Re: [1.99.4] Wishlist: upgrade weblint to version 1.9.3

[Anthony Fok <nospam@thanx>]

On Wed, Mar 29, 2000 at 10:07:14AM +0200, Jan Holler wrote:
> I do not. I checked the site at:
>  http://www.debian.org/Packages/frozen/web/weblint.html
> I could not find any improvements over 1.20

Look closer.  :-)  Check in /usr/doc/weblint if you have it installed.
At first glance, there seems to be some pros and cons.  I have attached the
relevant files for consideration.  :-)

Anthony

-- 
Anthony Fok Tung-Ling                Civil and Environmental Engineering
foka@ualberta.ca, foka@debian.org    University of Alberta, Canada
Come visit Our Lady of Victory Camp -- http://www.olvc.ab.ca/

This is still BETA software.  But it actually checks HTML 4.0 instead of 
HTML 3.2.  It's also been modularized and is 'use strict' and '-w'
clean.  I find it much better than weblint 1.020.

Here's a copy of the mail that I sent to Neil Bowers asking about
packaging this version of weblint.  I haven't received a response yet
(18 Jul 1999).

From: "Darren/Torin/Who Ever..." <torin@daft.com>
Date: 09 Jul 1999 13:35:04 PDT
Subj: weblint 1.9.3 as a package in Debian unstable
  To: Neil Bowers
----------------
I maintain weblint for the Debian Linux distribution.  I was waiting for
weblint 2.0 to be released before I packaged up the latest weblint so as
to not distribute beta code.

But considering that it hasn't been updated since April and 1.020 is
really old, I was wondering if you would mind if I put weblint 1.9.3
into the Debian unstable distribution (potato).  People installed this
distribution know that some of the packages include beta-level code and
act accordingly.  I would revert to the 1.020 version rather than
have 1.9.x be included when potato is released as the stable
distribution unless I got an ok from you first.

Thanks,
  Darren
-- 

			  Weblint, Version 1.9.3

	THIS IS AN EARLY RELEASE OF WHAT WILL BE WEBLINT 2.0.
	AT THE MOMENT IT PROVIDES A SUBSET OF THE FINAL FUNCTIONALITY,
	AND DOESN'T SUPPORT ALL FEATURES INCLUDED IN WEBLINT 1.020.

Weblint is now broken down into a number of perl modules:

	Weblint			- provides the "weblint engine"
	Weblint::HTML::HTML4	- encapsulation of messages
	Weblint::Messages	- encapsulation of messages
	Weblint::Constants	- constants used in the different modules
	Weblint::Test		- test harness

Weblint implements just about all of the warnings from 1.020, and supports
HTML 4.0 (and HTML 4.0 only). There are one or two features from 1.020
which aren't currently available. Most will be added before it's called
version 2.

The "weblint" script is now pretty much a wrapper around the Weblint module.
The following things aren't implemented in the weblint script at the moment:

	* checking of links (will be left for a separate program)
	* check URLs (using LWP)
	* Netscape & Microsoft extensions (do they have any these days?)

The distribution also includes weblint-cgi:

	* first cut at a web-based interface to weblint
	* requires LWP
	* doesn't have the overhead of external processes
	* this is a very early version

To install this you should just have to do:

	perl Makefile.PL
	make
	make test
	make install

The weblint-cgi script won't be installed.

Please let me know if any tests fail.

I'm using Perl 5.005_02.

Neil Bowers
<neilb@weblint.org>

			    ChangeLog for Weblint 2

1.9.3 Thursday 8 April (neilb)
	* added a button-usemap message, which checks for the illegal
	  situation where you have a BUTTON element containing an IMG
	  element, and you make the image an image map (USEMAP).
	  Noticed this while reading the HTML 4.0 spec, so added a test.
	* added test suites form frames and form elements, taken from the HTML
	  spec. A couple of bug fixes were needed to get everything working
	  right.
	* Added first cut at weblint-cgi, a reference web-based gateway
	  to Weblint.pm. Requires LWP.
	* changed the message_handler() argument list for Weblint::Messages.
	  Made the cgi much easier if the message text is passed as well
	  as the line number and id.

1.9.2 Tuesday 6 April (neilb)
	* added implied-element message: for situations where seeing
	  one element implies you should see another. Added a test for
	  NOFRAMES - expect to see this if you see a FRAMESET.
	* started frames.t - testcases related to frame elements.
	* fixed handling of frames. Example from spec now works.
	* Added message 'body-colors' (class 'style') which is generated
	  if some but not all of the color attributes for BODY are used.
	  Enabled by default.
	* Fixed Makefile.PL so that the weblint script will get installed.
	* SPAN was not being allowed as a container.

1.9.1 Tuesday 30 March (neilb)
	* Added -messages switch to list all supported messages
		- replaces the -warnings switch
	* First cut at pod documentation for the weblint script
	* tossed all the command-line handling into a separate function
	* Added support for config files: user and system config files.
		- At the moment system config file must be specified by
		  modifying the top of the script. Should put this in
		  Makefile.PL
	* Added recursive checking of directories
	* Created first bit of documentation for Weblint::Messages
	* added -stderr switch
		- output_handle() method on Weblint::Messages for querying
		  and setting the output handle, defaults to STDOUT
		- messages() method on Weblint for getting Weblint::Messages
		  instance from Weblint instance.
		- -stderr switch in weblint script
	* added message classes 'error', 'warning', 'style' & 'internal'
		- all messages classified as one of these
		- class_enable() method added, enables/disables all messages
		  of a given class.
		- enable() method on Weblint::Messages can take one of
		  these four strings as a meta message id.
	* added message-id's for internal errors & warnings
		- so far: unknown-message, bogus-message-handler
		- these were previously "print STDERR ..."
		- means that they can be turned off with "-d internal"

1.9.0 Wednesday 24 March (neilb)
	* first release of weblint 2 working version to weblint victims
	* Weblint module (and several subordinate modules)
	* support for HTML 4.0