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https://extensionworkshop.com/documentation/publish/add-on-policies/?utm_medium=photon-footer&utm_source=addons.mozilla.org | Add-on Policies | Firefox Extension Workshop Extension Workshop Extension Basics Getting started Mozilla Developer Network Documentation Topics Develop Firefox Tools User Experience Firefox for Android Port to Firefox Test and debug Getting Started Unique Firefox Capabilities Firefox Workflow Overview About the WebExtensions API Manifest V3 Manifest V3 migration guide What is Manifest V3? Manifest V3 changes Migration checklist Cross-Browser Development Browser Compatibility Namespace Asynchronous API Coverage Manifest keys More information Build cross-browser extensions Firefox Tools Build an extension in 5 minutes Browser Extension Development Tools Boilerplating tools Coding tools Testing and debugging tools Translation tools Tools for Firefox for Android Choosing a Firefox version for extension development Firefox editions Firefox version and their web extension development capabilities Getting started with web-ext Installation Update Using web-ext Check your code Test and debug Package, sign, and publish Use the configuration file Advanced topics See also web-ext v8 command reference What's new Commands web-ext build web-ext docs web-ext dump-config web-ext lint web-ext run web-ext sign Global options Setting option environment variables See also web-ext v7 command reference Commands Global options Setting option environment variables See also Web-ext Webpack plug-in Browser API Polyfill Extensions and the Add-on ID Basic workflow with no add-on ID When do you need an add-on ID? User Experience Build a secure extension Request the right permissions Introduction Advised permissions Avoid unnecessary permissions Request permissions at runtime Add information about permissions to your extensions AMO page Firefox built-in consent for data collection and transmission Taxonomy Specifying data types Accessing the data collection permissions programmatically Updates Best practices for collecting user data consents Know your privacy settings Get prepared Prompt after install Determine your consent flow Your consent dialogs Build an accessible extension Onboard, upboard, offboard users Onboarding Upboarding Offboarding User experience best practices 1. Keep it focused 2. Give users what they need, where they need it 3. Keep the user informed 4. Be Firefoxy in look and feel 5. Great onboarding experience 6. Test, test, and then test again Mobile Differences between desktop and Android extensions Introduction User interface Native application interaction Permissions Storage User experience guidelines for mobile extensions Introduction The basics The extra mile The last mile Developing extensions for Firefox for Android Set up your computer and Android emulator or device Check for Firefox for Android compatibility Install and run your extension in Firefox for Android Debug your extension Manifest V3 compatibility GeckoView Extensions (Android library) Port Your Extension Porting a Google Chrome Extension Debug and Test Debugging Developer tools toolbox Debugging background scripts Debugging options pages Debugging popups Debugging content scripts Debugging sidebars Debugging storage Debugging developer tools pages and panels Debug permission requests Debugging browser restarts Temporary Installation in Firefox Reloading a temporary extension Using the command line Detecting temporary installation Limitations Testing persistent and restart features What is an add-on ID? What is a Firefox profile? Extension behavior in Firefox What do I do to ensure I can test my extension? Test permission requests Permission grant behavior during testing Observe or verify install time permission requests Retest runtime permission grants Testing localizations Known issues Content scripts don't appear in DevTools Extension source don't update in DevTools "Destroyed actor" errors when debugging Android Publish Get your extension signed Distribute your signed extension Promote your extension Policies Add-on Policies No Surprises Content Submission Guidelines Development Practices User Scripts Data Collection and Transmission Disclosure and Control Monetization Security, Compliance and Blocking Add-on Policies FAQ No Surprises Content Submission Guidelines Data Collection and Transmission Disclosure and Control Security, Compliance and Blocking Firefox Add-on Distribution Agreement 1. Introduction 2. Accounts 3. Privacy Policy 4. Distribution, certificates, & review process 5. Your obligations 6. Licenses; proprietary rights 7. Content removal 8. Disclaimer of warranties 9. Limitation of liability 10. Release; indemnification 11. General legal terms Add-ons Blocking Process Security Over Choice Blocking Criteria Developer Outreach Requesting a Block Blocking Other Types of Third Party Software Third Party Library Usage When must links for third-party libraries be provided? How to determine the third-party library link Communicating third-party library links to reviewers What does review rejection mean to users? Review overview Impact of review rejection Blocklisting Sign Signing and distribution overview Signing your add-ons Distributing your add-on Post-submission review More information about AMO Package your extension Windows Mac OSX Linux / Mac OSX Terminal Distribute Distribute Manifest V2 and V3 extensions Distribute pre-release versions Submitting an add-on Listing on AMO Self-distribution Get help Version Rollback Eligibility Roll back using Developer Hub Roll back using the Add-on Submission API Source code submission Provide your extension source code Default reviewer build environment Use of obfuscated code Source code checklist Firefox version compatibility Version compatibility The `browser_specific_settings` key AMO compatibility setting Recommendations Add-on ownership Transfer ownership Code disputes Developer accounts Setting a display name Blocked accounts Issues receiving emails from AMO Self-distribution Self-distribution options Installing self-distributed extensions Preparing your add-on Install from file on a computer Install from file on Android For desktop apps Promote Create an appealing listing Your add-on’s name Create a captivating icon Create a meaningful set of keywords Make sure your summary is just long enough Focus on key features in your screenshots The add-on description can be longer, but not too long Make it local Make it experimental Select the right platforms and versions Categorize well Be prepared to provide support Set up a developer profile Use plain language in any privacy policy or license agreement Gently ask for a review Make use of Markdown Some other points What’s great content and design? Promoting your extension Promote your add-on from your website Friends, family, and colleagues Events and meetups Current users Social media Engage with your users Create a forum, user group, or similar Engage with bloggers and news media Advertising Make money from browser extensions Will I ever be able to sell through AMO? What can't you do What can you do Unsolicited offers How can I maximize my income? Recommended extensions Overview Criteria for Recommended extensions Developer partnership Selection process Manage Stay informed when Firefox changes Publish extension updates Manage authors of your extension Promote your extension Removing your extension from distribution Resources Updating your extension Enabling updates to your extension Manifest structure Testing automatic updating Best practices for updating your extension Monitoring