388
389This is a production release that fixes a small bug.
390
391The bug was that output was not flushed before a `read()` call, so prompts
392without a newline on the end were not flushed before the `read()` call.
393
394This is such a tiny bug that users only need to upgrade if they are affected.
395
396## 3.3.3
397
398This is a production release with one tweak and fixes for manuals.
399
400The tweak is that `length(0)` returns `1` instead of `0`. In `3.3.1`, I changed
401it so `length(0.x)`, where `x` could be any number of digits, returned the
402`scale`, but `length(0)` still returned `0` because I believe that `0` has `0`
403significant digits.
404
405After request of FreeBSD and considering the arguments of a mathematician,
406compatibility with other `bc`'s, and the expectations of users, I decided to
407make the change.
408
409The fixes for manuals fixed a bug where `--` was rendered as `-`.
410
411## 3.3.2
412
413This is a production release that fixes a divide-by-zero bug in `root()` in the
414[extended math library][16]. All previous versions with `root()` have the bug.
415
416## 3.3.1
417
418This is a production release that fixes a bug.
419
420The bug was in the reporting of number length when the value was 0.
421
422## 3.3.0
423
424This is a production release that changes one behavior and fixes documentation
425bugs.
426
427The changed behavior is the treatment of `-e` and `-f` when given through
428`BC_ENV_ARGS` or `DC_ENV_ARGS`. Now `bc` and `dc` do not exit when those options
429(or their equivalents) are given through those environment variables. However,
430`bc` and `dc` still exit when they or their equivalents are given on the
431command-line.
432
433## 3.2.7
434
435This is a production release that removes a small non-portable shell operation
436in `configure.sh`. This problem was only noticed on OpenBSD, not FreeBSD or
437Linux.
438
439Non-OpenBSD users do ***NOT*** need to upgrade, although NetBSD users may also
440need to upgrade.
441
442## 3.2.6
443
444This is a production release that fixes the build on FreeBSD.
445
446There was a syntax error in `configure.sh` that the Linux shell did not catch,
447and FreeBSD depends on the existence of `tests/all.sh`.
448
449All users that already upgraded to `3.2.5` should update to this release, with
450my apologies for the poor release of `3.2.5`. Other users should skip `3.2.5` in
451favor of this version.
452
453## 3.2.5
454
455This is a production release that fixes several bugs and adds a couple small
456things.
457
458The two most important bugs were bugs that causes `dc` to access memory
459out-of-bounds (crash in debug builds). This was found by upgrading to `afl++`
460from `afl`. Both were caused by a failure to distinguish between the same two
461cases.
462
463Another bug was the failure to put all of the licenses in the `LICENSE.md` file.
464
465Third, some warnings by `scan-build` were found and eliminated. This needed one
466big change: `bc` and `dc` now bail out as fast as possible on fatal errors
467instead of unwinding the stack.
468
469Fourth, the pseudo-random number now attempts to seed itself with `/dev/random`
470if `/dev/urandom` fails.
471
472Finally, this release has a few quality-of-life changes to the build system. The
473usage should not change at all; the only thing that changed was making sure the
474`Makefile.in` was written to rebuild properly when headers changed and to not
475rebuild when not necessary.
476
477## 3.2.4
478
479This is a production release that fixes a warning on `gcc` 6 or older, which
480does not have an attribute that is used.
481
482Users do ***NOT*** need to upgrade if they don't use `gcc` 6 or older.
483
484## 3.2.3
485
486This is a production release that fixes a bug in `gen/strgen.sh`. I recently
487changed `gen/strgen.c`, but I did not change `gen/strgen.sh`.
488
489Users that do not use `gen/strgen.sh` do not need to upgrade.
490
491## 3.2.2
492
493This is a production release that fixes a portability bug in `configure.sh`. The
494bug was using the GNU `find` extension `-wholename`.
495
496## 3.2.1
497
498This is a production release that has one fix for `bcl(3)`. It is technically
499not a bug fix since the behavior is undefined, but the `BclNumber`s that
500`bcl_divmod()` returns will be set to `BCL_ERROR_INVALID_NUM` if there is an
501error. Previously, they were not set.
502
503## 3.2.0
504
505This is a production release that has one bug fix and a major addition.
506
507The bug fix was a missing `auto` variable in the bessel `j()` function in the
508math library.
509
510The major addition is a way to build a version of `bc`'s math code as a library.
511This is done with the `-a` option to `configure.sh`. The API for the library can
512be read in `./manuals/bcl.3.md` or `man bcl` once the library is installed with
513`make install`.
514
515This library was requested by developers before I even finished version 1.0, but
516I could not figure out how to do it until now.
517
518If the library has API breaking changes, the major version of `bc` will be
519incremented.
520
521## 3.1.6
522
523This is a production release that fixes a new warning from Clang 12 for FreeBSD
524and also removes some possible undefined behavior found by UBSan that compilers
525did not seem to take advantage of.
526
527Users do ***NOT*** need to upgrade, if they do not want to.
528
529## 3.1.5
530
531This is a production release that fixes the Chinese locales (which caused `bc`
532to crash) and a crash caused by `bc` executing code when it should not have been
533able to.
534
535***ALL USERS SHOULD UPGRADE.***
536
537## 3.1.4
538
539This is a production release that fixes one bug, changes two behaviors, and
540removes one environment variable.
