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1# News
2
3## 6.6.1
4
5This is a production release with an improved `p()` function in the [extended
6math library][16].
7
8Users who don't care do not need to upgrade.
9
10## 6.6.0
11
12This is a production release with two bug fixes and one change.
13
14The first bug fix is to fix the build on Mac OSX.
15
16The second bug was to remove printing a leading zero in scientific or
17engineering output modes.
18
19The change was that the implementation of `irand()` was improved to call the
20PRNG less.
21
22## 6.5.0
23
24This is a production release that fixes an infinite loop bug in `root()` and
25`cbrt()`, fixes a bug with `BC_LINE_LENGTH=0`, and adds the `fib()` function to
26the extended math library to calculate Fibonacci numbers.
27
28## 6.4.0
29
30This is a production release that fixes a `read()`/`?` bug and adds features to
31`bcl`.
32
33The bug was that multiple read calls could repeat old data.
34
35The new features in `bcl` are functions to preserve `BclNumber` arguments and
36not free them.
37
38***WARNING for `bcl` Users***: The `bcl_rand_seedWithNum()` function used to not
39consume its arguments. Now it does. This change could have made this version
40`7.0.0`, but I'm 99.9% confident that there are no `bcl` users, or if there are,
41they probably don't use the PRNG. So I took a risk and didn't update the major
42version.
43
44`bcl` now includes more capacity to check for invalid numbers when built to run
45under Valgrind.
46
47## 6.3.1
48
49This is a production release that fixes a `bc` dependency loop for minimal
50environments and Linux from Scratch.
51
52## 6.3.0
53
54This is a production release with a couple of fixes for manuals and a new
55feature for `dc`: there is now a command to query whether extended registers are
56enabled or not.
57
58Users who don't care do not need to upgrade.
59
60## 6.2.6
61
62This is a production release that fixes an install bug that affected locale
63installation of all locales when using `mksh`. Users do ***NOT*** need to
64upgrade if they don't use `mksh` and/or don't need to install all locales.
65
66## 6.2.5
67
68This is a production release that fixes a test bug that affected Android and
69`mksh`. Users do ***NOT*** need to upgrade unless they use `mksh` or another
70affected shell and need to run the test suite.
71
72## 6.2.4
73
74This is a production release that fixes a test failure that happens when
75`tests/bc/scripts/timeconst.bc` doesn't exist. This should only affect
76packagers.
77
78This bug happened because I forgot something I added in the previous release:
79better error checking in tests to help packagers. Unfortunately, I was too
80zealous with the error checking.
81
82## 6.2.3
83
84This is a production release that moves `bc` to <https://git.gavinhoward.com>.
85
86That's all it does: update links. Users do ***NOT*** need to upgrade; there are
87redirects that will stay in place indefinitely. This release is only for new
88users.
89
90## 6.2.2
91
92This is a production release that fixes a bug.
93
94The bug was that if an array element was used as a parameter, and then a later
95parameter had the same name as the array whose element was used, `bc` would grab
96the element from the new array parameter, not the actual element from before the
97function call.
98
99## 6.2.1
100
101This is a production release with one bug fix for a memory bug in history.
102
103## 6.2.0
104
105This is a production release with a new feature and a few bug fixes.
106
107The bug fixes include:
108
109* A crash when `bc` and `dc` are built using editline, but history is not
110  activated.
111* A missing local in the `uint*()` family of functions in the extended math
112  library.
113* A failure to clear the tail call list in `dc` on error.
114* A crash when attempting to swap characters in command-line history when no
115  characters exist.
116* `SIGWINCH` was activated even when history was not.
117
118The new feature is that stack traces are now given for runtime errors. In debug
119mode, the C source file and line of errors are given as well.
120
121## 6.1.1
122
123This is a production release that fixes a build issue with predefined builds and
124generated tests.
125
126## 6.1.0
127
128This is a production release that fixes a discrepancy from the `bc` standard,
129a couple of memory bugs, and adds new features.
130
131The discrepancy from the `bc` standard was with regards to the behavior of the
132`quit` command. This `bc` used to quit whenever it encountered `quit` during
133parsing, even if it was parsing a full file. Now, `bc` only quits when
134encountering `quit` *after* it has executed all executable statements up to that
135point.
136
137This behavior is slightly different from GNU `bc`, but users will only notice
138the difference if they put `quit` on the same line as other statements.
139
140The first memory bug could be reproduced by assigning a string to a non-local
141variable in a function, then redefining the function with use of the same
142non-local variable, which would still refer to a string in the previous version
143of the function.
144
145The second memory bug was caused by passing an array argument to the `asciify()`
146built-in function. In certain cases, that was wrongly allowed, and the
147interpreter just assumed everything was correct and accessed memory. Now that
148arrays are allowed as arguments (see below), this is not an issue.
149
150The first feature was the addition of the `is_number()` built-in function (`u`
151in `dc`) that returns 1 if the runtime argument is a number and 0 otherwise.
152
153The second feature was the addition of the `is_string()` built-in function (`t`
154in `dc`) that returns 1 if the runtime argument is a string and 0 otherwise.
155
156These features were added because I realized that type-checking is necessary now
157that strings can be assigned to variables in `bc` and because they've always
158been assignable to variables in `dc`.
159
160The last added feature is the ability of the `asciify()` built-in function in
161`bc` to convert a full array of numbers into a string. This means that
162character-by-character printing will not be necessary, and more strings than
163just single-character ones will be able to be created.
164
165## 6.0.4
166
167This is a production release that most users will not need to upgrade to.
168
169This fixes a build bug for `bcl` only on OpenBSD. Users that do not need `bcl`
170or have not run into build errors with `bcl` do ***NOT*** need to upgrade.
171
172## 6.0.3
173
174This is a production release that fixes a build bug for cross-compilation.
175
176Users that do not need cross-compilation do ***NOT*** need to upgrade.
177
178## 6.0.2
179
180This is a production release that fixes two bugs:
181
182* The `-l` option overrode the `-S` option.
183* A double-free and crash when sending a `SIGINT` while executing expressions
184  given on the command-line.
185
186## 6.0.1
187
188This is a production release that fixes memory bugs and memory leaks in `bcl`.
189
190Users that do not use `bcl` (use only `bc` and/or `dc`) do ***NOT*** need to
191upgrade.
192
193These happened because I was unaware that the `bcl` test was not hooked into the
194Valgrind test infrastructure. Then, when I ran the release script, which tests
195everything under Valgrind (or so I thought), it caught nothing, and I thought it
196was safe.
197
198But it was not.
199
200Nevertheless, I have now run it under Valgrind and fixed all of the memory bugs
201(caused by not using `memset()` where I should have but previously didn't have
202to) and memory leaks.
203
204## 6.0.0
205
206This is a production release that fixes an oversight in the `bc` parser (that
207sometimes caused the wrong error message) and adds a feature for compatibility
208with the BSD `bc` and `dc`: turning off digit clamping when parsing numbers.
209
210The default for clamping can be set during the build (see the [build
211manual][13]), it can be set with the `BC_DIGIT_CLAMP` and `DC_DIGIT_CLAMP`
212environment variables, and it can be set with the `-c` and `-C` command-line
213options.
214
215Turning off clamping was also added to the `bcl` library.
216
217In addition, signal handling was removed from the `bcl` library in order to add
218the capability for multi-threading. This required a major version bump. I
219apologize to all library users (I don't know of any), but signals and threads do
220not play well together.
