I have modified parserTests to take a "known to fail" switch so those tests that have always failed now pass. It was pretty simple. It only required 3 changes to parserTests.inc and some editing on parserTests.txt. I added an option for each test called flipresult. When this option is specified, the test succeeds when it fails and vice versa.
I have tested the modified parserTest on 1.16a running over a 1.14 schema database. However, I have run into a problem attempting to install the latest trunk revision so I can test against it. Specifically, I added a database called wikitestdb so I would have a production and test wiki. However, when I checked out the latest trunk revision, ran the install script and update.php, and then accessed http://<wiki path>/index.php the installation gets into a infinite redirect loop. When I attempted to debug this (using netbeans 6.7 and Xdebug) the redirect doesn't appear. That is, Main_Page is rendered and displayed. The only difference between the two URLs are the first uses http://<wiki path>/index.php (which redirects to http://<wiki path>/index.php/Main_Page), while the debug session specifies http://localhost/MediawikiTest/Latest%20Trunk%20Version/phase3/index.php?XDE....
I need some help figuring out what is happening. I imagine using this list for that purpose would be inappropriate. So, if someone would volunteer to help me (email me at the from address in this email), I can get the parserTest changes tested against the newest revision. I can then open a bug (or use an already open bug) and attach the patch and edited parserTests.txt file to it.