541
542The bug is like the one in the last release except it applies if files are being
543executed. I also made the fix more general.
544
545The behavior that was changed is that `bc` now exits when given `-e`, `-f`,
546`--expression` or `--file`. However, if the last one of those is `-f-` (using
547`stdin` as the file), `bc` does not exit. If `-f-` exists and is not the last of
548the `-e` and `-f` options (and equivalents), `bc` gives a fatal error and exits.
549
550Next, I removed the `BC_EXPR_EXIT` and `DC_EXPR_EXIT` environment variables
551since their use is not needed with the behavior change.
552
553Finally, I made it so `bc` does not print the header, though the `-q` and
554`--quiet` options were kept for compatibility with GNU `bc`.
555
556## 3.1.3
557
558This is a production release that fixes one minor bug: if `bc` was invoked like
559the following, it would error:
560
561```
562echo "if (1 < 3) 1" | bc
563```
564
565Unless users run into this bug, they do not need to upgrade, but it is suggested
566that they do.
567
568## 3.1.2
569
570This is a production release that adds a way to install *all* locales. Users do
571***NOT*** need to upgrade.
572
573For package maintainers wishing to make use of the change, just pass `-l` to
574`configure.sh`.
575
576## 3.1.1
577
578This is a production release that adds two Spanish locales. Users do ***NOT***
579need to upgrade, unless they want those locales.
580
581## 3.1.0
582
583This is a production release that adjusts one behavior, fixes eight bugs, and
584improves manpages for FreeBSD. Because this release fixes bugs, **users and
585package maintainers should update to this version as soon as possible**.
586
587The behavior that was adjusted was how code from the `-e` and `-f` arguments
588(and equivalents) were executed. They used to be executed as one big chunk, but
589in this release, they are now executed line-by-line.
590
591The first bug fix in how output to `stdout` was handled in `SIGINT`. If a
592`SIGINT` came in, the `stdout` buffer was not correctly flushed. In fact, a
593clean-up function was not getting called. This release fixes that bug.
594
595The second bug is in how `dc` handled input from `stdin`. This affected `bc` as
596well since it was a mishandling of the `stdin` buffer.
597
598The third fixed bug was that `bc` and `dc` could `abort()` (in debug mode) when
599receiving a `SIGTERM`. This one was a race condition with pushing and popping
600items onto and out of vectors.
601
602The fourth bug fixed was that `bc` could leave extra items on the stack and
603thus, not properly clean up some memory. (The memory would still get
604`free()`'ed, but it would not be `free()`'ed when it could have been.)
605
606The next two bugs were bugs in `bc`'s parser that caused crashes when executing
607the resulting code.
608
609The last two bugs were crashes in `dc` that resulted from mishandling of
610strings.
611
612The manpage improvement was done by switching from [ronn][20] to [Pandoc][21] to
613generate manpages. Pandoc generates much cleaner manpages and doesn't leave
614blank lines where they shouldn't be.
615
616## 3.0.3
617
618This is a production release that adds one new feature: specific manpages.
619
620Before this release, `bc` and `dc` only used one manpage each that referred to
621various build options. This release changes it so there is one manpage set per
622relevant build type. Each manual only has information about its particular
623build, and `configure.sh` selects the correct set for install.
624
625## 3.0.2
626
627This is a production release that adds `utf8` locale symlinks and removes an
628unused `auto` variable from the `ceil()` function in the [extended math
629library][16].
630
631Users do ***NOT*** need to update unless they want the locales.
632
633## 3.0.1
634
635This is a production release with two small changes. Users do ***NOT*** need to
636upgrade to this release; however, if they haven't upgraded to `3.0.0` yet, it
637may be worthwhile to upgrade to this release.
638
639The first change is fixing a compiler warning on FreeBSD with strict warnings
640on.
641
642The second change is to make the new implementation of `ceil()` in `lib2.bc`
643much more efficient.
644
645## 3.0.0
646
647*Notes for package maintainers:*
648
649*First, the `2.7.0` release series saw a change in the option parsing. This made
650me change one error message and add a few others. The error message that was
651changed removed one format specifier. This means that `printf()` will seqfault
652on old locale files. Unfortunately, `bc` cannot use any locale files except the
653global ones that are already installed, so it will use the previous ones while
654running tests during install. **If `bc` segfaults while running arg tests when
655updating, it is because the global locale files have not been replaced. Make
656sure to either prevent the test suite from running on update or remove the old
657locale files before updating.** (Removing the locale files can be done with
658`make uninstall` or by running the [`locale_uninstall.sh`][22] script.) Once
659this is done, `bc` should install without problems.*
660
661*Second, **the option to build without signal support has been removed**. See
662below for the reasons why.*
663
664This is a production release with some small bug fixes, a few improvements,
665three major bug fixes, and a complete redesign of `bc`'s error and signal
666handling. **Users and package maintainers should update to this version as soon
667as possible.**
668
669The first major bug fix was in how `bc` executed files. Previously, a whole file
670was parsed before it was executed, but if a function is defined *after* code,
671especially if the function definition was actually a redefinition, and the code
672before the definition referred to the previous function, this `bc` would replace
673the function before executing any code. The fix was to make sure that all code
674that existed before a function definition was executed.
675
676The second major bug fix was in `bc`'s `lib2.bc`. The `ceil()` function had a
677bug where a `0` in the decimal place after the truncation position, caused it to
678output the wrong numbers if there was any non-zero digit after.