221
222To help with building, a convenience option (`-p`) to `configure.sh` was added
223to build a `bc` and `dc` that is by default compatible with either the BSD `bc`
224and `dc` or the GNU `bc` and `dc`.
225
226## 5.3.3
227
228This is a production release that fixes a build problem in the FreeBSD base
229system.
230
231All other users do **NOT** need to upgrade.
232
233## 5.3.2
234
235This is a production release that fixes prompt bugs with editline and readline
236where the `BC_PROMPT` environment variable was not being respected.
237
238This also fixes editline and readline output on `EOF`.
239
240## 5.3.1
241
242This is a production release that fixes a build problem in the FreeBSD base
243system, as well as a problem in the `en_US` locale. If you don't have problems
244with either, you do not need to upgrade.
245
246## 5.3.0
247
248This is a production release that adds features and has a few bug fixes.
249
250First, support for editline and readline history has been added. To use
251editline, pass `-e` to `configure.sh`, and to use readline, pass `-r`.
252
253Second, history support for Windows has been fixed and re-enabled.
254
255Third, command-line options to set `scale`, `ibase`, `obase`, and `seed` were
256added. This was requested long ago, and I originally disagreed with the idea.
257
258Fourth, the manuals had typos and were missing information. That has been fixed.
259
260Fifth, the manuals received different formatting to be more readable as
261manpages.
262
263## 5.2.5
264
265This is a production release that fixes this `bc`'s behavior on `^D` to match
266GNU `bc`.
267
268## 5.2.4
269
270This is a production release that fixes two bugs in history:
271
272* Without prompt, the cursor could not be placed on the first character in a
273  line.
274* Home and End key handling in `tmux` was fixed.
275
276Any users that do not care about these improvements do not need to upgrade.
277
278## 5.2.3
279
280This is a production release that fixes one bug, a parse error when passing a
281file to `bc` using `-f` if that file had a multiline comment or string in it.
282
283## 5.2.2
284
285This is a production release that fixes one bug, a segmentation fault if
286`argv[0]` equals `NULL`.
287
288This is not a critical bug; there will be no vulnerability as far as I can tell.
289There is no need to update if you do not wish to.
290
291## 5.2.1
292
293This is a production release that fixes two parse bugs when in POSIX standard
294mode. One of these bugs was due to a quirk of the POSIX grammar, and the other
295was because `bc` was too strict.
296
297## 5.2.0
298
299This is a production release that adds a new feature, fixes some bugs, and adds
300out-of-source builds and a `pkg-config` file for `bcl`.
301
302The new feature is the ability to turn off exiting on expressions. It is also
303possible to set the default using `configure.sh`. This behavior used to exist
304with the `BC_EXPR_EXIT` environment variable, which is now used again.
305
306Bugs fixed include:
307
308* Some possible race conditions with error handling.
309* Install and uninstall targets for `bcl` did not work.
310
311## 5.1.1
312
313This is a production release that completes a bug fix from `5.1.0`. The bug
314exists in all versions of `bc`.
315
316The bug was that `if` statements without `else` statements would not be handled
317correctly at the end of files or right before a function definition.
318
319## 5.1.0
320
321This is a production release with some fixes and new features.
322
323* Fixed a bug where an `if` statement without an `else` before defining a
324  function caused an error.
325* Fixed a bug with the `bc` banner and `-q`.
326* Fixed a bug on Windows where files were not read correctly.
327* Added a command-line flag (`-z`) to make `bc` and `dc` print leading zeroes on
328  numbers `-1 < x < 1`.
329* Added four functions to `lib2.bc` (`plz()`, `plznl()`, `pnlz()`, and
330  `pnlznl()`) to allow printing numbers with or without leading zeros, despite
331  the use of `-z` or not.
332* Added builtin functions to query global state like line length, global stacks,
333  and leading zeroes.
334* Added a command-line flag (`-L`) to disable wrapping when printing numbers.
335* Improved builds on Windows.
336
337## 5.0.2
338
339This is a production release with one fix for a flaky test. If you have not
340experienced problems with the test suite, you do ***NOT*** need to upgrade.
341
342The test was one that tested whether `bc` fails gracefully when it can't
343allocate memory. Unfortunately, there are cases when Linux and FreeBSD lie and
344pretend to allocate the memory.
345
346The reason they do this is because a lot of programs don't use all of the memory
347they allocate, so those OS's usually get away with it.
348
349However, this `bc` uses all of the memory it allocates (at least at page
350granularity), so when it tries to use the memory, FreeBSD and Linux kill it.
351
352This only happens sometimes, however. Other times (on my machine), they do, in
353fact, refuse the request.
354
355So I changed the test to not test for that because I think the graceful failure
356code won't really change much.
357
358## 5.0.1
359
360This is a production release with two fixes:
361
362* Fix for the build on Mac OSX.
363* Fix for the build on Android.
364
365Users that do not use those platforms do ***NOT*** need to update.
366
367## 5.0.0
368
369This is a major production release with several changes:
370
371* Added support for OpenBSD's `pledge()` and `unveil()`.
372* Fixed print bug where a backslash newline combo was printed even if only one
373  digit was left, something I blindly copied from GNU `bc`, like a fool.
374* Fixed bugs in the manuals.
375* Fixed a possible multiplication overflow in power.
376* Temporary numbers are garbage collected if allocation fails, and the
377  allocation is retried. This is to make `bc` and `dc` more resilient to running
378  out of memory.
379* Limited the number of temporary numbers and made the space for them static so
380  that allocating more space for them cannot fail.
381* Allowed integers with non-zero `scale` to be used with power, places, and
382  shift operators.
383* Added greatest common divisor and least common multiple to `lib2.bc`.
384* Added `SIGQUIT` handling to history.
385* Added a command to `dc` (`y`) to get the length of register stacks.
386* Fixed multi-digit bugs in `lib2.bc`.
387* Removed the no prompt build option.
388* Created settings that builders can set defaults for and users can set their
389  preferences for. This includes the `bc` banner, resetting on `SIGINT`, TTY
390  mode, and prompt.
391* Added history support to Windows.
392* Fixed bugs with the handling of register names in `dc`.
393* Fixed bugs with multi-line comments and strings in both calculators.
394* Added a new error type and message for `dc` when register stacks don't have
395  enough items.
396* Optimized string allocation.
397* Made `bc` and `dc` UTF-8 capable.
398* Fixed a bug with `void` functions.
399* Fixed a misspelled symbol in `bcl`. This is technically a breaking change,
400  which requires this to be `5.0.0`.
401* Added the ability for users to get the copyright banner back.
402* Added the ability for users to have `bc` and `dc` quit on `SIGINT`.
403* Added the ability for users to disable prompt and TTY mode by environment
404  variables.
405* Added the ability for users to redefine keywords. This is another reason this
406  is `5.0.0`.
407* Added `dc`'s modular exponentiation and divmod to `bc`.
408* Added the ability to assign strings to variables and array elements and pass
409  them to functions in `bc`.
410* Added `dc`'s asciify command and stream printing to `bc`.
411* Added a command to `dc` (`Y`) to get the length of an array.
412* Added a command to `dc` (`,`) to get the depth of the execution stack.
413* Added bitwise and, or, xor, left shift, right shift, reverse, left rotate,
414  right rotate, and mod functions to `lib2.bc`.