extension usage statistics Accessing the statistics dashboard Tracking external sources Add-on listing example Resources for publishers Retiring your extension Reasons for withdrawing your extension Steps to retiring an extension Suggested retirement timetable Enterprise Developing your enterprise extension Distributing your enterprise extension Enterprise support Manage add-ons for Firefox for Enterprise Install system add-ons for Firefox for Enterprise Enterprise resources Enterprise development Data collection disclosure and consent for enterprise extensions How to add policy support Distributing your policy Enterprise policies that impact extensions Relevant policies Other relevant policies Enterprise distribution Signed vs. unsigned extensions Using an ExtensionSettings policy Bundling add-ons with a custom Firefox Themes Creating themes Using the AMO theme generator Getting started Submitting your theme Updating your theme Static themes Introduction Create a simple static theme Updating static themes Single image themes Multiple image themes Static animated themes Dynamic themes Introduction Creating dynamic themes Publishing dynamic themes Cross-browser compatibility Community Who is part of the community? Connect with the community Get involved in the community Get in touch Community Forum Add-ons Blog Office Hours Stack Overflow Communication Calendar Dev Mailing List Contribute Contribution opportunities Onboard to the WebExtensions codebase Hacking guide for WebExtensions code contributions WebExtensions Experiments Find or create a bug Submit or Manage Extensions Search Submit or Manage Extensions Search Select a section Page Name Extension Basics Getting started Mozilla Developer Network Documentation Topics Develop Firefox Tools User Experience Firefox for Android Port to Firefox Test and debug Getting Started Unique Firefox Capabilities Firefox Workflow Overview About the WebExtensions API Manifest V3 Manifest V3 migration guide What is Manifest V3? Manifest V3 changes Migration checklist Cross-Browser Development Browser Compatibility Namespace Asynchronous API Coverage Manifest keys More information Build cross-browser extensions Firefox Tools Build an extension in 5 minutes Browser Extension Development Tools Boilerplating tools Coding tools Testing and debugging tools Translation tools Tools for Firefox for Android Choosing a Firefox version for extension development Firefox editions Firefox version and their web extension development capabilities Getting started with web-ext Installation Update Using web-ext Check your code Test and debug Package, sign, and publish Use the configuration file Advanced topics See also web-ext v8 command reference What's new Commands web-ext build web-ext docs web-ext dump-config web-ext lint web-ext run web-ext sign Global options Setting option environment variables See also web-ext v7 command reference Commands Global options Setting option environment variables See also Web-ext Webpack plug-in Browser API Polyfill Extensions and the Add-on ID Basic workflow with no add-on ID When do you need an add-on ID? User Experience Build a secure extension Request the right permissions Introduction Advised permissions Avoid unnecessary permissions Request permissions at runtime Add information about permissions to your extensions AMO page Firefox built-in consent for data collection and transmission Taxonomy Specifying data types Accessing the data collection permissions programmatically Updates Best practices for collecting user data consents Know your privacy settings Get prepared Prompt after install Determine your consent flow Your consent dialogs Build an accessible extension Onboard, upboard, offboard users Onboarding Upboarding Offboarding User experience best practices 1. Keep it focused 2. Give users what they need, where they need it 3. Keep the user informed 4. Be Firefoxy in look and feel 5. Great onboarding experience 6. Test, test, and then test again Mobile Differences between desktop and Android extensions Introduction User interface Native application interaction Permissions Storage User experience guidelines for mobile extensions Introduction The basics The extra mile The last mile Developing extensions for Firefox for Android Set up your computer and Android emulator or device Check for Firefox for Android compatibility Install and run your extension in Firefox for Android Debug your extension Manifest V3 compatibility GeckoView Extensions (Android library) Port Your Extension Porting a Google Chrome Extension Debug and Test Debugging Developer tools toolbox Debugging background scripts Debugging options pages Debugging popups Debugging content scripts Debugging sidebars Debugging storage Debugging developer tools pages and panels Debug permission requests Debugging browser restarts Temporary Installation in Firefox Reloading a temporary extension Using the command line Detecting temporary installation Limitations Testing persistent and restart features What is an add-on ID? What is a Firefox profile? Extension behavior in Firefox What do I do to ensure I can test my extension? Test permission requests Permission grant behavior during testing Observe or verify install time permission requests Retest runtime permission grants Testing localizations Known issues Content scripts don't appear in DevTools Extension source don't update in DevTools "Destroyed actor" errors when debugging Android Publish Get your extension signed Distribute your signed extension Promote your extension Policies Add-on Policies No Surprises Content Submission Guidelines Development Practices User Scripts Data Collection and Transmission Disclosure and Control Monetization Security, Compliance and Blocking Add-on Policies FAQ No Surprises Content Submission Guidelines Data Collection and Transmission Disclosure and Control Security, Compliance and Blocking Firefox Add-on Distribution Agreement 1. Introduction 2. Accounts 3. Privacy Policy 4. Distribution, certificates, & review process 5. Your obligations 6. Licenses; proprietary rights 7. Content removal 8. Disclaimer of warranties 9. Limitation of liability 10. Release; indemnification 11. General legal terms Add-ons Blocking Process Security Over Choice Blocking Criteria Developer Outreach Requesting a Block Blocking Other Types of Third Party Software Third Party Library Usage When must links for third-party libraries be provided? How to determine the third-party library link Communicating third-party library links to reviewers What does review rejection mean to users? Review overview Impact of review rejection Blocklisting Sign Signing and distribution overview Signing your add-ons Distributing your add-on Post-submission review More information about AMO Package your extension Windows Mac OSX Linux / Mac OSX Terminal Distribute Distribute Manifest V2 and V3 extensions Distribute pre-release versions Submitting an add-on Listing on AMO Self-distribution Get help Version Rollback Eligibility Roll back using Developer Hub Roll back using the Add-on Submission API Source code submission Provide your extension source code Default reviewer build environment Use of obfuscated code Source code checklist Firefox version compatibility Version compatibility The `browser_specific_settings` key AMO compatibility setting Recommendations Add-on ownership Transfer ownership Code disputes Developer accounts Setting a display name Blocked accounts Issues receiving emails from AMO Self-distribution Self-distribution options Installing self-distributed extensions Preparing your add-on Install from file on a computer Install from file on Android For desktop