679
680The third major bug is that when passing parameters to functions, if an
681expression included an array (not an array element) as a parameter, it was
682accepted, when it should have been rejected. It is now correctly rejected.
683
684Beyond that, this `bc` got several improvements that both sped it up, improved
685the handling of signals, and improved the error handling.
686
687First, the requirements for `bc` were pushed back to POSIX 2008. `bc` uses one
688function, `strdup()`, which is not in POSIX 2001, and it is in the X/Open System
689Interfaces group 2001. It is, however, in POSIX 2008, and since POSIX 2008 is
690old enough to be supported anywhere that I care, that should be the requirement.
691
692Second, the BcVm global variable was put into `bss`. This actually slightly
693reduces the size of the executable from a massive code shrink, and it will stop
694`bc` from allocating a large set of memory when `bc` starts.
695
696Third, the default Karatsuba length was updated from 64 to 32 after making the
697optimization changes below, since 32 is going to be better than 64 after the
698changes.
699
700Fourth, Spanish translations were added.
701
702Fifth, the interpreter received a speedup to make performance on non-math-heavy
703scripts more competitive with GNU `bc`. While improvements did, in fact, get it
704much closer (see the [benchmarks][19]), it isn't quite there.
705
706There were several things done to speed up the interpreter:
707
708First, several small inefficiencies were removed. These inefficiencies included
709calling the function `bc_vec_pop(v)` twice instead of calling
710`bc_vec_npop(v, 2)`. They also included an extra function call for checking the
711size of the stack and checking the size of the stack more than once on several
712operations.
713
714Second, since the current `bc` function is the one that stores constants and
715strings, the program caches pointers to the current function's vectors of
716constants and strings to prevent needing to grab the current function in order
717to grab a constant or a string.
718
719Third, `bc` tries to reuse `BcNum`'s (the internal representation of
720arbitary-precision numbers). If a `BcNum` has the default capacity of
721`BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` (32 on 64-bit and 16 on 32-bit) when it is freed, it is added
722to a list of available `BcNum`'s. And then, when a `BcNum` is allocated with a
723capacity of `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` and any `BcNum`'s exist on the list of reusable
724ones, one of those ones is grabbed instead.
725
726In order to support these changes, the `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` was changed. It used to
727be 16 bytes on all systems, but it was changed to more closely align with the
728minimum allocation size on Linux, which is either 32 bytes (64-bit musl), 24
729bytes (64-bit glibc), 16 bytes (32-bit musl), or 12 bytes (32-bit glibc). Since
730these are the minimum allocation sizes, these are the sizes that would be
731allocated anyway, making it worth it to just use the whole space, so the value
732of `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` on 64-bit systems was changed to 32 bytes.
733
734On top of that, at least on 64-bit, `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` supports numbers with
735either 72 integer digits or 45 integer digits and 27 fractional digits. This
736should be more than enough for most cases since `bc`'s default `scale` values
737are 0 or 20, meaning that, by default, it has at most 20 fractional digits. And
73845 integer digits are *a lot*; it's enough to calculate the amount of mass in
739the Milky Way galaxy in kilograms. Also, 72 digits is enough to calculate the
740diameter of the universe in Planck lengths.
741
742(For 32-bit, these numbers are either 32 integer digits or 12 integer digits and
74320 fractional digits. These are also quite big, and going much bigger on a
74432-bit system seems a little pointless since 12 digits is just under a trillion
745and 20 fractional digits is still enough for about any use since `10^-20` light
746years is just under a millimeter.)
747
748All of this together means that for ordinary uses, and even uses in scientific
749work, the default number size will be all that is needed, which means that
750nearly all, if not all, numbers will be reused, relieving pressure on the system
751allocator.
752
753I did several experiments to find the changes that had the most impact,
754especially with regard to reusing `BcNum`'s. One was putting `BcNum`'s into
755buckets according to their capacity in powers of 2 up to 512. That performed
756worse than `bc` did in `2.7.2`. Another was putting any `BcNum` on the reuse
757list that had a capacity of `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE * 2` and reusing them for `BcNum`'s
758that requested `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE`. This did reduce the amount of time spent, but
759it also spent a lot of time in the system allocator for an unknown reason. (When
760using `strace`, a bunch more `brk` calls showed up.) Just reusing `BcNum`'s that
761had exactly `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` capacity spent the smallest amount of time in both
762user and system time. This makes sense, especially with the changes to make
763`BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` bigger on 64-bit systems, since the vast majority of numbers
764will only ever use numbers with a size less than or equal to `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE`.
765
766Last of all, `bc`'s signal handling underwent a complete redesign. (This is the
767reason that this version is `3.0.0` and not `2.8.0`.) The change was to move
768from a polling approach to signal handling to an interrupt-based approach.
769
770Previously, every single loop condition had a check for signals. I suspect that
771this could be expensive when in tight loops.
772
773Now, the signal handler just uses `longjmp()` (actually `siglongjmp()`) to start
774an unwinding of the stack until it is stopped or the stack is unwound to
775`main()`, which just returns. If `bc` is currently executing code that cannot be
776safely interrupted (according to POSIX), then signals are "locked." The signal
777handler checks if the lock is taken, and if it is, it just sets the status to
778indicate that a signal arrived. Later, when the signal lock is released, the
779status is checked to see if a signal came in. If so, the stack unwinding starts.
