[Wikitext-l] "When Is A New Parser Done?" ( was: Re: [Wikitech-l] Parser bugs and their priority)

[David Gerard]

On 9 July 2011 22:54, Jay Ashworth <jra at baylink.com> wrote:

> How good is good enough?
> How many pages is a replacement parser allowed to break, and still be
> certified?
> That is: what is the *real* spec for mediawikitext?  If we say "the formal
> grammar", then we are *guaranteed* to break some articles.  That's the
> "Right Answer", from up here at 40,000 feet, where I watch from (having
> the luxury of not being responsible in any way for any of this :-), but
> it will involve breaking some eggs.
> I bring this back up because, the last time we had this conversation, the
> answer was "nope; the new parser will have to be bug-for-bug compatible
> with the current one".  Or something pretty close to that.


I was thinking the answer was obvious:

Brion is about the only man in the world who can get away with
anything less than bug-for-bug compatibility, and have his answer
accepted. So it's just as well it's him doing it!

(Well, Tim could too. But Brion is an excellent answer.)


- d.