On Thu, 2005-03-31 at 10:40 +0200, Magnus Manske wrote:
- We change our wiki syntax, however slightly. Besides everyone
using MediaWiki having to learn a new (altered) syntax, we'll have to change *every* page in our databases, including *all* old revisions. For that, we'll have to write a 100% perfect parser for the old syntax that can create 100% perfect new code. Good luck with that.
Yep, that's the only acceptable option. You are correct that it will be difficult, but that doesn't change the fact that we have to do it that way.
It should be obvious, though, that we /don't/ want a "perfect" parser for the current syntax--we want the existing parser just as it is now, warts and all, which is what the current text is written to. That parser will have to be modified to output the new syntax when we update, and that should be perfect (and /can/ be , because it will be well-defined at that point).