415* Added the functions `s2u(x)` and `s2un(x,n)`, to `lib2.bc`.
416
417## 4.0.2
418
419This is a production release that fixes two bugs:
420
4211.	If no files are used and the first statement on `stdin` is invalid, `scale`
422	would not be set to `20` even if `-l` was used.
4232.	When using history, `bc` failed to respond properly to `SIGSTOP` and
424	`SIGTSTP`.
425
426## 4.0.1
427
428This is a production release that only adds one thing: flushing output when it
429is printed with a print statement.
430
431## 4.0.0
432
433This is a production release with many fixes, a new command-line option, and a
434big surprise:
435
436* A bug was fixed in `dc`'s `P` command where the item on the stack was *not*
437  popped.
438* Various bugs in the manuals have been fixed.
439* A known bug was fixed where history did not interact well with prompts printed
440  by user code without newlines.
441* A new command-line option, `-R` and `--no-read-prompt` was added to disable
442  just the prompt when using `read()` (`bc`) or `?` (`dc`).
443* And finally, **official support for Windows was added**.
444
445The last item is why this is a major version bump.
446
447Currently, only one set of build options (extra math and prompt enabled, history
448and NLS/locale support disabled, both calculators enabled) is supported on
449Windows. However, both debug and release builds are supported.
450
451In addition, Windows builds are supported for the the library (`bcl`).
452
453For more details about how to build on Windows, see the [README][5] or the
454[build manual][13].
455
456## 3.3.4
457
458This is a production release that fixes a small bug.
459
460The bug was that output was not flushed before a `read()` call, so prompts
461without a newline on the end were not flushed before the `read()` call.
462
463This is such a tiny bug that users only need to upgrade if they are affected.
464
465## 3.3.3
466
467This is a production release with one tweak and fixes for manuals.
468
469The tweak is that `length(0)` returns `1` instead of `0`. In `3.3.1`, I changed
470it so `length(0.x)`, where `x` could be any number of digits, returned the
471`scale`, but `length(0)` still returned `0` because I believe that `0` has `0`
472significant digits.
473
474After request of FreeBSD and considering the arguments of a mathematician,
475compatibility with other `bc`'s, and the expectations of users, I decided to
476make the change.
477
478The fixes for manuals fixed a bug where `--` was rendered as `-`.
479
480## 3.3.2
481
482This is a production release that fixes a divide-by-zero bug in `root()` in the
483[extended math library][16]. All previous versions with `root()` have the bug.
484
485## 3.3.1
486
487This is a production release that fixes a bug.
488
489The bug was in the reporting of number length when the value was 0.
490
491## 3.3.0
492
493This is a production release that changes one behavior and fixes documentation
494bugs.
495
496The changed behavior is the treatment of `-e` and `-f` when given through
497`BC_ENV_ARGS` or `DC_ENV_ARGS`. Now `bc` and `dc` do not exit when those options
498(or their equivalents) are given through those environment variables. However,
499`bc` and `dc` still exit when they or their equivalents are given on the
500command-line.
501
502## 3.2.7
503
504This is a production release that removes a small non-portable shell operation
505in `configure.sh`. This problem was only noticed on OpenBSD, not FreeBSD or
506Linux.
507
508Non-OpenBSD users do ***NOT*** need to upgrade, although NetBSD users may also
509need to upgrade.
510
511## 3.2.6
512
513This is a production release that fixes the build on FreeBSD.
514
515There was a syntax error in `configure.sh` that the Linux shell did not catch,
516and FreeBSD depends on the existence of `tests/all.sh`.
517
518All users that already upgraded to `3.2.5` should update to this release, with
519my apologies for the poor release of `3.2.5`. Other users should skip `3.2.5` in
520favor of this version.
521
522## 3.2.5
523
524This is a production release that fixes several bugs and adds a couple small
525things.
526
527The two most important bugs were bugs that causes `dc` to access memory
528out-of-bounds (crash in debug builds). This was found by upgrading to `afl++`
529from `afl`. Both were caused by a failure to distinguish between the same two
530cases.
531
532Another bug was the failure to put all of the licenses in the `LICENSE.md` file.
533
534Third, some warnings by `scan-build` were found and eliminated. This needed one
535big change: `bc` and `dc` now bail out as fast as possible on fatal errors
536instead of unwinding the stack.
537
538Fourth, the pseudo-random number now attempts to seed itself with `/dev/random`
539if `/dev/urandom` fails.
540
541Finally, this release has a few quality-of-life changes to the build system. The
542usage should not change at all; the only thing that changed was making sure the
543`Makefile.in` was written to rebuild properly when headers changed and to not
544rebuild when not necessary.
545
546## 3.2.4
547
548This is a production release that fixes a warning on `gcc` 6 or older, which
549does not have an attribute that is used.
550
551Users do ***NOT*** need to upgrade if they don't use `gcc` 6 or older.
552
553## 3.2.3
554
555This is a production release that fixes a bug in `gen/strgen.sh`. I recently
556changed `gen/strgen.c`, but I did not change `gen/strgen.sh`.
557
558Users that do not use `gen/strgen.sh` do not need to upgrade.
559
560## 3.2.2
561
562This is a production release that fixes a portability bug in `configure.sh`. The
563bug was using the GNU `find` extension `-wholename`.
564
565## 3.2.1
566
567This is a production release that has one fix for `bcl(3)`. It is technically
568not a bug fix since the behavior is undefined, but the `BclNumber`s that
569`bcl_divmod()` returns will be set to `BCL_ERROR_INVALID_NUM` if there is an
570error. Previously, they were not set.
571
572## 3.2.0
573
574This is a production release that has one bug fix and a major addition.
575
576The bug fix was a missing `auto` variable in the bessel `j()` function in the
577math library.
578
579The major addition is a way to build a version of `bc`'s math code as a library.
580This is done with the `-a` option to `configure.sh`. The API for the library can
581be read in `./manuals/bcl.3.md` or `man bcl` once the library is installed with
582`make install`.
583
584This library was requested by developers before I even finished version 1.0, but
585I could not figure out how to do it until now.
586
587If the library has API breaking changes, the major version of `bc` will be
588incremented.
589
590## 3.1.6
591
592This is a production release that fixes a new warning from Clang 12 for FreeBSD
593and also removes some possible undefined behavior found by UBSan that compilers
594did not seem to take advantage of.
595
596Users do ***NOT*** need to upgrade, if they do not want to.
597
598## 3.1.5
599
600This is a production release that fixes the Chinese locales (which caused `bc`
601to crash) and a crash caused by `bc` executing code when it should not have been
602able to.
603
604***ALL USERS SHOULD UPGRADE.***
605
606## 3.1.4
607
608This is a production release that fixes one bug, changes two behaviors, and
609removes one environment variable.
610
611The bug is like the one in the last release except it applies if files are being
612executed. I also made the fix more general.
613
614The behavior that was changed is that `bc` now exits when given `-e`, `-f`,
615`--expression` or `--file`. However, if the last one of those is `-f-` (using
616`stdin` as the file), `bc` does not exit. If `-f-` exists and is not the last of
617the `-e` and `-f` options (and equivalents), `bc` gives a fatal error and exits.
618
619Next, I removed the `BC_EXPR_EXIT` and `DC_EXPR_EXIT` environment variables
620since their use is not needed with the behavior change.
