[Python-ideas] PEP 426, YAML in the stdlib and implementation discovery

[Vinay Sajip]

Philipp A. <flying-sheep at ...> writes:

> PyYAML might not implement YAML 1.2 fully on paper, but the most useful
> part of 1.2 (parsing arbitrary JSON) works flawlessly.

Does it? What about this issue?

https://bitbucket.org/xi/pyyaml/issue/11/valid-json-not-being-loaded

I also note that on the Trac issue tracker on PyYAML.org, there are 65 open
issues of type "defect" relating to PyYAML, and 15 such relating to libyaml.
I hope Kirill Simonov can indicate what the status of these issues is - they
don't appear to have been moved over to the project's new home on BitBucket.
Are they valid issues? Some of them appear to have been around for ~18
months. Some which relate to basic functionality (not odd corner cases)
don't even have a response, so it's hard to assess whether or not they are
valid and/or have been addressed.

I do think there is a place for YAML support in the stdlib, but I'm
concerned by the number of open issues relating to the PyYAML
implementation, what functionality they relate to, how long they've been
open for and the lack of clarity regarding their validity/status. PyYAML may
be the most mature YAML implementation in Python, but surely that does not
trump basic quality concerns? I hope Kirill Simonov can weigh in on this.

Regards,

Vinay Sajip