apps Promote Create an appealing listing Your add-on’s name Create a captivating icon Create a meaningful set of keywords Make sure your summary is just long enough Focus on key features in your screenshots The add-on description can be longer, but not too long Make it local Make it experimental Select the right platforms and versions Categorize well Be prepared to provide support Set up a developer profile Use plain language in any privacy policy or license agreement Gently ask for a review Make use of Markdown Some other points What’s great content and design? Promoting your extension Promote your add-on from your website Friends, family, and colleagues Events and meetups Current users Social media Engage with your users Create a forum, user group, or similar Engage with bloggers and news media Advertising Make money from browser extensions Will I ever be able to sell through AMO? What can't you do What can you do Unsolicited offers How can I maximize my income? Recommended extensions Overview Criteria for Recommended extensions Developer partnership Selection process Manage Stay informed when Firefox changes Publish extension updates Manage authors of your extension Promote your extension Removing your extension from distribution Resources Updating your extension Enabling updates to your extension Manifest structure Testing automatic updating Best practices for updating your extension Monitoring extension usage statistics Accessing the statistics dashboard Tracking external sources Add-on listing example Resources for publishers Retiring your extension Reasons for withdrawing your extension Steps to retiring an extension Suggested retirement timetable Enterprise Developing your enterprise extension Distributing your enterprise extension Enterprise support Manage add-ons for Firefox for Enterprise Install system add-ons for Firefox for Enterprise Enterprise resources Enterprise development Data collection disclosure and consent for enterprise extensions How to add policy support Distributing your policy Enterprise policies that impact extensions Relevant policies Other relevant policies Enterprise distribution Signed vs. unsigned extensions Using an ExtensionSettings policy Bundling add-ons with a custom Firefox Themes Creating themes Using the AMO theme generator Getting started Submitting your theme Updating your theme Static themes Introduction Create a simple static theme Updating static themes Single image themes Multiple image themes Static animated themes Dynamic themes Introduction Creating dynamic themes Publishing dynamic themes Cross-browser compatibility Community Who is part of the community? Connect with the community Get involved in the community Get in touch Community Forum Add-ons Blog Office Hours Stack Overflow Communication Calendar Dev Mailing List Contribute Contribution opportunities Onboard to the WebExtensions codebase Hacking guide for WebExtensions code contributions WebExtensions Experiments Find or create a bug Extension Basics Getting started Mozilla Developer Network Documentation Topics Develop Firefox Tools User Experience Firefox for Android Port to Firefox Test and debug Getting Started Unique Firefox Capabilities Firefox Workflow Overview About the WebExtensions API Manifest V3 Manifest V3 migration guide What is Manifest V3? Manifest V3 changes Migration checklist Cross-Browser Development Browser Compatibility Namespace Asynchronous API Coverage Manifest keys More information Build cross-browser extensions Firefox Tools Build an extension in 5 minutes Browser Extension Development Tools Boilerplating tools Coding tools Testing and debugging tools Translation tools Tools for Firefox for Android Choosing a Firefox version for extension development Firefox editions Firefox version and their web extension development capabilities Getting started with web-ext Installation Update Using web-ext Check your code Test and debug Package, sign, and publish Use the configuration file Advanced topics See also web-ext v8 command reference What's new Commands web-ext build web-ext docs web-ext dump-config web-ext lint web-ext run web-ext sign Global options Setting option environment variables See also web-ext v7 command reference Commands Global options Setting option environment variables See also Web-ext Webpack plug-in Browser API Polyfill Extensions and the Add-on ID Basic workflow with no add-on ID When do you need an add-on ID? User Experience Build a secure extension Request the right permissions Introduction Advised permissions Avoid unnecessary permissions Request permissions at runtime Add information about permissions to your extensions AMO page Firefox built-in consent for data collection and transmission Taxonomy Specifying data types Accessing the data collection permissions programmatically Updates Best practices for collecting user data consents Know your privacy settings Get prepared Prompt after install Determine your consent flow Your consent dialogs Build an accessible extension Onboard, upboard, offboard users Onboarding Upboarding Offboarding User experience best practices 1. Keep it focused 2. Give users what they need, where they need it 3. Keep the user informed 4. Be Firefoxy in look and feel 5. Great onboarding experience 6. Test, test, and then test again Mobile Differences between desktop and Android extensions Introduction User interface Native application interaction Permissions Storage User experience guidelines for mobile extensions Introduction The basics The extra mile The last mile Developing extensions for Firefox for Android Set up your computer and Android emulator or device Check for Firefox for Android compatibility Install and run your extension in Firefox for Android Debug your extension Manifest V3 compatibility GeckoView Extensions (Android library) Port Your Extension Porting a Google Chrome Extension Debug and Test Debugging Developer tools toolbox Debugging background scripts Debugging options pages Debugging popups Debugging content scripts Debugging sidebars Debugging storage Debugging developer tools pages and panels Debug permission requests Debugging browser restarts Temporary Installation in Firefox Reloading a temporary extension Using the command line Detecting temporary installation Limitations Testing persistent and restart features What is an add-on ID? What is a Firefox profile? Extension behavior in Firefox What do I do to ensure I can test my extension? Test permission requests Permission grant behavior during testing Observe or verify install time permission requests Retest runtime permission grants Testing localizations Known issues Content scripts don't appear in DevTools Extension source don't update in DevTools "Destroyed actor" errors when debugging Android Publish Get your extension signed Distribute your signed extension Promote your extension Policies Add-on Policies No Surprises Content Submission Guidelines Development Practices User Scripts Data Collection and Transmission Disclosure and Control Monetization Security, Compliance and Blocking Add-on Policies FAQ No Surprises Content Submission Guidelines Data Collection and Transmission Disclosure and Control Security, Compliance and Blocking Firefox Add-on Distribution Agreement 1. Introduction 2. Accounts 3. Privacy Policy 4. Distribution, certificates, & review process 5. Your obligations 6. Licenses; proprietary rights 7. Content removal 8. Disclaimer of warranties 9. Limitation of liability 10. Release; indemnification 11. General legal terms Add-ons Blocking Process Security Over Choice Blocking Criteria Developer Outreach Requesting a Block Blocking Other Types of