621
622Finally, I made it so `bc` does not print the header, though the `-q` and
623`--quiet` options were kept for compatibility with GNU `bc`.
624
625## 3.1.3
626
627This is a production release that fixes one minor bug: if `bc` was invoked like
628the following, it would error:
629
630```
631echo "if (1 < 3) 1" | bc
632```
633
634Unless users run into this bug, they do not need to upgrade, but it is suggested
635that they do.
636
637## 3.1.2
638
639This is a production release that adds a way to install *all* locales. Users do
640***NOT*** need to upgrade.
641
642For package maintainers wishing to make use of the change, just pass `-l` to
643`configure.sh`.
644
645## 3.1.1
646
647This is a production release that adds two Spanish locales. Users do ***NOT***
648need to upgrade, unless they want those locales.
649
650## 3.1.0
651
652This is a production release that adjusts one behavior, fixes eight bugs, and
653improves manpages for FreeBSD. Because this release fixes bugs, **users and
654package maintainers should update to this version as soon as possible**.
655
656The behavior that was adjusted was how code from the `-e` and `-f` arguments
657(and equivalents) were executed. They used to be executed as one big chunk, but
658in this release, they are now executed line-by-line.
659
660The first bug fix in how output to `stdout` was handled in `SIGINT`. If a
661`SIGINT` came in, the `stdout` buffer was not correctly flushed. In fact, a
662clean-up function was not getting called. This release fixes that bug.
663
664The second bug is in how `dc` handled input from `stdin`. This affected `bc` as
665well since it was a mishandling of the `stdin` buffer.
666
667The third fixed bug was that `bc` and `dc` could `abort()` (in debug mode) when
668receiving a `SIGTERM`. This one was a race condition with pushing and popping
669items onto and out of vectors.
670
671The fourth bug fixed was that `bc` could leave extra items on the stack and
672thus, not properly clean up some memory. (The memory would still get
673`free()`'ed, but it would not be `free()`'ed when it could have been.)
674
675The next two bugs were bugs in `bc`'s parser that caused crashes when executing
676the resulting code.
677
678The last two bugs were crashes in `dc` that resulted from mishandling of
679strings.
680
681The manpage improvement was done by switching from [ronn][20] to [Pandoc][21] to
682generate manpages. Pandoc generates much cleaner manpages and doesn't leave
683blank lines where they shouldn't be.
684
685## 3.0.3
686
687This is a production release that adds one new feature: specific manpages.
688
689Before this release, `bc` and `dc` only used one manpage each that referred to
690various build options. This release changes it so there is one manpage set per
691relevant build type. Each manual only has information about its particular
692build, and `configure.sh` selects the correct set for install.
693
694## 3.0.2
695
696This is a production release that adds `utf8` locale symlinks and removes an
697unused `auto` variable from the `ceil()` function in the [extended math
698library][16].
699
700Users do ***NOT*** need to update unless they want the locales.
701
702## 3.0.1
703
704This is a production release with two small changes. Users do ***NOT*** need to
705upgrade to this release; however, if they haven't upgraded to `3.0.0` yet, it
706may be worthwhile to upgrade to this release.
707
708The first change is fixing a compiler warning on FreeBSD with strict warnings
709on.
710
711The second change is to make the new implementation of `ceil()` in `lib2.bc`
712much more efficient.
713
714## 3.0.0
715
716*Notes for package maintainers:*
717
718*First, the `2.7.0` release series saw a change in the option parsing. This made
719me change one error message and add a few others. The error message that was
720changed removed one format specifier. This means that `printf()` will seqfault
721on old locale files. Unfortunately, `bc` cannot use any locale files except the
722global ones that are already installed, so it will use the previous ones while
723running tests during install. **If `bc` segfaults while running arg tests when
724updating, it is because the global locale files have not been replaced. Make
725sure to either prevent the test suite from running on update or remove the old
726locale files before updating.** (Removing the locale files can be done with
727`make uninstall` or by running the [`locale_uninstall.sh`][22] script.) Once
728this is done, `bc` should install without problems.*
729
730*Second, **the option to build without signal support has been removed**. See
731below for the reasons why.*
732
733This is a production release with some small bug fixes, a few improvements,
734three major bug fixes, and a complete redesign of `bc`'s error and signal
735handling. **Users and package maintainers should update to this version as soon
736as possible.**
737
738The first major bug fix was in how `bc` executed files. Previously, a whole file
739was parsed before it was executed, but if a function is defined *after* code,
740especially if the function definition was actually a redefinition, and the code
741before the definition referred to the previous function, this `bc` would replace
742the function before executing any code. The fix was to make sure that all code
743that existed before a function definition was executed.
744
745The second major bug fix was in `bc`'s `lib2.bc`. The `ceil()` function had a
746bug where a `0` in the decimal place after the truncation position, caused it to
747output the wrong numbers if there was any non-zero digit after.
748
749The third major bug is that when passing parameters to functions, if an
750expression included an array (not an array element) as a parameter, it was
751accepted, when it should have been rejected. It is now correctly rejected.
752
753Beyond that, this `bc` got several improvements that both sped it up, improved
754the handling of signals, and improved the error handling.
755
756First, the requirements for `bc` were pushed back to POSIX 2008. `bc` uses one
757function, `strdup()`, which is not in POSIX 2001, and it is in the X/Open System
758Interfaces group 2001. It is, however, in POSIX 2008, and since POSIX 2008 is
759old enough to be supported anywhere that I care, that should be the requirement.
760
761Second, the BcVm global variable was put into `bss`. This actually slightly
762reduces the size of the executable from a massive code shrink, and it will stop
763`bc` from allocating a large set of memory when `bc` starts.
764
765Third, the default Karatsuba length was updated from 64 to 32 after making the
766optimization changes below, since 32 is going to be better than 64 after the
767changes.
768
769Fourth, Spanish translations were added.
770
771Fifth, the interpreter received a speedup to make performance on non-math-heavy
772scripts more competitive with GNU `bc`. While improvements did, in fact, get it
773much closer (see the [benchmarks][19]), it isn't quite there.
774
775There were several things done to speed up the interpreter:
776
777First, several small inefficiencies were removed. These inefficiencies included
778calling the function `bc_vec_pop(v)` twice instead of calling
779`bc_vec_npop(v, 2)`. They also included an extra function call for checking the
780size of the stack and checking the size of the stack more than once on several
781operations.
782
783Second, since the current `bc` function is the one that stores constants and
784strings, the program caches pointers to the current function's vectors of
785constants and strings to prevent needing to grab the current function in order
786to grab a constant or a string.
787
788Third, `bc` tries to reuse `BcNum`'s (the internal representation of
789arbitary-precision numbers). If a `BcNum` has the default capacity of
790`BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` (32 on 64-bit and 16 on 32-bit) when it is freed, it is added
791to a list of available `BcNum`'s. And then, when a `BcNum` is allocated with a
792capacity of `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` and any `BcNum`'s exist on the list of reusable
793ones, one of those ones is grabbed instead.
794
795In order to support these changes, the `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` was changed. It used to
796be 16 bytes on all systems, but it was changed to more closely align with the
797minimum allocation size on Linux, which is either 32 bytes (64-bit musl), 24
798bytes (64-bit glibc), 16 bytes (32-bit musl), or 12 bytes (32-bit glibc). Since
799these are the minimum allocation sizes, these are the sizes that would be
800allocated anyway, making it worth it to just use the whole space, so the value
801of `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` on 64-bit systems was changed to 32 bytes.
