[Docutils-users] Option list not implemented according to documentation

[Pierre O. <os...@ce...>]

Unfortunately there is a bug/deviation in the docutils implementation of 
option lists compared to how they are described. This causes it to 
misparse some definition lists as option lists instead.

E.g. this:

	--something-that-looks-like-an-option
		But it really isn't! We just like dashes!

Will result in an option list in the parsed doctree. But according to 
the documentation an option list requires two or more spaces after the 
option. So this should really be a definition list.

A casual glance at the code suggests that it is this regexp that is 
incorrect:

           'option_marker': r'%(option)s(, %(option)s)*(  +| ?$)' % pats,

I don't think that last '| ?$' should be there.

This code has been around for at least 19 years, and it even has a test 
that explicitly looks for this behaviour. So I'm not sure what to do 
here. Either the code or the documentation needs to change. Normally I'd 
advocate to fix the code, but I'm not so sure if there are people 
relying on this after it being around for so long.

(not subscribed, so cc on replies would be appreciated)

Regards
-- 
Pierre Ossman           Software Development
Cendio AB               https://cendio.com
Teknikringen 8          https://twitter.com/ThinLinc
583 30 Linköping        https://facebook.com/ThinLinc
Phone: +46-13-214600

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?