Third Party Software Third Party Library Usage When must links for third-party libraries be provided? How to determine the third-party library link Communicating third-party library links to reviewers What does review rejection mean to users? Review overview Impact of review rejection Blocklisting Sign Signing and distribution overview Signing your add-ons Distributing your add-on Post-submission review More information about AMO Package your extension Windows Mac OSX Linux / Mac OSX Terminal Distribute Distribute Manifest V2 and V3 extensions Distribute pre-release versions Submitting an add-on Listing on AMO Self-distribution Get help Version Rollback Eligibility Roll back using Developer Hub Roll back using the Add-on Submission API Source code submission Provide your extension source code Default reviewer build environment Use of obfuscated code Source code checklist Firefox version compatibility Version compatibility The `browser_specific_settings` key AMO compatibility setting Recommendations Add-on ownership Transfer ownership Code disputes Developer accounts Setting a display name Blocked accounts Issues receiving emails from AMO Self-distribution Self-distribution options Installing self-distributed extensions Preparing your add-on Install from file on a computer Install from file on Android For desktop apps Promote Create an appealing listing Your add-on’s name Create a captivating icon Create a meaningful set of keywords Make sure your summary is just long enough Focus on key features in your screenshots The add-on description can be longer, but not too long Make it local Make it experimental Select the right platforms and versions Categorize well Be prepared to provide support Set up a developer profile Use plain language in any privacy policy or license agreement Gently ask for a review Make use of Markdown Some other points What’s great content and design? Promoting your extension Promote your add-on from your website Friends, family, and colleagues Events and meetups Current users Social media Engage with your users Create a forum, user group, or similar Engage with bloggers and news media Advertising Make money from browser extensions Will I ever be able to sell through AMO? What can't you do What can you do Unsolicited offers How can I maximize my income? Recommended extensions Overview Criteria for Recommended extensions Developer partnership Selection process Manage Stay informed when Firefox changes Publish extension updates Manage authors of your extension Promote your extension Removing your extension from distribution Resources Updating your extension Enabling updates to your extension Manifest structure Testing automatic updating Best practices for updating your extension Monitoring extension usage statistics Accessing the statistics dashboard Tracking external sources Add-on listing example Resources for publishers Retiring your extension Reasons for withdrawing your extension Steps to retiring an extension Suggested retirement timetable Enterprise Developing your enterprise extension Distributing your enterprise extension Enterprise support Manage add-ons for Firefox for Enterprise Install system add-ons for Firefox for Enterprise Enterprise resources Enterprise development Data collection disclosure and consent for enterprise extensions How to add policy support Distributing your policy Enterprise policies that impact extensions Relevant policies Other relevant policies Enterprise distribution Signed vs. unsigned extensions Using an ExtensionSettings policy Bundling add-ons with a custom Firefox Themes Creating themes Using the AMO theme generator Getting started Submitting your theme Updating your theme Static themes Introduction Create a simple static theme Updating static themes Single image themes Multiple image themes Static animated themes Dynamic themes Introduction Creating dynamic themes Publishing dynamic themes Cross-browser compatibility Community Who is part of the community? Connect with the community Get involved in the community Get in touch Community Forum Add-ons Blog Office Hours Stack Overflow Communication Calendar Dev Mailing List Contribute Contribution opportunities Onboard to the WebExtensions codebase Hacking guide for WebExtensions code contributions WebExtensions Experiments Find or create a bug Add-on Policies Add-ons extend the core capabilities of Firefox, enabling users to modify and personalize their web experience. A healthy ecosystem, built on trust, is vital for developers to be successful and users to feel safe making Firefox their own. For these reasons, Mozilla requires all add-ons to comply with the following policies. These policies are not intended to serve as legal advice: depending on where you are located, additional requirements may apply. All add-ons are subject to these policies, regardless of how they are distributed. When an add-on is given human review or otherwise assessed by Mozilla, these policies act as guiding principles for those reviews. Add-ons that do not comply with these policies may be rejected or disabled by Mozilla. Contents No Surprises Content Submission Guidelines Development Practices User Scripts Data Collection and Transmission Disclosure and Control Monetization Security, Compliance and Blocking No Surprises Users should be able to easily discern the functionality of your add-on based on the listing, and should not be presented with unexpected user experiences after installing it. The listing should include an easy-to-read description of what the add-on does, and what information it transmits. Please consult our best practices guide for creating an appealing listing . Unexpected features “Unexpected” features are those that are unrelated to the add-on’s primary function, and are not clearly indicated by the add-on name or description. This may include features that impact user privacy or security, make unexpected changes to web content, or change default settings like the new tab page, homepage, or search engine. Any “unexpected” feature(s) must adhere to all of the following requirements: The add-on description must clearly state any changes made by these features. The features must be “opt-in”, meaning the user has to take non-default action to enact the change. Changes prompted by Firefox after the add-on is installed do not require an additional opt-in. The permissions prompt shown when installing an add-on does not alleviate the need for an opt-in. The opt-in interface must clearly state the name of the add-on requesting the change. Content Add-ons that make use of Mozilla trademarks must comply with the Mozilla Trademark Guidelines . If the add-on uses “Firefox” in its name, the naming standard the add-on is expected to follow is “<Add-on name> for Firefox”. In addition, add-ons listed on addons.mozilla.org must adhere to the following policies: All add-ons submitted for listing on addons.mozilla.org are subject to Mozilla’s Acceptable Use Policy . Listings must disclose when payment is required to enable any add-on functionality. Add-ons and their content must conform to the laws of the United States. (Add-ons that violate or have content that violates the law in other jurisdictions may also be removed or have access limited.) If the add-on is a fork of another add-on, the name must clearly distinguish it from the original and provide a significant difference in functionality and/or code. Add-ons with the sole purpose of promoting, installing, loading or launching an outside website, application or add-on are not permitted. Themes that feature low-quality, stretched, or blank images, as well as those themes in which the