780
781This design eliminates polling in favor of maintaining a stack of `jmp_buf`'s.
782This has its own performance implications, but it gives better interaction. And
783the cost of pushing and popping a `jmp_buf` in a function is paid at most twice.
784Most functions do not pay that price, and most of the rest only pay it once.
785(There are only some 3 functions in `bc` that push and pop a `jmp_buf` twice.)
786
787As a side effect of this change, I had to eliminate the use of `stdio.h` in `bc`
788because `stdio` does not play nice with signals and `longjmp()`. I implemented
789custom I/O buffer code that takes a fraction of the size. This means that static
790builds will be smaller, but non-static builds will be bigger, though they will
791have less linking time.
792
793This change is also good because my history implementation was already bypassing
794`stdio` for good reasons, and unifying the architecture was a win.
795
796Another reason for this change is that my `bc` should *always* behave correctly
797in the presence of signals like `SIGINT`, `SIGTERM`, and `SIGQUIT`. With the
798addition of my own I/O buffering, I needed to also make sure that the buffers
799were correctly flushed even when such signals happened.
800
801For this reason, I **removed the option to build without signal support**.
802
803As a nice side effect of this change, the error handling code could be changed
804to take advantage of the stack unwinding that signals used. This means that
805signals and error handling use the same code paths, which means that the stack
806unwinding is well-tested. (Errors are tested heavily in the test suite.)
807
808It also means that functions do not need to return a status code that
809***every*** caller needs to check. This eliminated over 100 branches that simply
810checked return codes and then passed that return code up the stack if necessary.
811The code bloat savings from this is at least 1700 bytes on `x86_64`, *before*
812taking into account the extra code from removing `stdio.h`.
813
814## 2.7.2
815
816This is a production release with one major bug fix.
817
818The `length()` built-in function can take either a number or an array. If it
819takes an array, it returns the length of the array. Arrays can be passed by
820reference. The bug is that the `length()` function would not properly
821dereference arrays that were references. This is a bug that affects all users.
822
823**ALL USERS SHOULD UPDATE `bc`**.
824
825## 2.7.1
826
827This is a production release with fixes for new locales and fixes for compiler
828warnings on FreeBSD.
829
830## 2.7.0
831
832This is a production release with a bug fix for Linux, new translations, and new
833features.
834
835Bug fixes:
836
837* Option parsing in `BC_ENV_ARGS` was broken on Linux in 2.6.1 because `glibc`'s
838  `getopt_long()` is broken. To get around that, and to support long options on
839  every platform, an adapted version of [`optparse`][17] was added. Now, `bc`
840  does not even use `getopt()`.
841* Parsing `BC_ENV_ARGS` with quotes now works. It isn't the smartest, but it
842  does the job if there are spaces in file names.
843
844The following new languages are supported:
845
846* Dutch
847* Polish
848* Russian
849* Japanes
850* Simplified Chinese
851
852All of these translations were generated using [DeepL][18], so improvements are
853welcome.
854
855There is only one new feature: **`bc` now has a built-in pseudo-random number
856generator** (PRNG).
857
858The PRNG is seeded, making it useful for applications where
859`/dev/urandom` does not work because output needs to be reproducible. However,
860it also uses `/dev/urandom` to seed itself by default, so it will start with a
861good seed by default.
862
863It also outputs 32 bits on 32-bit platforms and 64 bits on 64-bit platforms, far
864better than the 15 bits of C's `rand()` and `bash`'s `$RANDOM`.
865
866In addition, the PRNG can take a bound, and when it gets a bound, it
867automatically adjusts to remove bias. It can also generate numbers of arbitrary
868size. (As of the time of release, the largest pseudo-random number generated by
869this `bc` was generated with a bound of `2^(2^20)`.)
870
871***IMPORTANT: read the [`bc` manual][9] and the [`dc` manual][10] to find out
872exactly what guarantees the PRNG provides. The underlying implementation is not
873guaranteed to stay the same, but the guarantees that it provides are guaranteed
874to stay the same regardless of the implementation.***
875
876On top of that, four functions were added to `bc`'s [extended math library][16]
877to make using the PRNG easier:
878
879* `frand(p)`: Generates a number between `[0,1)` to `p` decimal places.
880* `ifrand(i, p)`: Generates an integer with bound `i` and adds it to `frand(p)`.
881* `srand(x)`: Randomizes the sign of `x`. In other words, it flips the sign of
882  `x` with probability `0.5`.
883* `brand()`: Returns a random boolean value (either `0` or `1`).
884
885## 2.6.1
886
887This is a production release with a bug fix for FreeBSD.
888
889The bug was that when `bc` was built without long options, it would give a fatal
890error on every run. This was caused by a mishandling of `optind`.
891
892## 2.6.0
893
894This release is a production release ***with no bugfixes***. If you do not want
895to upgrade, you don't have to.
896
897No source code changed; the only thing that changed was `lib2.bc`.
898
899This release adds one function to the [extended math library][16]: `p(x, y)`,
900which calculates `x` to the power of `y`, whether or not `y` is an integer. (The
901`^` operator can only accept integer powers.)
902
903This release also includes a couple of small tweaks to the [extended math
904library][16], mostly to fix returning numbers with too high of `scale`.
