[Python-Dev] Should we move to replace re with regex?

[exarkun at twistedmatrix.com]

On 26 Aug, 09:45 pm, guido at python.org wrote:
>I just made a pass of all the Unicode-related bugs filed by Tom
>Christiansen, and found that in several, the response was "this is
>fixed in the regex module [by Matthew Barnett]". I started replying
>that I thought that we should fix the bugs in the re module (i.e.,
>really in _sre.c) but on second thought I wonder if maybe regex is
>mature enough to replace re in Python 3.3. It would mean that we won't
>fix any of these bugs in earlier Python versions, but I could live
>with that.
>
>However, I don't know much about regex -- how compatible is it, how
>fast is it (including extreme cases where the backtracking goes
>crazy), how bug-free is it, and so on. Plus, how much work would it be
>to actually incorporate it into CPython as a complete drop-in
>replacement of the re package (such that nobody needs to change their
>imports or the flags they pass to the re module).
>
>We'd also probably have to train some core developers to be familiar
>enough with the code to maintain and evolve it -- I assume we can't
>just volunteer Matthew to do so forever... :-)
>
>What's the alternative? Is adding the requested bug fixes and new
>features to _sre.c really that hard?

What about other Python implementations (ie, PEP 399)?  For this to be 
seriously considered, shouldn't there also be a pure Python 
implementation of the functionality?

Jean-Paul