Andy C wrote: > It doesn't matter whether it's perfectly formed XML, 7-bit EBCIDIC or > mangled WordPress RSS that fails to adhere to open standards. > > Habari desperately needs more users. > > To get more users, we desperately need to support more import formats.
I agree with the need to have more users. The WXR format though, is not something that we're likely to support very soon. The reason can be extrapolated from the concept that it's not an XML format. Since it's not true XML, we would need to match the format's idiosyncrasies exactly for it to work as expected rather than using tools built into the PHP language for this purpose. The systems that support this are GPL-licensed and can share WordPress source code. Being ASL, we can't share WordPress source code, so it's not as easy as dropping in a file or modifying some pre-existing code as it would be with GPL tools that already support this format. There is actually a danger in producing the code to support WXR since the only way to do it is to look at the existing WordPress source code and replicate it. While it may be possible to read the code, internalize it, and then write new code, this runs dangerously close to just copying the source over from the GPL software into our ASL source. Since there is no specification for the format, we can't build from a spec, which would be the best way to replicate functionality across licenses. Maybe WXR support is something that we should provide, but there are difficulties that make it less attractive to any developer looking to take on the task. Personally, I think we shouldn't support such a poor format, and should find some other open, documented standard to implement. Owen --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/habari-dev -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