905
906## 2.5.3
907
908This release is a production release which addresses inconsistencies in the
909Portuguese locales. No `bc` code was changed.
910
911The issues were that the ISO files used different naming, and also that the
912files that should have been symlinks were not. I did not catch that because
913GitHub rendered them the exact same way.
914
915## 2.5.2
916
917This release is a production release.
918
919No code was changed, but the build system was changed to allow `CFLAGS` to be
920given to `CC`, like this:
921
922```
923CC="gcc -O3 -march=native" ./configure.sh
924```
925
926If this happens, the flags are automatically put into `CFLAGS`, and the compiler
927is set appropriately. In the example above this means that `CC` will be "gcc"
928and `CFLAGS` will be "-O3 -march=native".
929
930This behavior was added to conform to GNU autotools practices.
931
932## 2.5.1
933
934This is a production release which addresses portability concerns discovered
935in the `bc` build system. No `bc` code was changed.
936
937* Support for Solaris SPARC and AIX were added.
938* Minor documentations edits were performed.
939* An option for `configure.sh` was added to disable long options if
940  `getopt_long()` is missing.
941
942## 2.5.0
943
944This is a production release with new translations. No code changed.
945
946The translations were contributed by [bugcrazy][15], and they are for
947Portuguese, both Portugal and Brazil locales.
948
949## 2.4.0
950
951This is a production release primarily aimed at improving `dc`.
952
953* A couple of copy and paste errors in the [`dc` manual][10] were fixed.
954* `dc` startup was optimized by making sure it didn't have to set up `bc`-only
955  things.
956* The `bc` `&&` and `||` operators were made available to `dc` through the `M`
957  and `m` commands, respectively.
958* `dc` macros were changed to be tail call-optimized.
959
960The last item, tail call optimization, means that if the last thing in a macro
961is a call to another macro, then the old macro is popped before executing the
962new macro. This change was made to stop `dc` from consuming more and more memory
963as macros are executed in a loop.
964
965The `q` and `Q` commands still respect the "hidden" macros by way of recording
966how many macros were removed by tail call optimization.
967
968## 2.3.2
969
970This is a production release meant to fix warnings in the Gentoo `ebuild` by
971making it possible to disable binary stripping. Other users do *not* need to
972upgrade.
973
974## 2.3.1
975
976This is a production release. It fixes a bug that caused `-1000000000 < -1` to
977return `0`. This only happened with negative numbers and only if the value on
978the left was more negative by a certain amount. That said, this bug *is* a bad
979bug, and needs to be fixed.
980
981**ALL USERS SHOULD UPDATE `bc`**.
982
983## 2.3.0
984
985This is a production release with changes to the build system.
986
987## 2.2.0
988
989This release is a production release. It only has new features and performance
990improvements.
991
9921.	The performance of `sqrt(x)` was improved.
9932.	The new function `root(x, n)` was added to the extended math library to
994	calculate `n`th roots.
9953.	The new function `cbrt(x)` was added to the extended math library to
996	calculate cube roots.
997
998## 2.1.3
999
1000This is a non-critical release; it just changes the build system, and in
1001non-breaking ways:
1002
10031.	Linked locale files were changed to link to their sources with a relative
1004	link.
10052.	A bug in `configure.sh` that caused long option parsing to fail under `bash`
1006	was fixed.
1007
1008## 2.1.2
1009
1010This release is not a critical release.
1011
10121.	A few codes were added to history.
10132.	Multiplication was optimized a bit more.
10143.	Addition and subtraction were both optimized a bit more.
1015
1016## 2.1.1
1017
1018This release contains a fix for the test suite made for Linux from Scratch: now
1019the test suite prints `pass` when a test is passed.
1020
1021Other than that, there is no change in this release, so distros and other users
1022do not need to upgrade.
1023
1024## 2.1.0
1025
1026This release is a production release.
1027
1028The following bugs were fixed:
1029
10301.	A `dc` bug that caused stack mishandling was fixed.
10312.	A warning on OpenBSD was fixed.
10323.	Bugs in `ctrl+arrow` operations in history were fixed.
10334.	The ability to paste multiple lines in history was added.
10345.	A `bc` bug, mishandling of array arguments to functions, was fixed.
10356.	A crash caused by freeing the wrong pointer was fixed.
10367.	A `dc` bug where strings, in a rare case, were mishandled in parsing was
1037	fixed.
1038
1039In addition, the following changes were made:
1040
10411.	Division was slightly optimized.
10422.	An option was added to the build to disable printing of prompts.
10433.	The special case of empty arguments is now handled. This is to prevent
1044	errors in scripts that end up passing empty arguments.
10454.	A harmless bug was fixed. This bug was that, with the pop instructions
1046	(mostly) removed (see below), `bc` would leave extra values on its stack for
1047	`void` functions and in a few other cases. These extra items would not
1048	affect anything put on the stack and would not cause any sort of crash or
1049	even buggy behavior, but they would cause `bc` to take more memory than it
1050	needed.
1051
1052On top of the above changes, the following optimizations were added:
1053
10541.	The need for pop instructions in `bc` was removed.
10552.	Extra tests on every iteration of the interpreter loop were removed.
10563.	Updating function and code pointers on every iteration of the interpreter
1057	loop was changed to only updating them when necessary.
10584.	Extra assignments to pointers were removed.
1059
1060Altogether, these changes sped up the interpreter by around 2x.
