Credit for these changes goes to Andrew Plotkin and Henrik Åsman.
Inform 6.43 was released on 6th August 2025.
Features added
A new dictionary word flag has been introduced, “singular”, which is set for any noun that is not a plural. This can be explicitly set or not set in a dictionary word with the '//s' syntax, i.e. 'word//s' to set it, or 'word//~s' to not set it.
A new setting $DICT_TRUNCATE_FLAG has been added. If this is set to 1, then bit 6 of the dictionary word flag is set for any word whose source code definition is truncated to fit in the dictionary. In --trace dict listings, this is shown as “tr” when the flag is set. Without this option, bit 6 of the dictionary word flag is set for all verbs (which is the old behavior, redundant with bit 0). If the compiler truncates only the //p flag (as in $LONG_DICT_FLAG_BUG), that does not count as truncating the dictionary word: the only relevant test is whether or not characters were dropped.
A new setting $GRAMMAR_VERSION has been added. Setting this has the same effect as the existing Grammar__Version constant, but provides a more standard way to set the grammar table version number.
A new grammar version 3 can be enabled with the $GRAMMAR_VERSION setting (or the Grammar__Version constant). This is a variation on grammar version 2 with a more compact data structure, and is only available for Z-code. Note that using this grammar version will require library changes that are not currently in the Inform 6 library.
A new setting $GRAMMAR_META_FLAG has been added. If set to 1, there is a new way to declare meta actions. Previously, meta actions were defined by writing lines like
Verb meta 'score' * -> Score;
This associates the meta flag with the dictionary word “score”. This is not ideal as we could have verbs which are meta in some phrasings but not others. If $GRAMMAR_META_FLAG is set the old syntax is still supported, but there is also a new syntax:
In this new approach, actions are sorted, with meta actions coming first. Game or library code can detect a meta action by comparing the action number with the new system constant #highest_meta_action_number, which is the highest meta action number after sorting all the actions.
It is now legal to have multiple Verb declarations for the same verb. This is now treated as if the subsequent declarations had been made with Extend, and a warning is produced to this effect.
The output of the --trace-verbs option now shows all verb synonyms, rather than just the first one.
It is now an error to declare two verbs that refer to the same dictionary word. Previously this was accepted, but generated an incorrect story file.
A new setting $ZCODE_COMPACT_GLOBALS has been added. If this is set to 1, then when compiling to Z-code, the compiler tracks how many global variables are used, and moves the start of arrays to immediately after that. If this is left as the default of 0, then the compiler always allocates 480 bytes in the story file’s dynamic memory for globals.
A new setting $ZCODE_FILE_END_PADDING has been added. By default it is set to 1, but if it is set to 0, then when outputting a Z-code game file Inform 6 will no longer pad the file to be a multiple of 512 bytes.
A warning is now issued if a dynamic string is used in another dynamic string or an abbreviation.
When compiling to Z-code version 3, the compiler now checks that the number of objects does not exceed the maximum possible, which is 255.
Various arithmetic opcodes are replaced with shorter versions:
@add x 0 -> x → (skip)
@add x 0 -> y → @store y x
@add x 1 -> x → @inc x
@sub x 0 -> x → (skip)
@sub x 0 -> y → @store y x
@sub x 1 -> x → @dec x
@mul x 1 -> x → (skip)
@mul x 1 -> y → @store y x
@div x 1 -> x → (skip)
@div x 1 -> y → @store y x
*The property operator previously generated code like the following:
@get_prop x p -> TEMP1
@store y TEMP1
This now skips the TEMP1 step and stores directly to the variable.
When performing Z-code branch optimizations, if there is a @jump to an @rtrue/@rfalse/@ret_popped, the @jump opcode is replaced with the return opcode, which shortens the jump by one byte. In some cases this leaves the original return opcode unreachable. Unfortunately the dead-code-strip phase has already finished by this point so it is not convenient to detect this and strip it out.
Bugs fixed
Dictionary flags were being set incorrectly when $DICT_WORD_SIZE was set sufficiently large.
In --trace asm output, when a Z-string has abbreviation marks, <ABBR> is printed, rather than Ctrl-A characters.
With the $OMIT_SYMBOL_TABLE option enabled, the <action> section was missing from the “gameinfo.dbg” file.
Dictionary words in UTF-8 encoded source files are now printed correctly in --trace dict and -r "gametext.txt" output.