802
803On top of that, at least on 64-bit, `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` supports numbers with
804either 72 integer digits or 45 integer digits and 27 fractional digits. This
805should be more than enough for most cases since `bc`'s default `scale` values
806are 0 or 20, meaning that, by default, it has at most 20 fractional digits. And
80745 integer digits are *a lot*; it's enough to calculate the amount of mass in
808the Milky Way galaxy in kilograms. Also, 72 digits is enough to calculate the
809diameter of the universe in Planck lengths.
810
811(For 32-bit, these numbers are either 32 integer digits or 12 integer digits and
81220 fractional digits. These are also quite big, and going much bigger on a
81332-bit system seems a little pointless since 12 digits is just under a trillion
814and 20 fractional digits is still enough for about any use since `10^-20` light
815years is just under a millimeter.)
816
817All of this together means that for ordinary uses, and even uses in scientific
818work, the default number size will be all that is needed, which means that
819nearly all, if not all, numbers will be reused, relieving pressure on the system
820allocator.
821
822I did several experiments to find the changes that had the most impact,
823especially with regard to reusing `BcNum`'s. One was putting `BcNum`'s into
824buckets according to their capacity in powers of 2 up to 512. That performed
825worse than `bc` did in `2.7.2`. Another was putting any `BcNum` on the reuse
826list that had a capacity of `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE * 2` and reusing them for `BcNum`'s
827that requested `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE`. This did reduce the amount of time spent, but
828it also spent a lot of time in the system allocator for an unknown reason. (When
829using `strace`, a bunch more `brk` calls showed up.) Just reusing `BcNum`'s that
830had exactly `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` capacity spent the smallest amount of time in both
831user and system time. This makes sense, especially with the changes to make
832`BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE` bigger on 64-bit systems, since the vast majority of numbers
833will only ever use numbers with a size less than or equal to `BC_NUM_DEF_SIZE`.
834
835Last of all, `bc`'s signal handling underwent a complete redesign. (This is the
836reason that this version is `3.0.0` and not `2.8.0`.) The change was to move
837from a polling approach to signal handling to an interrupt-based approach.
838
839Previously, every single loop condition had a check for signals. I suspect that
840this could be expensive when in tight loops.
841
842Now, the signal handler just uses `longjmp()` (actually `siglongjmp()`) to start
843an unwinding of the stack until it is stopped or the stack is unwound to
844`main()`, which just returns. If `bc` is currently executing code that cannot be
845safely interrupted (according to POSIX), then signals are "locked." The signal
846handler checks if the lock is taken, and if it is, it just sets the status to
847indicate that a signal arrived. Later, when the signal lock is released, the
848status is checked to see if a signal came in. If so, the stack unwinding starts.
849
850This design eliminates polling in favor of maintaining a stack of `jmp_buf`'s.
851This has its own performance implications, but it gives better interaction. And
852the cost of pushing and popping a `jmp_buf` in a function is paid at most twice.
853Most functions do not pay that price, and most of the rest only pay it once.
854(There are only some 3 functions in `bc` that push and pop a `jmp_buf` twice.)
855
856As a side effect of this change, I had to eliminate the use of `stdio.h` in `bc`
857because `stdio` does not play nice with signals and `longjmp()`. I implemented
858custom I/O buffer code that takes a fraction of the size. This means that static
859builds will be smaller, but non-static builds will be bigger, though they will
860have less linking time.
861
862This change is also good because my history implementation was already bypassing
863`stdio` for good reasons, and unifying the architecture was a win.
864
865Another reason for this change is that my `bc` should *always* behave correctly
866in the presence of signals like `SIGINT`, `SIGTERM`, and `SIGQUIT`. With the
867addition of my own I/O buffering, I needed to also make sure that the buffers
868were correctly flushed even when such signals happened.
869
870For this reason, I **removed the option to build without signal support**.
871
872As a nice side effect of this change, the error handling code could be changed
873to take advantage of the stack unwinding that signals used. This means that
874signals and error handling use the same code paths, which means that the stack
875unwinding is well-tested. (Errors are tested heavily in the test suite.)
876
877It also means that functions do not need to return a status code that
878***every*** caller needs to check. This eliminated over 100 branches that simply
879checked return codes and then passed that return code up the stack if necessary.
880The code bloat savings from this is at least 1700 bytes on `x86_64`, *before*
881taking into account the extra code from removing `stdio.h`.
882
883## 2.7.2
884
885This is a production release with one major bug fix.
886
887The `length()` built-in function can take either a number or an array. If it
888takes an array, it returns the length of the array. Arrays can be passed by
889reference. The bug is that the `length()` function would not properly
890dereference arrays that were references. This is a bug that affects all users.
891
892**ALL USERS SHOULD UPDATE `bc`**.
893
894## 2.7.1
895
896This is a production release with fixes for new locales and fixes for compiler
897warnings on FreeBSD.
898
899## 2.7.0
900
901This is a production release with a bug fix for Linux, new translations, and new
902features.
903
904Bug fixes:
905
906* Option parsing in `BC_ENV_ARGS` was broken on Linux in 2.6.1 because `glibc`'s
907  `getopt_long()` is broken. To get around that, and to support long options on
908  every platform, an adapted version of [`optparse`][17] was added. Now, `bc`
909  does not even use `getopt()`.
910* Parsing `BC_ENV_ARGS` with quotes now works. It isn't the smartest, but it
911  does the job if there are spaces in file names.
912
913The following new languages are supported:
914
915* Dutch
916* Polish
917* Russian
918* Japanes
919* Simplified Chinese
920
921All of these translations were generated using [DeepL][18], so improvements are
922welcome.
923
924There is only one new feature: **`bc` now has a built-in pseudo-random number
925generator** (PRNG).
926
927The PRNG is seeded, making it useful for applications where
928`/dev/urandom` does not work because output needs to be reproducible. However,
929it also uses `/dev/urandom` to seed itself by default, so it will start with a
930good seed by default.
931
932It also outputs 32 bits on 32-bit platforms and 64 bits on 64-bit platforms, far
933better than the 15 bits of C's `rand()` and `bash`'s `$RANDOM`.
934
935In addition, the PRNG can take a bound, and when it gets a bound, it
936automatically adjusts to remove bias. It can also generate numbers of arbitrary
937size. (As of the time of release, the largest pseudo-random number generated by
938this `bc` was generated with a bound of `2^(2^20)`.)
939
940***IMPORTANT: read the [`bc` manual][9] and the [`dc` manual][10] to find out
941exactly what guarantees the PRNG provides. The underlying implementation is not
942guaranteed to stay the same, but the guarantees that it provides are guaranteed
943to stay the same regardless of the implementation.***
944
945On top of that, four functions were added to `bc`'s [extended math library][16]
946to make using the PRNG easier:
947
948* `frand(p)`: Generates a number between `[0,1)` to `p` decimal places.
949* `ifrand(i, p)`: Generates an integer with bound `i` and adds it to `frand(p)`.
950* `srand(x)`: Randomizes the sign of `x`. In other words, it flips the sign of
951  `x` with probability `0.5`.
952* `brand()`: Returns a random boolean value (either `0` or `1`).
953
954## 2.6.1
955
956This is a production release with a bug fix for FreeBSD.