1061
1062***NOTE***: This is the last release with new features because this `bc` is now
1063considered complete. From now on, only bug fixes and new translations will be
1064added to this `bc`.
1065
1066## 2.0.3
1067
1068This is a production, bug-fix release.
1069
1070Two bugs were fixed in this release:
1071
10721.	A rare and subtle signal handling bug was fixed.
10732.	A misbehavior on `0` to a negative power was fixed.
1074
1075The last bug bears some mentioning.
1076
1077When I originally wrote power, I did not thoroughly check its error cases;
1078instead, I had it check if the first number was `0` and then if so, just return
1079`0`. However, `0` to a negative power means that `1` will be divided by `0`,
1080which is an error.
1081
1082I caught this, but only after I stopped being cocky. You see, sometime later, I
1083had noticed that GNU `bc` returned an error, correctly, but I thought it was
1084wrong simply because that's not what my `bc` did. I saw it again later and had a
1085double take. I checked for real, finally, and found out that my `bc` was wrong
1086all along.
1087
1088That was bad on me. But the bug was easy to fix, so it is fixed now.
1089
1090There are two other things in this release:
1091
10921.	Subtraction was optimized by [Stefan Eßer][14].
10932.	Division was also optimized, also by Stefan Eßer.
1094
1095## 2.0.2
1096
1097This release contains a fix for a possible overflow in the signal handling. I
1098would be surprised if any users ran into it because it would only happen after 2
1099billion (`2^31-1`) `SIGINT`'s, but I saw it and had to fix it.
1100
1101## 2.0.1
1102
1103This release contains very few things that will apply to any users.
1104
11051.	A slight bug in `dc`'s interactive mode was fixed.
11062.	A bug in the test suite that was only triggered on NetBSD was fixed.
11073.	**The `-P`/`--no-prompt` option** was added for users that do not want a
1108	prompt.
11094.	A `make check` target was added as an alias for `make test`.
11105.	`dc` got its own read prompt: `?> `.
1111
1112## 2.0.0
1113
1114This release is a production release.
1115
1116This release is also a little different from previous releases. From here on
1117out, I do not plan on adding any more features to this `bc`; I believe that it
1118is complete. However, there may be bug fix releases in the future, if I or any
1119others manage to find bugs.
1120
1121This release has only a few new features:
1122
11231.	`atan2(y, x)` was added to the extended math library as both `a2(y, x)` and
1124	`atan2(y, x)`.
11252.	Locales were fixed.
11263.	A **POSIX shell-compatible script was added as an alternative to compiling
1127	`gen/strgen.c`** on a host machine. More details about making the choice
1128	between the two can be found by running `./configure.sh --help` or reading
1129	the [build manual][13].
11304.	Multiplication was optimized by using **diagonal multiplication**, rather
1131	than straight brute force.
11325.	The `locale_install.sh` script was fixed.
11336.	`dc` was given the ability to **use the environment variable
1134	`DC_ENV_ARGS`**.
11357.	`dc` was also given the ability to **use the `-i` or `--interactive`**
1136	options.
11378.	Printing the prompt was fixed so that it did not print when it shouldn't.
11389.	Signal handling was fixed.
113910.	**Handling of `SIGTERM` and `SIGQUIT`** was fixed.
114011.	The **built-in functions `maxibase()`, `maxobase()`, and `maxscale()`** (the
1141	commands `T`, `U`, `V` in `dc`, respectively) were added to allow scripts to
1142	query for the max allowable values of those globals.
114312.	Some incompatibilities with POSIX were fixed.
1144
1145In addition, this release is `2.0.0` for a big reason: the internal format for
1146numbers changed. They used to be a `char` array. Now, they are an array of
1147larger integers, packing more decimal digits into each integer. This has
1148delivered ***HUGE*** performance improvements, especially for multiplication,
1149division, and power.
1150
1151This `bc` should now be the fastest `bc` available, but I may be wrong.
1152
1153## 1.2.8
1154
1155This release contains a fix for a harmless bug (it is harmless in that it still
1156works, but it just copies extra data) in the [`locale_install.sh`][12] script.
1157
1158## 1.2.7
1159
1160This version contains fixes for the build on Arch Linux.
1161
1162## 1.2.6
1163
1164This release removes the use of `local` in shell scripts because it's not POSIX
1165shell-compatible, and also updates a man page that should have been updated a
1166long time ago but was missed.
1167
1168## 1.2.5
1169
1170This release contains some missing locale `*.msg` files.
1171
1172## 1.2.4
1173
1174This release contains a few bug fixes and new French translations.
1175
1176## 1.2.3
1177
1178This release contains a fix for a bug: use of uninitialized data. Such data was
1179only used when outputting an error message, but I am striving for perfection. As
1180Michelangelo said, "Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle."
1181
1182## 1.2.2
1183
1184This release contains fixes for OpenBSD.
1185
1186## 1.2.1
1187
1188This release contains bug fixes for some rare bugs.
1189
1190## 1.2.0
1191
1192This is a production release.
1193
1194There have been several changes since `1.1.0`:
1195
11961.	The build system had some changes.
11972.	Locale support has been added. (Patches welcome for translations.)
11983.	**The ability to turn `ibase`, `obase`, and `scale` into stacks** was added
1199	with the `-g` command-line option. (See the [`bc` manual][9] for more
1200	details.)