The compiler is now consistent in how it handles the redeclaration of a global variable in Z-code and in Glulx: this is allowed, provided that all declarations have the same initial value.
Dead code elimination no longer produces warnings on while loops where the closing brace cannot be reached, such as
Compliments !
Later I’ll try to compile under Linux (albeit I prefer installing binaries from the combined I6/Puny Linux source pack from DavidG, I think that I can test if there’s no issue under Linux, stdLib and Puny (and the other alternative libraries, triform, metrocenter, mInform and platypus…) )
only a question, perhaps I’m wrong and/or misunderstanding, but the $GRAMMAR_META_FLAG new feature isn’t redundant with the multiple verb declaration ? If I have actually understand correctly, with the latter feature, the meta flag example can be written as:
And thank you so much! That improvement of the meta definition is something I really needed! The verb ‘help’ comes immediately to mind - it is natural for players to assume that it links to a meta hint/tutorial/manual section, but depending on your adventure, it could very well be a normal verb in the game world. Being able to define a meta and non-meta version finally allows to set meta correctly for all cases.
The new handling of the meta flag needs library support before it fully works. I havn’t tested but I guess that if it’s used together with a library that don’t support it, all of a verbs actions becomes non-meta (if the dictionary flag don’t get set) or all of a verbs actions becomes meta (if the dictionary flag is set).
You can do the switch, everything is backward compatible. But you can’t use the new GV3 and the meta-flag on individual actions until the library supports it, though.
According to @fredrik (who is busy adapting Puny to 6.43) will GRAMMAR_META_FLAG skip setting the meta-flag on the verbs in the dictionary, and if it is used with a library that don’t support it, no verbs will be meta, all actions will be non-meta.
In other words, please feel free to upgrade but don’t use GRAMMAR_META_FLAG until you have a library that supports it.
(Luckily Puny will be released shortly with support for both GV3 and meta-flag on actions.)
I hope you’re joking. That means any game that was written with the old grammar definitions will be broken if recompiled. By “broken”, I mean all the meta grammar definitions will need to be replaced in a manner yet to be determined, or everything done outside the game world (like SAVE, RESTORE, SCRIPT ON, SCRIPT OFF et al) will take one turn.
This is correct, if you go against Henrik’s advice and set GRAMMAR_META_FLAG for a game you compile with an old version of the library (e.g. PunyInform v5.14.1).
If you don’t set the flag, all works as before.
If you set the flag, or don’t set the flag, and use the new version of the library that’s coming out, all works as before.
I’m not sure about the standard library, but in PunyInform, you can declare a verb as meta in the action routine. For example, in answer to @Deathworks’s query, you can do a meta and non-meta version of HELP something like this:
Verb 'help'
* -> Help
* creature -> Help;
[ HelpSub;
if (noun == nothing)
{
meta = true;
"[Help text goes here]";
}
if (RunLife(noun, ##Help))
rtrue;
print_ret (The)noun, " doesn't need any help at the moment.";
];
Also note that changing the meta-flag in the action routine is a compromise.
Before-routines run before a non-meta action, but not before a meta-action. If you alter the flag in the action routine, that’s after the before-stage.
After reading the release notes a bit more carefully, I can see that this change is there to allow just this sort of situation (i.e. meta and non-meta) without needing to set meta in the action routine, so that’s probably a good thing.
compiles OK, out-of-zip, under Linux, and tested with -v3d2se and the appropriate +{library_path} gives these results with the various shell/skeletons (which is for which library should be evident, I hope):
Well, I am using the standard library, not punyinform, so I have to wait for that one to use the flag. But it is good to know I can already do the core switch.
Thanks for all the clarifications, everyone.
Yours,
Deathworks
(I think my current work-around is not to use meta for those dual cases. That is not too big an issue for me, with only minor inconsistencies. All good.)
According to @fredrik (who is busy adapting Puny to 6.43) will GRAMMAR_META_FLAG skip setting the meta-flag on the verbs in the dictionary
This is not correct. If you set GRAMMAR_META_FLAG when compiling an old game with an old library, the game will still work properly. Old-style Verb meta 'score' * -> Score declarations will behave properly. However, the new-style Verb 'load' * 'game' -> Restore meta declaration will not work, because the old library will not be looking for that feature.
TDLR: Only use the new-style declarations with a new library that supports them. It’s safe to use GRAMMAR_META_FLAG with using an old library, but it doesn’t buy you anything useful.