header image is misaligned, are not permitted. Duplicate themes are not permitted. Submission Guidelines Add-ons must function only as described. During review, the add-on undergoes basic functional testing in addition to code review. To facilitate the functional testing, the add-on author must provide testing information and, if an account is needed for any part of the add-on’s functionality, testing credentials to allow use of the add-on. If corrections have been requested and are submitted as part of a new version, the new version should not contain unrelated changes, as this complicates the review process and can lead to further delays or rejections. Source Code Submission Code must be provided in a way that is reviewable. Add-ons may contain transpiled, minified or otherwise machine-generated code, but Mozilla needs to review a copy of the source code before any of these steps have been applied. The author must provide this information to Mozilla during submission along with instructions on how to reproduce the build. All dependencies must either be included in the source code package directly or downloaded only through the respective official package managers during the build process. Build tools or environments that no longer appear to be supported by their maintainers are not accepted. Reviewers may ask you to refactor parts of the code if it is not reviewable. The provided source code is reviewed by an administrator and is not redistributed in any way. The code is only used for the purpose of reviewing the add-on. Failure to provide this information results in rejection or blocking. Add-ons are not allowed to contain obfuscated code, nor code that hides the purpose of the functionality involved. If external resources are used in combination with add-on code, the functionality of the code must not be obscured. Minification of code with the intent to reduce file size is permitted. Please read our Source Code Submission guidelines to avoid unexpected rejections or blocks. Development Practices In general, developers are free to maintain their add-ons in the manner they choose. However, in order to maintain appropriate data security measures and allow us to effectively review code, we have certain technical requirements that all add-ons must meet. In particular, potentially dangerous APIs may only be used in ways that are demonstrably safe, and code within add-ons that cannot be verified as behaving safely and correctly may need to be refactored. The following requirements are of particular importance: Add-ons must only request those permissions that are necessary for them to function. Add-ons must be self-contained and not load remote code for execution. Add-ons must not load or redirect to a remote new tab page. The new tab page must be contained within the add-on. Add-ons must not relax web page security headers, such as the Content Security Policy. Add-ons must use encryption when transporting data remotely. Add-ons should avoid including redundant code or files. Add-ons must not negatively impact the performance or stability of Firefox. Only release versions of third-party libraries and/or frameworks may be included with an add-on. Modifications to these libraries/frameworks are not permitted. Please read our third party library guidelines to better understand related requirements. User Scripts Usage of the userScripts API is allowed for user script managers only. A user script manager is an extension that allows users to manage website-specific scripts. The userScripts API cannot be used to extend or modify the functionality of the user script manager itself. The user must: Proactively install a user script using an explicit action, for instance a click on a button labeled “Install this user script”. Be able to see which user scripts are currently installed and remove scripts without impacting the extension. Data Collection and Transmission Disclosure and Control Add-ons must limit data transmission to what is necessary for functionality, and must use the data only for the purpose for which it was transmitted. For the purposes of this policy, data transmission refers to any data that is collected, used, transferred, shared, or handled outside of the add-on or the local browser. If the add-on uses native messaging, the Add-on Policies (including those related to user consent and control) apply to any data sent to the native application as well. Prohibited Data Collection and Transmission Search functionality provided or loaded by the add-on must not transmit search terms or intercept searches that are going to a third-party search provider. Transmitting or facilitating the transmission of ancillary information (e.g. any data not required for the add-on’s functionality as stated in the description) is prohibited. The transmission of browsing activity is only permitted as part of the add-on’s primary function. User Consent and Control The user must be provided with a clear way to control the add-on’s data transmission, either through a consent experience created by the add-on developer, or by using Firefox’s built in data collection and transmission consent experience. In the case of add-ons that qualify for implicit consent, under the “Implicit Consent for Self-Evident, Single-Use Extension” policy, installation is the consent. Add-ons installed in an enterprise environment can bypass asking for data collection consent when they are installed by enterprise policy. For more information, refer to the enterprise documentation . If the add-on uses Firefox’s built-in data collection and transmission consent experience, then the browser will bypass this by default. If the add-on is only compatible with Firefox 140 or later and uses Firefox’s built-in data collection and transmission consent experience: It must accurately state the data collection practices in the extension manifest, including when it does not collect data, in line with the Firefox add-on data classification taxonomy . If the add-on is compatible with Firefox 139 and earlier or does not use Firefox’s built-in data collection and transmission consent experience: The user must be provided with a clear way to control the add-on’s data transmission immediately after installation of the add-on. If data transmission starts or changes in an add-on update, or the consent and control is introduced in an update, it must be shown to all new and upgrading users immediately after the update. The data transmission consent and control must be contained within the add-on. The consent experience must: Be unmissable. It is recommended to present it in a new focused tab in the current window. Other ways that could be missed or accidentally hidden, like a popup window, will result in a rejection. Be presented on a single page, including all choices and decision options. Present users with a clear, readable data transmission consent. Information explaining the data transmitted must be prominently stated and not buried or hidden. Avoid deceptive design patterns that make it harder to understand your data transmission policy, including, but not limited to, illegible font sizes, reduced color contrast, hidden options, multi-step consent decline flows, and similar techniques indicative of deceptive design. Clearly state what type of data is being transmitted. Inform about the impact of accepting or declining the data transmission If both personal and technical data is being transmitted, the user must be provided separate choices. If the user declines the transmission, any resulting impact on their experience or use of the add-on must be limited to the data not being available. Please