12014.	Support for compiling on Mac OSX out of the box was added.
12025.	The extended math library got `t(x)`, `ceil(x)`, and some aliases.
12036.	The extended math library also got `r2d(x)` (for converting from radians to
1204	degrees) and `d2r(x)` (for converting from degrees to radians). This is to
1205	allow using degrees with the standard library.
12067.	Both calculators now accept numbers in **scientific notation**. See the
1207	[`bc` manual][9] and the [`dc` manual][10] for details.
12088.	Both calculators can **output in either scientific or engineering
1209	notation**. See the [`bc` manual][9] and the [`dc` manual][10] for details.
12109.	Some inefficiencies were removed.
121110.	Some bugs were fixed.
121211.	Some bugs in the extended library were fixed.
121312.	Some defects from [Coverity Scan][11] were fixed.
1214
1215## 1.1.4
1216
1217This release contains a fix to the build system that allows it to build on older
1218versions of `glibc`.
1219
1220## 1.1.3
1221
1222This release contains a fix for a bug in the test suite where `bc` tests and
1223`dc` tests could not be run in parallel.
1224
1225## 1.1.2
1226
1227This release has a fix for a history bug; the down arrow did not work.
1228
1229## 1.1.1
1230
1231This release fixes a bug in the `1.1.0` build system. The source is exactly the
1232same.
1233
1234The bug that was fixed was a failure to install if no `EXECSUFFIX` was used.
1235
1236## 1.1.0
1237
1238This is a production release. However, many new features were added since `1.0`.
1239
12401.	**The build system has been changed** to use a custom, POSIX
1241	shell-compatible configure script ([`configure.sh`][6]) to generate a POSIX
1242	make-compatible `Makefile`, which means that `bc` and `dc` now build out of
1243	the box on any POSIX-compatible system.
12442.	Out-of-memory and output errors now cause the `bc` to report the error,
1245	clean up, and die, rather than just reporting and trying to continue.
12463.	**Strings and constants are now garbage collected** when possible.
12474.	Signal handling and checking has been made more simple and more thorough.
12485.	`BcGlobals` was refactored into `BcVm` and `BcVm` was made global. Some
1249	procedure names were changed to reflect its difference to everything else.
12506.	Addition got a speed improvement.
12517.	Some common code for addition and multiplication was refactored into its own
1252	procedure.
12538.	A bug was removed where `dc` could have been selected, but the internal
1254	`#define` that returned `true` for a query about `dc` would not have
1255	returned `true`.
12569.	Useless calls to `bc_num_zero()` were removed.
125710.	**History support was added.** The history support is based off of a
1258	[UTF-8 aware fork][7] of [`linenoise`][8], which has been customized with
1259	`bc`'s own data structures and signal handling.
126011.	Generating C source from the math library now removes tabs from the library,
1261	shrinking the size of the executable.
126212.	The math library was shrunk.
126313.	Error handling and reporting was improved.
126414.	Reallocations were reduced by giving access to the request size for each
1265	operation.
126615.	**`abs()` (`b` command for `dc`) was added as a builtin.**
126716.	Both calculators were tested on FreeBSD.
126817.	Many obscure parse bugs were fixed.
126918.	Markdown and man page manuals were added, and the man pages are installed by
1270	`make install`.
127119.	Executable size was reduced, though the added features probably made the
1272	executable end up bigger.
127320.	**GNU-style array references were added as a supported feature.**
127421.	Allocations were reduced.
127522.	**New operators were added**: `$` (`$` for `dc`), `@` (`@` for `dc`), `@=`,
1276	`<<` (`H` for `dc`), `<<=`, `>>` (`h` for `dc`), and `>>=`. See the
1277	[`bc` manual][9] and the [`dc` manual][10] for more details.
127823.	**An extended math library was added.** This library contains code that
1279	makes it so I can replace my desktop calculator with this `bc`. See the
1280	[`bc` manual][3] for more details.
128124.	Support for all capital letters as numbers was added.
128225.	**Support for GNU-style void functions was added.**
128326.	A bug fix for improper handling of function parameters was added.
128427.	Precedence for the or (`||`) operator was changed to match GNU `bc`.
128528.	`dc` was given an explicit negation command.
128629.	`dc` was changed to be able to handle strings in arrays.
1287
1288## 1.1 Release Candidate 3
1289
1290This release is the eighth release candidate for 1.1, though it is the third
1291release candidate meant as a general release candidate. The new code has not
1292been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1293
1294## 1.1 Release Candidate 2
1295
1296This release is the seventh release candidate for 1.1, though it is the second
1297release candidate meant as a general release candidate. The new code has not
1298been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1299
1300## 1.1 FreeBSD Beta 5
1301
1302This release is the sixth release candidate for 1.1, though it is the fifth
1303release candidate meant specifically to test if `bc` works on FreeBSD. The new
1304code has not been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1305
1306## 1.1 FreeBSD Beta 4
1307
1308This release is the fifth release candidate for 1.1, though it is the fourth
1309release candidate meant specifically to test if `bc` works on FreeBSD. The new
1310code has not been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1311
1312## 1.1 FreeBSD Beta 3
1313
1314This release is the fourth release candidate for 1.1, though it is the third
1315release candidate meant specifically to test if `bc` works on FreeBSD. The new
1316code has not been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1317
1318## 1.1 FreeBSD Beta 2
1319
1320This release is the third release candidate for 1.1, though it is the second
1321release candidate meant specifically to test if `bc` works on FreeBSD. The new
1322code has not been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1323
1324## 1.1 FreeBSD Beta 1
1325
1326This release is the second release candidate for 1.1, though it is meant
1327specifically to test if `bc` works on FreeBSD. The new code has not been tested as
1328thoroughly as it should for release.