957
958The bug was that when `bc` was built without long options, it would give a fatal
959error on every run. This was caused by a mishandling of `optind`.
960
961## 2.6.0
962
963This release is a production release ***with no bugfixes***. If you do not want
964to upgrade, you don't have to.
965
966No source code changed; the only thing that changed was `lib2.bc`.
967
968This release adds one function to the [extended math library][16]: `p(x, y)`,
969which calculates `x` to the power of `y`, whether or not `y` is an integer. (The
970`^` operator can only accept integer powers.)
971
972This release also includes a couple of small tweaks to the [extended math
973library][16], mostly to fix returning numbers with too high of `scale`.
974
975## 2.5.3
976
977This release is a production release which addresses inconsistencies in the
978Portuguese locales. No `bc` code was changed.
979
980The issues were that the ISO files used different naming, and also that the
981files that should have been symlinks were not. I did not catch that because
982GitHub rendered them the exact same way.
983
984## 2.5.2
985
986This release is a production release.
987
988No code was changed, but the build system was changed to allow `CFLAGS` to be
989given to `CC`, like this:
990
991```
992CC="gcc -O3 -march=native" ./configure.sh
993```
994
995If this happens, the flags are automatically put into `CFLAGS`, and the compiler
996is set appropriately. In the example above this means that `CC` will be "gcc"
997and `CFLAGS` will be "-O3 -march=native".
998
999This behavior was added to conform to GNU autotools practices.
1000
1001## 2.5.1
1002
1003This is a production release which addresses portability concerns discovered
1004in the `bc` build system. No `bc` code was changed.
1005
1006* Support for Solaris SPARC and AIX were added.
1007* Minor documentations edits were performed.
1008* An option for `configure.sh` was added to disable long options if
1009  `getopt_long()` is missing.
1010
1011## 2.5.0
1012
1013This is a production release with new translations. No code changed.
1014
1015The translations were contributed by [bugcrazy][15], and they are for
1016Portuguese, both Portugal and Brazil locales.
1017
1018## 2.4.0
1019
1020This is a production release primarily aimed at improving `dc`.
1021
1022* A couple of copy and paste errors in the [`dc` manual][10] were fixed.
1023* `dc` startup was optimized by making sure it didn't have to set up `bc`-only
1024  things.
1025* The `bc` `&&` and `||` operators were made available to `dc` through the `M`
1026  and `m` commands, respectively.
1027* `dc` macros were changed to be tail call-optimized.
1028
1029The last item, tail call optimization, means that if the last thing in a macro
1030is a call to another macro, then the old macro is popped before executing the
1031new macro. This change was made to stop `dc` from consuming more and more memory
1032as macros are executed in a loop.
1033
1034The `q` and `Q` commands still respect the "hidden" macros by way of recording
1035how many macros were removed by tail call optimization.
1036
1037## 2.3.2
1038
1039This is a production release meant to fix warnings in the Gentoo `ebuild` by
1040making it possible to disable binary stripping. Other users do *not* need to
1041upgrade.
1042
1043## 2.3.1
1044
1045This is a production release. It fixes a bug that caused `-1000000000 < -1` to
1046return `0`. This only happened with negative numbers and only if the value on
1047the left was more negative by a certain amount. That said, this bug *is* a bad
1048bug, and needs to be fixed.
1049
1050**ALL USERS SHOULD UPDATE `bc`**.
1051
1052## 2.3.0
1053
1054This is a production release with changes to the build system.
1055
1056## 2.2.0
1057
1058This release is a production release. It only has new features and performance
1059improvements.
1060
10611.	The performance of `sqrt(x)` was improved.
10622.	The new function `root(x, n)` was added to the extended math library to
1063	calculate `n`th roots.
10643.	The new function `cbrt(x)` was added to the extended math library to
1065	calculate cube roots.
1066
1067## 2.1.3
1068
1069This is a non-critical release; it just changes the build system, and in
1070non-breaking ways:
1071
10721.	Linked locale files were changed to link to their sources with a relative
1073	link.
10742.	A bug in `configure.sh` that caused long option parsing to fail under `bash`
1075	was fixed.
1076
1077## 2.1.2
1078
1079This release is not a critical release.
1080
10811.	A few codes were added to history.
10822.	Multiplication was optimized a bit more.
10833.	Addition and subtraction were both optimized a bit more.
1084
1085## 2.1.1
1086
1087This release contains a fix for the test suite made for Linux from Scratch: now
1088the test suite prints `pass` when a test is passed.
1089
1090Other than that, there is no change in this release, so distros and other users
1091do not need to upgrade.
1092
1093## 2.1.0
1094
1095This release is a production release.
1096
1097The following bugs were fixed:
1098
10991.	A `dc` bug that caused stack mishandling was fixed.
11002.	A warning on OpenBSD was fixed.
11013.	Bugs in `ctrl+arrow` operations in history were fixed.
11024.	The ability to paste multiple lines in history was added.
11035.	A `bc` bug, mishandling of array arguments to functions, was fixed.
11046.	A crash caused by freeing the wrong pointer was fixed.
11057.	A `dc` bug where strings, in a rare case, were mishandled in parsing was
1106	fixed.
1107
1108In addition, the following changes were made:
1109
11101.	Division was slightly optimized.
11112.	An option was added to the build to disable printing of prompts.
11123.	The special case of empty arguments is now handled. This is to prevent
1113	errors in scripts that end up passing empty arguments.
11144.	A harmless bug was fixed. This bug was that, with the pop instructions
1115	(mostly) removed (see below), `bc` would leave extra values on its stack for
1116	`void` functions and in a few other cases. These extra items would not
1117	affect anything put on the stack and would not cause any sort of crash or
1118	even buggy behavior, but they would cause `bc` to take more memory than it
1119	needed.
1120
1121On top of the above changes, the following optimizations were added:
1122
11231.	The need for pop instructions in `bc` was removed.
11242.	Extra tests on every iteration of the interpreter loop were removed.
11253.	Updating function and code pointers on every iteration of the interpreter
1126	loop was changed to only updating them when necessary.
11274.	Extra assignments to pointers were removed.
1128
1129Altogether, these changes sped up the interpreter by around 2x.
1130
1131***NOTE***: This is the last release with new features because this `bc` is now
1132considered complete. From now on, only bug fixes and new translations will be
1133added to this `bc`.
1134
1135## 2.0.3
1136
1137This is a production, bug-fix release.
1138
1139Two bugs were fixed in this release:
1140
11411.	A rare and subtle signal handling bug was fixed.
11422.	A misbehavior on `0` to a negative power was fixed.
1143
1144The last bug bears some mentioning.
1145
1146When I originally wrote power, I did not thoroughly check its error cases;
1147instead, I had it check if the first number was `0` and then if so, just return
1148`0`. However, `0` to a negative power means that `1` will be divided by `0`,
1149which is an error.
1150
1151I caught this, but only after I stopped being cocky. You see, sometime later, I
1152had noticed that GNU `bc` returned an error, correctly, but I thought it was
1153wrong simply because that's not what my `bc` did. I saw it again later and had a
1154double take. I checked for real, finally, and found out that my `bc` was wrong
1155all along.
1156
1157That was bad on me. But the bug was easy to fix, so it is fixed now.
