Re: [xsl] Are there any free, fully-compliant XSLT/XPath 3.0 processors?

Subject: Re: [xsl] Are there any free, fully-compliant XSLT/XPath 3.0 processors?
From: Graydon <graydon@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2013 19:58:02 -0500
On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 10:57:22AM +1100, Greg Hunt scripsit:
> Its not that they want a free lunch, opex is almost always easier to arrange
> than capex.  For capex, its easier to get money for things that are already
> heavily used: "we depend on it/need support" is an easier sell than "this
> thing we don't have will save LOTS of effort by developers" (a statement
> that has been worn thin by unsuccessful repetition).

If they're _right_ that it's cheaper to develop the solution in Java,
their decision is, after all, _correct_.

XSLT and XPath implementations are effectively compilers.

Compiler writing is hard, you need a team, and you need to keep
maintaining the horrible thing in ways that don't compromise the
existing efficient bits.  This is not fun, it doesn't make you famous or
improve your career prospects, and you can't do it yourself, so it's
pretty much a non-starter so far as Open Source goes.

The only way to change that is to come up with a good open source
business model for the whole 3.0 XSLT/XPath/XQuery set, and get it
funded.  I admit I can't readily imagine what that business model might
be; the people in a business sense who use XSLT are, in my experience,
doing so because they have no other choice, and they've looked good and
hard trying to find one first.

-- Graydon, whose occasional flashes of "I wonder what implementing XSLT
in OCaml would be like?" are thankfully self-suppressing.

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