1329
1330## 1.1 Release Candidate 1
1331
1332This is the first release candidate for 1.1. The new code has not been tested as
1333thoroughly as it should for release.
1334
1335## 1.0
1336
1337This is the first non-beta release. `bc` is ready for production use.
1338
1339As such, a lot has changed since 0.5.
1340
13411.	`dc` has been added. It has been tested even more thoroughly than `bc` was
1342	for `0.5`. It does not have the `!` command, and for security reasons, it
1343	never will, so it is complete.
13442.	`bc` has been more thoroughly tested. An entire section of the test suite
1345	(for both programs) has been added to test for errors.
13463.	A prompt (`>>> `) has been added for interactive mode, making it easier to
1347	see inputs and outputs.
13484.	Interrupt handling has been improved, including elimination of race
1349	conditions (as much as possible).
13505.	MinGW and [Windows Subsystem for Linux][1] support has been added (see
1351	[xstatic][2] for binaries).
13526.	Memory leaks and errors have been eliminated (as far as ASan and Valgrind
1353	can tell).
13547.	Crashes have been eliminated (as far as [afl][3] can tell).
13558.	Karatsuba multiplication was added (and thoroughly) tested, speeding up
1356	multiplication and power by orders of magnitude.
13579.	Performance was further enhanced by using a "divmod" function to reduce
1358	redundant divisions and by removing superfluous `memset()` calls.
135910.	To switch between Karatsuba and `O(n^2)` multiplication, the config variable
1360	`BC_NUM_KARATSUBA_LEN` was added. It is set to a sane default, but the
1361	optimal number can be found with [`karatsuba.py`][4] (requires Python 3)
1362	and then configured through `make`.
136311.	The random math test generator script was changed to Python 3 and improved.
1364	`bc` and `dc` have together been run through 30+ million random tests.
136512.	All known math bugs have been fixed, including out of control memory
1366	allocations in `sine` and `cosine` (that was actually a parse bug), certain
1367	cases of infinite loop on square root, and slight inaccuracies (as much as
1368	possible; see the [README][5]) in transcendental functions.
136913.	Parsing has been fixed as much as possible.
137014.	Test coverage was improved to 94.8%. The only paths not covered are ones
1371	that happen when `malloc()` or `realloc()` fails.
137215.	An extension to get the length of an array was added.
137316.	The boolean not (`!`) had its precedence change to match negation.
137417.	Data input was hardened.
137518.	`bc` was made fully compliant with POSIX when the `-s` flag is used or
1376	`POSIXLY_CORRECT` is defined.
137719.	Error handling was improved.
137820.	`bc` now checks that files it is given are not directories.
1379
1380## 1.0 Release Candidate 7
1381
1382This is the seventh release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0
1383Release Candidate 6.
1384
1385## 1.0 Release Candidate 6
1386
1387This is the sixth release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0 Release
1388Candidate 5.
1389
1390## 1.0 Release Candidate 5
1391
1392This is the fifth release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0 Release
1393Candidate 4.
1394
1395## 1.0 Release Candidate 4
1396
1397This is the fourth release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0 Release
1398Candidate 3.
1399
1400## 1.0 Release Candidate 3
1401
1402This is the third release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0 Release
1403Candidate 2.
1404
1405## 1.0 Release Candidate 2
1406
1407This is the second release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0 Release
1408Candidate 1.
1409
1410## 1.0 Release Candidate 1
1411
1412This is the first Release Candidate for 1.0. `bc` is complete, with `dc`, but it
1413is not tested.
1414
1415## 0.5
1416
1417This beta release completes more features, but it is still not complete nor
1418tested as thoroughly as necessary.
1419
1420## 0.4.1
1421
1422This beta release fixes a few bugs in 0.4.
1423
1424## 0.4
1425
1426This is a beta release. It does not have the complete set of features, and it is
1427not thoroughly tested.
1428
1429[1]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
1430[2]: https://pkg.musl.cc/bc/
1431[3]: http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/afl/
1432[4]: ./scripts/karatsuba.py
1433[5]: ./README.md
1434[6]: ./configure.sh
1435[7]: https://github.com/rain-1/linenoise-mob
1436[8]: https://github.com/antirez/linenoise
1437[9]: ./manuals/bc/A.1.md
1438[10]: ./manuals/dc/A.1.md
1439[11]: https://scan.coverity.com/projects/gavinhoward-bc
1440[12]: ./scripts/locale_install.sh
1441[13]: ./manuals/build.md
1442[14]: https://github.com/stesser
1443[15]: https://github.com/bugcrazy
1444[16]: ./manuals/bc/A.1.md#extended-library
1445[17]: https://github.com/skeeto/optparse
1446[18]: https://www.deepl.com/translator
1447[19]: ./manuals/benchmarks.md
1448[20]: https://github.com/apjanke/ronn-ng
1449[21]: https://pandoc.org/
1450[22]: ./scripts/locale_uninstall.sh
1451