1158
1159There are two other things in this release:
1160
11611.	Subtraction was optimized by [Stefan Eßer][14].
11622.	Division was also optimized, also by Stefan Eßer.
1163
1164## 2.0.2
1165
1166This release contains a fix for a possible overflow in the signal handling. I
1167would be surprised if any users ran into it because it would only happen after 2
1168billion (`2^31-1`) `SIGINT`'s, but I saw it and had to fix it.
1169
1170## 2.0.1
1171
1172This release contains very few things that will apply to any users.
1173
11741.	A slight bug in `dc`'s interactive mode was fixed.
11752.	A bug in the test suite that was only triggered on NetBSD was fixed.
11763.	**The `-P`/`--no-prompt` option** was added for users that do not want a
1177	prompt.
11784.	A `make check` target was added as an alias for `make test`.
11795.	`dc` got its own read prompt: `?> `.
1180
1181## 2.0.0
1182
1183This release is a production release.
1184
1185This release is also a little different from previous releases. From here on
1186out, I do not plan on adding any more features to this `bc`; I believe that it
1187is complete. However, there may be bug fix releases in the future, if I or any
1188others manage to find bugs.
1189
1190This release has only a few new features:
1191
11921.	`atan2(y, x)` was added to the extended math library as both `a2(y, x)` and
1193	`atan2(y, x)`.
11942.	Locales were fixed.
11953.	A **POSIX shell-compatible script was added as an alternative to compiling
1196	`gen/strgen.c`** on a host machine. More details about making the choice
1197	between the two can be found by running `./configure.sh --help` or reading
1198	the [build manual][13].
11994.	Multiplication was optimized by using **diagonal multiplication**, rather
1200	than straight brute force.
12015.	The `locale_install.sh` script was fixed.
12026.	`dc` was given the ability to **use the environment variable
1203	`DC_ENV_ARGS`**.
12047.	`dc` was also given the ability to **use the `-i` or `--interactive`**
1205	options.
12068.	Printing the prompt was fixed so that it did not print when it shouldn't.
12079.	Signal handling was fixed.
120810.	**Handling of `SIGTERM` and `SIGQUIT`** was fixed.
120911.	The **built-in functions `maxibase()`, `maxobase()`, and `maxscale()`** (the
1210	commands `T`, `U`, `V` in `dc`, respectively) were added to allow scripts to
1211	query for the max allowable values of those globals.
121212.	Some incompatibilities with POSIX were fixed.
1213
1214In addition, this release is `2.0.0` for a big reason: the internal format for
1215numbers changed. They used to be a `char` array. Now, they are an array of
1216larger integers, packing more decimal digits into each integer. This has
1217delivered ***HUGE*** performance improvements, especially for multiplication,
1218division, and power.
1219
1220This `bc` should now be the fastest `bc` available, but I may be wrong.
1221
1222## 1.2.8
1223
1224This release contains a fix for a harmless bug (it is harmless in that it still
1225works, but it just copies extra data) in the [`locale_install.sh`][12] script.
1226
1227## 1.2.7
1228
1229This version contains fixes for the build on Arch Linux.
1230
1231## 1.2.6
1232
1233This release removes the use of `local` in shell scripts because it's not POSIX
1234shell-compatible, and also updates a man page that should have been updated a
1235long time ago but was missed.
1236
1237## 1.2.5
1238
1239This release contains some missing locale `*.msg` files.
1240
1241## 1.2.4
1242
1243This release contains a few bug fixes and new French translations.
1244
1245## 1.2.3
1246
1247This release contains a fix for a bug: use of uninitialized data. Such data was
1248only used when outputting an error message, but I am striving for perfection. As
1249Michelangelo said, "Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle."
1250
1251## 1.2.2
1252
1253This release contains fixes for OpenBSD.
1254
1255## 1.2.1
1256
1257This release contains bug fixes for some rare bugs.
1258
1259## 1.2.0
1260
1261This is a production release.
1262
1263There have been several changes since `1.1.0`:
1264
12651.	The build system had some changes.
12662.	Locale support has been added. (Patches welcome for translations.)
12673.	**The ability to turn `ibase`, `obase`, and `scale` into stacks** was added
1268	with the `-g` command-line option. (See the [`bc` manual][9] for more
1269	details.)
12704.	Support for compiling on Mac OSX out of the box was added.
12715.	The extended math library got `t(x)`, `ceil(x)`, and some aliases.
12726.	The extended math library also got `r2d(x)` (for converting from radians to
1273	degrees) and `d2r(x)` (for converting from degrees to radians). This is to
1274	allow using degrees with the standard library.
12757.	Both calculators now accept numbers in **scientific notation**. See the
1276	[`bc` manual][9] and the [`dc` manual][10] for details.
12778.	Both calculators can **output in either scientific or engineering
1278	notation**. See the [`bc` manual][9] and the [`dc` manual][10] for details.
12799.	Some inefficiencies were removed.
128010.	Some bugs were fixed.
128111.	Some bugs in the extended library were fixed.
128212.	Some defects from [Coverity Scan][11] were fixed.
1283
1284## 1.1.4
1285
1286This release contains a fix to the build system that allows it to build on older
1287versions of `glibc`.
1288
1289## 1.1.3
1290
1291This release contains a fix for a bug in the test suite where `bc` tests and
1292`dc` tests could not be run in parallel.
1293
1294## 1.1.2
1295
1296This release has a fix for a history bug; the down arrow did not work.
1297
1298## 1.1.1
1299
1300This release fixes a bug in the `1.1.0` build system. The source is exactly the
1301same.
1302
1303The bug that was fixed was a failure to install if no `EXECSUFFIX` was used.
1304
1305## 1.1.0
1306
1307This is a production release. However, many new features were added since `1.0`.
1308
13091.	**The build system has been changed** to use a custom, POSIX
1310	shell-compatible configure script ([`configure.sh`][6]) to generate a POSIX
1311	make-compatible `Makefile`, which means that `bc` and `dc` now build out of
1312	the box on any POSIX-compatible system.
13132.	Out-of-memory and output errors now cause the `bc` to report the error,
1314	clean up, and die, rather than just reporting and trying to continue.
13153.	**Strings and constants are now garbage collected** when possible.
13164.	Signal handling and checking has been made more simple and more thorough.
13175.	`BcGlobals` was refactored into `BcVm` and `BcVm` was made global. Some
1318	procedure names were changed to reflect its difference to everything else.
13196.	Addition got a speed improvement.
13207.	Some common code for addition and multiplication was refactored into its own
1321	procedure.
13228.	A bug was removed where `dc` could have been selected, but the internal
1323	`#define` that returned `true` for a query about `dc` would not have
1324	returned `true`.
13259.	Useless calls to `bc_num_zero()` were removed.
132610.	**History support was added.** The history support is based off of a
1327	[UTF-8 aware fork][7] of [`linenoise`][8], which has been customized with
1328	`bc`'s own data structures and signal handling.
132911.	Generating C source from the math library now removes tabs from the library,
1330	shrinking the size of the executable.
133112.	The math library was shrunk.
133213.	Error handling and reporting was improved.
133314.	Reallocations were reduced by giving access to the request size for each
1334	operation.
133515.	**`abs()` (`b` command for `dc`) was added as a builtin.**
133616.	Both calculators were tested on FreeBSD.
133717.	Many obscure parse bugs were fixed.
133818.	Markdown and man page manuals were added, and the man pages are installed by
1339	`make install`.
134019.	Executable size was reduced, though the added features probably made the
1341	executable end up bigger.
134220.	**GNU-style array references were added as a supported feature.**
134321.	Allocations were reduced.
134422.	**New operators were added**: `$` (`$` for `dc`), `@` (`@` for `dc`), `@=`,
1345	`<<` (`H` for `dc`), `<<=`, `>>` (`h` for `dc`), and `>>=`. See the
1346	[`bc` manual][9] and the [`dc` manual][10] for more details.
134723.	**An extended math library was added.** This library contains code that
1348	makes it so I can replace my desktop calculator with this `bc`. See the
1349	[`bc` manual][3] for more details.
135024.	Support for all capital letters as numbers was added.
135125.	**Support for GNU-style void functions was added.**
135226.	A bug fix for improper handling of function parameters was added.
135327.	Precedence for the or (`||`) operator was changed to match GNU `bc`.
135428.	`dc` was given an explicit negation command.
135529.	`dc` was changed to be able to handle strings in arrays.
1356
1357## 1.1 Release Candidate 3
1358
1359This release is the eighth release candidate for 1.1, though it is the third
1360release candidate meant as a general release candidate. The new code has not
1361been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1362
1363## 1.1 Release Candidate 2
1364
1365This release is the seventh release candidate for 1.1, though it is the second
1366release candidate meant as a general release candidate. The new code has not
1367been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1368
1369## 1.1 FreeBSD Beta 5
1370
1371This release is the sixth release candidate for 1.1, though it is the fifth
1372release candidate meant specifically to test if `bc` works on FreeBSD. The new
1373code has not been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1374
1375## 1.1 FreeBSD Beta 4
1376
1377This release is the fifth release candidate for 1.1, though it is the fourth
1378release candidate meant specifically to test if `bc` works on FreeBSD. The new
1379code has not been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1380
1381## 1.1 FreeBSD Beta 3
1382
1383This release is the fourth release candidate for 1.1, though it is the third
1384release candidate meant specifically to test if `bc` works on FreeBSD. The new
1385code has not been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1386
1387## 1.1 FreeBSD Beta 2
1388
1389This release is the third release candidate for 1.1, though it is the second
1390release candidate meant specifically to test if `bc` works on FreeBSD. The new
1391code has not been tested as thoroughly as it should for release.
1392
1393## 1.1 FreeBSD Beta 1
1394
1395This release is the second release candidate for 1.1, though it is meant
1396specifically to test if `bc` works on FreeBSD. The new code has not been tested as
1397thoroughly as it should for release.
1398
1399## 1.1 Release Candidate 1
1400
1401This is the first release candidate for 1.1. The new code has not been tested as
1402thoroughly as it should for release.
1403
1404## 1.0
1405
1406This is the first non-beta release. `bc` is ready for production use.
1407
1408As such, a lot has changed since 0.5.
1409
14101.	`dc` has been added. It has been tested even more thoroughly than `bc` was
1411	for `0.5`. It does not have the `!` command, and for security reasons, it
1412	never will, so it is complete.
14132.	`bc` has been more thoroughly tested. An entire section of the test suite
1414	(for both programs) has been added to test for errors.
14153.	A prompt (`>>> `) has been added for interactive mode, making it easier to
1416	see inputs and outputs.
14174.	Interrupt handling has been improved, including elimination of race
1418	conditions (as much as possible).
14195.	MinGW and [Windows Subsystem for Linux][1] support has been added (see
1420	[xstatic][2] for binaries).
14216.	Memory leaks and errors have been eliminated (as far as ASan and Valgrind
1422	can tell).
14237.	Crashes have been eliminated (as far as [afl][3] can tell).
14248.	Karatsuba multiplication was added (and thoroughly) tested, speeding up
1425	multiplication and power by orders of magnitude.
14269.	Performance was further enhanced by using a "divmod" function to reduce
1427	redundant divisions and by removing superfluous `memset()` calls.
142810.	To switch between Karatsuba and `O(n^2)` multiplication, the config variable
1429	`BC_NUM_KARATSUBA_LEN` was added. It is set to a sane default, but the
1430	optimal number can be found with [`karatsuba.py`][4] (requires Python 3)
1431	and then configured through `make`.
143211.	The random math test generator script was changed to Python 3 and improved.
1433	`bc` and `dc` have together been run through 30+ million random tests.
143412.	All known math bugs have been fixed, including out of control memory
1435	allocations in `sine` and `cosine` (that was actually a parse bug), certain
1436	cases of infinite loop on square root, and slight inaccuracies (as much as
1437	possible; see the [README][5]) in transcendental functions.
143813.	Parsing has been fixed as much as possible.
143914.	Test coverage was improved to 94.8%. The only paths not covered are ones
1440	that happen when `malloc()` or `realloc()` fails.
144115.	An extension to get the length of an array was added.
144216.	The boolean not (`!`) had its precedence change to match negation.
144317.	Data input was hardened.
144418.	`bc` was made fully compliant with POSIX when the `-s` flag is used or
1445	`POSIXLY_CORRECT` is defined.
144619.	Error handling was improved.
144720.	`bc` now checks that files it is given are not directories.
1448
1449## 1.0 Release Candidate 7
1450
1451This is the seventh release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0
1452Release Candidate 6.
1453
1454## 1.0 Release Candidate 6
1455
1456This is the sixth release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0 Release
1457Candidate 5.
1458
1459## 1.0 Release Candidate 5
1460
1461This is the fifth release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0 Release
1462Candidate 4.
1463
1464## 1.0 Release Candidate 4
1465
1466This is the fourth release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0 Release
1467Candidate 3.
1468
1469## 1.0 Release Candidate 3
1470
1471This is the third release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0 Release
1472Candidate 2.
1473
1474## 1.0 Release Candidate 2
1475
1476This is the second release candidate for 1.0. It fixes a few bugs in 1.0 Release
1477Candidate 1.
1478
1479## 1.0 Release Candidate 1
1480
1481This is the first Release Candidate for 1.0. `bc` is complete, with `dc`, but it
1482is not tested.
1483
1484## 0.5
1485
1486This beta release completes more features, but it is still not complete nor
1487tested as thoroughly as necessary.
1488
1489## 0.4.1
1490
1491This beta release fixes a few bugs in 0.4.
1492
1493## 0.4
1494
1495This is a beta release. It does not have the complete set of features, and it is
1496not thoroughly tested.
1497
1498[1]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
1499[2]: https://pkg.musl.cc/bc/
1500[3]: http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/afl/
1501[4]: ./scripts/karatsuba.py
1502[5]: ./README.md
1503[6]: ./configure.sh
1504[7]: https://github.com/rain-1/linenoise-mob
1505[8]: https://github.com/antirez/linenoise
1506[9]: ./manuals/bc/A.1.md
1507[10]: ./manuals/dc/A.1.md
1508[11]: https://scan.coverity.com/projects/gavinhoward-bc
1509[12]: ./scripts/locale_install.sh
1510[13]: ./manuals/build.md
1511[14]: https://github.com/stesser
1512[15]: https://github.com/bugcrazy
1513[16]: ./manuals/bc/A.1.md#extended-library
1514[17]: https://github.com/skeeto/optparse
1515[18]: https://www.deepl.com/translator
1516[19]: ./manuals/benchmarks.md
1517[20]: https://github.com/apjanke/ronn-ng
1518[21]: https://pandoc.org/
1519[22]: ./scripts/locale_uninstall.sh
1520