refer to our best practices for advice and examples on how to design and implement a data transmission consent prompt. Personal Data (opt-in) Personally identifiable information can be actively provided by the user or obtained through extension APIs. It includes, but is not limited to names, email addresses, search terms and browsing activity data, as well as access to and placement of cookies. Before an add-on may transmit personal information, it must clearly describe, and the user must affirmatively consent (i.e., explicitly opt-in) to the type of personal data being transmitted. If the primary function of the add-on does not work without transmitting personal data, the add-on must provide a choice for the user to either accept the data transmission or uninstall the add-on. Implicit Consent for Self-Evident, Single-Use Extension Implicit consent applies only to add-ons hosted on addons.mozilla.org when all of the following conditions are satisfied. Otherwise the standard explicit consent rules apply. Conditions Purpose-bounded and user-initiated – Data may be transmitted only as a direct, immediate consequence of a single, deliberate user command (for example, a click or tap) on a clearly labelled control supplied by the browser or the add-on. Any passive, continuous, or background transmission requires explicit consent. Self-evident listing disclosure – The add-ons name and addons.mozilla.org listing must, in combination, make it clear what data will be transmitted and why, consistent with the “No Surprises” policy. Self-evident user interface – At the point of interaction, the in-product UI must plainly signal which data will be sent and to what type of service, so the user can foresee the consequence of their action without additional prompts. Purpose-limited data scope – The transmission: a. is strictly limited to the content element the user acted upon (for example, selected text, current page URL, chosen file or image); and b. must not include persistent identifiers, analytics beacons, cookies, advertising IDs, or any data unrelated to completing the primary function of the add-on. Transmission of certain data requires explicit consent, regardless of the above. For more information, refer to the Firefox add-on data classification taxonomy . Review authority – Mozilla reviewers may require the add-on to obtain explicit user consent if they judge an add-on’s disclosure inadequate or detect attempts to broaden data collection. When all the above conditions are met, invoking the primary function is deemed implicit consent for transmitting the user-supplied data needed to perform that function. No additional dialog needs to be shown at install time. If any other data is transmitted, explicit consent at time of install is required. Technical & User Interaction Data (opt-out) Technical data describes information about the environment the user is running, such as browser settings, platform information and hardware properties. User interaction data includes how the user interacts with Firefox and the installed add-ons, metrics for product improvement, and error information. When an add-on transmits either of these types of information, it must allow the user to disable that data transmission (opt-out) during the initial consent experience. The add-on functionality must not be restricted if the user declines transmission of this data. Additional Privacy Protocols Leaking local or user-specific information to websites or other applications (e.g. through native messaging) is prohibited. Data from private browsing sessions must not be stored. Information that identifies a user across browsing sessions or containers must not be made available to web content. Monetization An add-on injecting advertising into web page content must clearly identify the injected content as originating from the add-on. The inclusion of any cryptocurrency miners in an add-on is prohibited. Modifying web content or facilitating redirects to include affiliate promotion tags is not permitted. Conversely, the inclusion of affiliate promotions in user interface elements that are clearly identified as belonging to the add-on are acceptable. Security, Compliance and Blocking We expect all add-ons, whether hosted on addons.mozilla.org or not, to be secure and well-maintained in how they handle both their own data and their users’ data. They must also securely manage all of their interactions with the web and the browser and the operating system. 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https://soundcloud.com/moesifhq/13-supporting-10-million-developers | Stream episode 13. Supporting 10 Million Developers by Moesif podcast | Listen online for free on SoundCloud SoundCloud JavaScript is disabled You need to enable JavaScript to use SoundCloud Show me how to enable it 13. Supporting 10 Million Developers by Moesif published on 2021-11-23T19:31:00Z Phil Nash, developer evangelist at Twilio, shares how he helps to support more than 10 million developers. Genre Business Users who like 13. Supporting 10 Million Developers Users who reposted 13. Supporting 10 Million Developers Playlists containing 13. Supporting 10 Million Developers More tracks like 13. Supporting 10 Million Developers License: all-rights-reserved Your current browser isn't compatible with SoundCloud. Please download one of our supported browsers. Need help? Chrome | Firefox | Safari | Edge Sorry! Something went wrong Is your network connection unstable or browser outdated? I need help Popular searches | 2026-01-13T08:48:05 |
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https://thecodebarbarian.com/async-functions-in-javascript.html | Async Functions in JavaScript | www.thecodebarbarian.com twitter github rss recommendations The Code Barbarian MongoDB NodeJS Async/Await Vue @code_barbarian TCB Github TCB Facebook Most Popular Articles Common Async/Await Design Patterns in Node.js Unhandled Promise Rejections in Node.js Using Async/Await with Mocha, Express, and Mongoose Write Your Own Node.js Promise Library from Scratch The 80/20 Guide to Express Error Handling Ebooks The 80/20 Guide to ES2015 Generators Async Functions in JavaScript by Valeri Karpov @code_barbarian June 26, 2019 Async functions were introduced in the 2017 edition of the JavaScript language spec. Async functions differ from normal JavaScript functions in 2 major ways: JavaScript ensures that an async function always returns a promise. You can only use the await operator in the body of an async function. Async functions allow you to write asynchronous code that looks synchronous. In this article, you'll learn the basics of what makes async functions special. Using await Given a promise p , the await operator pauses execution of your async function until p is settled. For example, the below code will print "Hello World" after 1 second. async function run ( ) { // Pause execution for 1 second await new Promise (resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1000 )); console .log( 'Hello, World' ); } run(); A promise can be in one of 3 states: pending, fulfilled, or rejected. A promise is considered settled once it is either fulfilled or rejected. In the above example, the promise is in the pending state for 1 second, and then resolve() transitions the promise to the fulfilled state. Below is a diagram of the possible states a promise can be in. The most powerful feature of await is that you can use it in conjunction with for loops and if statements. For example, the below code will print '1' and '2', wait 1 second, then print '3' and '4', and so on up to '9' and '10'. async function run ( ) { for ( let i = 1 ; i <= 10 ; ++i) { if (i % 2 === 0 ) { // Pause execution for 1 second await new Promise (resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1000 )); } console .log(i); } } run(); Side note: be careful about using array functional programming functions like forEach() with async functions . An Async Function Always Returns a Promise There are 2 ways to declare an async function: Normal async function: async function fn() { /* ... */ } Async arrow function: async () => { /* ... */ } Both normal async functions and async arrow functions always return promises. The JavaScript runtime wraps return values in a promise for you, you do not need to explicitly return a promise. For example, the below async function returns a promise, even though the function body says return 42 . async function getAnswer ( ) { return 42 ; } const res = getAnswer(); res === 42 ; // false res instanceof Promise ; // true The Mozilla docs refer to '42' as the resolved value of the async function. You can think of an async function as wrapping the value you return from the function body in a promise. JavaScript also has a notion of an async generator function . Async generator functions do not return promises. Error Handling In addition to for loops and if statements, you can use try/catch to handle asynchronous errors. The await operator pauses execution until a promise is settled, and, if the promise is rejected, await throws a catchable error. async function run ( ) { try { await Promise .reject( new Error ( 'Oops' )); } catch (error) { error.message; // Oops } } run(); The try/catch block also handles synchronous errors: async function run ( ) { try { throw new Error ( 'sync' ); await Promise .reject( new Error ( 'async' )); } catch (error) { error.message; // sync } } run(); However, just because you can use try/catch , doesn't necessarily mean you should. For example, what happens if you return a promise that rejects? async function run ( ) { try { return Promise .reject( new Error ( 'Oops' )); } catch (error) { console .log( 'This will **not** print' ); } } // Unhandled promise rejection! run(); You can work around this issue using return await : async function run ( ) { try { return await Promise .reject( new Error ( 'Oops' )); } catch (error) { console .log(error.message); // Oops } } run(); Another common pattern is to use Promise#catch() . function myAsyncFunction ( ) { return Promise .reject( new Error ( 'Oops' )); } async function run ( ) { // `err` will be `null` if the promise fulfilled, or an error if // the promise rejected const err = await myAsyncFunction(). then(() => null ). catch (err => err); } run(); Since async functions return a promise, you can also call .catch() on the return value of an async function. This is the preferred pattern for error handling because it handles all errors in an async function, including synchronous errors, async errors, and returning a rejected promise. async function syncError ( ) { throw new Error ( 'sync' ); } async function asyncError ( ) { await Promise .reject( new Error ( 'async' )); } async function returnRejected ( ) { return Promise .reject( new Error ( 'returnRejected' )); } syncError().catch(err => console .log(err.message)); // 'sync' asyncError().catch(err => console .log(err.message)); // 'async' // 'returnRejected' returnRejected().catch(err => console .log(err.message)); Moving On Async/await is the future of concurrency in JavaScript. Callbacks are rapidly becoming a distant memory, and promise chaining makes conditionals too complicated. Async/await gives you the best of both worlds: event-loop-based concurrency with for loops, if statements, and other patterns that you would learn in CS-101 or your first week at a coding bootcamp. Stop making your poor non-JavaScript developer colleagues try to grok complicated promise chains and switch over to async/await. Looking to become fluent in async/await? My new ebook, Mastering Async/Await, is designed to give you an integrated understanding of async/await fundamentals and how async/await fits in the JavaScript ecosystem in a few hours. Get your copy! Found a typo or error? Open up a pull request! This post is available as markdown on Github Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confuse | CONFUSE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster ✨📕 The NEW Collegiate Dictionary, 12th Edition Over 5,000 words added — Learn More! ✨📕 The NEW Collegiate Dictionary — Learn More! Menu Toggle Merriam-Webster Logo Search Chatbot Chatbot Games Word of the Day Grammar Word Finder Slang New Newsletters Wordplay Rhymes Thesaurus Join MWU More Games Word of the Day Grammar Wordplay Slang Rhymes Word Finder Newsletters New Thesaurus Join MWU Shop Books Merch Log In Username My Words Recents Account Log Out Est. 1828 Dictionary Definition Definition Synonyms Example Sentences Word History Rhymes Entries Near Related Articles Cite this Entry Citation Share Kids Definition Kids More from M-W Show more Show more Citation Share Kids More from M-W Save Word To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In confuse verb con·​fuse kən-ˈfyüz Save Word --> confused ; confusing Synonyms of confuse transitive verb 1 : to disturb in mind or purpose : throw off The directions she gave confused us. 2 a : to make indistinct : blur Stop confusing the issue. b : to fail to differentiate from an often similar or related other confuse money with comfort Do not confuse the words "flaunt" and "flout." c : to mix indiscriminately : jumble Their arms, legs, and bodies were confused together, till they resembled … two serpents interlaced. — Thomas Medwin 3 : to make embarrassed : abash 4 archaic : to bring to ruin https://merriam.atlassian.net/browse/MWSITE-9211 --> confusingly kən-ˈfyü-ziŋ-lē adverb Synonyms of confuse Relevance bewilder perplex baffle puzzle befuddle embarrass See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus Examples of confuse in a Sentence Quotes--> Extra Examples--> The general was trying to confuse the enemy. The new evidence only confused matters further. You must be confusing me with someone else. Recent Examples on the Web Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback . Those early renderings confused enthusiasts and sparked criticism for their familiar proportions. — Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering , 7 Jan. 2026 Elsewhere in the park, many visitors were confused about various aspects of the new parking rules. — David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune , 6 Jan. 2026 Casey's launched the Goodstop brand in May 2021 after acquiring 92 Bucky's convenience stores — not to be confused with Buc-ee's — in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Texas. — Philip Joens, Des Moines Register , 6 Jan. 2026 On Tuesday morning, the Oscar winner ended her Today interview with host Craig Melvin in giggles after making a simple mistake, confusing one TV network for another. — Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly , 6 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for confuse Word History Etymology Middle English confusen, back-formation from confused "frustrated, ruined," participle based on Anglo-French confus, borrowed from Latin confūsus, past participle of confundere "to pour together, blend, bring into disorder, destroy, disconcert" — more at confound First Known Use 14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 4 Time Traveler The first known use of confuse was in the 14th century See more words from the same century Rhymes for confuse accrues accuse aircrews amuse bamboos breakthroughs canoes cashews chartreuse construes defuse ensues See All Rhymes for confuse Browse Nearby Words confusable confuse confused See all Nearby Words Articles Related to confuse 'Confuzzled': A Not So Confusing... Confuzzled about 'confuzzled'? We can help. Cite this Entry Style Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confuse. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.">MLA Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , s.v. “confuse,” accessed January 13, 2026, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confuse.">Chicago Merriam-Webster.com dictionary . Retrieved January 13, 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confuse">APA Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confuse. Accessed 1/13/2026.">Merriam-Webster “Confuse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confuse. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026. Copy Citation Share Kids Definition confuse verb con·​fuse kən-ˈfyüz confused ; confusing 1 a : to make mentally foggy or uncertain : perplex the complicated problem confused us b : to cause to be embarrassed or upset 2 : to make unclear : blur stop confusing the issue 3 : to make disordered : jumble the cords were all confused together 4 : to fail to tell apart teachers always confused the twins https://merriam.atlassian.net/browse/MWSITE-9211 --> confusedly -ˈfyüz(-ə)d-lē adverb confusingly -ˈfyü-ziŋ-lē adverb --> More from Merriam-Webster on confuse Nglish: Translation of confuse for Spanish Speakers Last Updated: 7 Jan 2026 - Updated example sentences Love words? Need even more definitions? Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Merriam-Webster unabridged --> More from Merriam-Webster Can you solve 4 words at once? Play Play Can you solve 4 words at once? 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https://docs.suprsend.com/docs/inbox-flutter#content-area | Flutter (Headless) - SuprSend, Notification infrastructure for Product teams Skip to main content SuprSend, Notification infrastructure for Product teams home page Search... ⌘ K Community Trust Center Platform Status Postman Collection GETTING STARTED What is SuprSend? Quick Start Guide Best Practices Plan Your Integration Go-live checklist CORE CONCEPTS Templates Users Events Workflow Notification Categories Preferences Tenants Lists Broadcast Objects Translations DLT Guidelines Whatsapp Template Guidelines WORKFLOW BUILDER Design Workflow Node List Workflow Settings Trigger Workflow Validate Trigger Payload Tenant Workflows Notification Inbox Overview Multi Tabs React Javascript (Angular, Vuejs etc) React Native Flutter (Headless) PREFERENCE CENTRE Embedded Preference Centre Javascript Angular React VENDOR INTEGRATION GUIDE Overview Email Integrations SMS Integrations Android Push Whatsapp Integrations iOS Push Chat Integrations Vendor Fallback Tenant Vendor INTEGRATIONS Webhook Connectors MONITORING & DEBUGGING Logs Audit Logs Error Guides MANAGE YOUR ACCOUNT Authentication Methods Contact Us Get Started SuprSend, Notification infrastructure for Product teams home page Search... ⌘ K Ask AI Contact Us Get Started Get Started Search... Navigation Notification Inbox Flutter (Headless) Documentation API Reference Management API CLI Reference Developer Resources Changelog Documentation API Reference Management API CLI Reference Developer Resources Changelog Notification Inbox Flutter (Headless) OpenAI Open in ChatGPT Integrate SuprSend inbox in Flutter using the headless SDK and hooks. OpenAI Open in ChatGPT SuprSend uses flutter hooks to provide inbox functionality in flutter applications. Installation 1 Project's pubspec.yaml changes Add the following line of code inside dependencies in the pubspec.yaml file under the dependencies section pubspec.yaml Copy Ask AI dependencies : flutter : sdk : flutter suprsend_flutter_inbox : "^0.0.1" 2 Run flutter pub get in the terminal Bash Copy Ask AI $ flutter pub get Initialization Enclose your Material App inside SuprSendProvider and pass the workspace key, workspace secret, distinct_id, and subscriber_id . main.dart Copy Ask AI import 'package:suprsend_flutter_inbox/main.dart' ; SuprSendProvider ( workspaceKey : < your workspace key > , workspaceSecret: < your workspace secret > , distinctId: distinct_id, subscriberId: subscriber_id, child: YourAppComponent() ) SuprSend hooks can only be used inside of SuprSendProvider. Adding SuprSend inbox component useBell hook This hook provides unSeenCount, markAllSeen which is related to the Bell icon in the inbox unSeenCount : Use this variable to show the unseen notification count anywhere in your application. markAllSeen : Used to mark seen for all notifications. Call this method on clicking the bell icon so that it will reset the notification count to 0. bell.dart Copy Ask AI import 'package:suprsend_flutter_inbox/main.dart' ; final bellData = useBell (); // bellData structure: { "unSeenCount" : int , "markAllSeen" : () =>void } useNotifications hook This hook provides a notifications list, unSeenCount, markClicked, and markAllSeen. notifications : List of all notifications. This array can be looped and notifications can be displayed. unSeenCount : Use this variable to show the unseen notification count anywhere in your application. markClicked : Method used to mark a notification as clicked. Pass notification id which is clicked as the first param. code.dart Copy Ask AI import 'package:suprsend_flutter_inbox/main.dart' ; final notifData = useNotifications (); // notifData structure: { "notifications" : List < Notification > , "unSeenCount" : int , "markAllSeen" : () =>void "markClicked" :( n_id ) =>void } // Notification structure: { "n_id" : string , "n_category" : string , "created_on" : int , "seen_on" : int , "message" : { "header" : string , "text" : string , "url" : string , "extra_data" : string , "avatar" : { "action_url" : string , "avatar_url" : string }, "subtext" : { "text" : string , "action_url" : string } "actions" :[ { "name" : string , "url" : string } ] } } Example implementation Example implementation can be found here . Was this page helpful? Yes No Suggest edits Raise issue Previous Embedded Preference Centre How to integrate a Notification Preference Center into your website and add its link to your notification templates. Next ⌘ I x github linkedin youtube Powered by On this page Installation Initialization Adding SuprSend inbox component useBell hook useNotifications hook Example implementation | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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https://docs.suprsend.com/docs/inbox-flutter#example-implementation | Flutter (Headless) - SuprSend, Notification infrastructure for Product teams Skip to main content SuprSend, Notification infrastructure for Product teams home page Search... ⌘ K Community Trust Center Platform Status Postman Collection GETTING STARTED What is SuprSend? Quick Start Guide Best Practices Plan Your Integration Go-live checklist CORE CONCEPTS Templates Users Events Workflow Notification Categories Preferences Tenants Lists Broadcast Objects Translations DLT Guidelines Whatsapp Template Guidelines WORKFLOW BUILDER Design Workflow Node List Workflow Settings Trigger Workflow Validate Trigger Payload Tenant Workflows Notification Inbox Overview Multi Tabs React Javascript (Angular, Vuejs etc) React Native Flutter (Headless) PREFERENCE CENTRE Embedded Preference Centre Javascript Angular React VENDOR INTEGRATION GUIDE Overview Email Integrations SMS Integrations Android Push Whatsapp Integrations iOS Push Chat Integrations Vendor Fallback Tenant Vendor INTEGRATIONS Webhook Connectors MONITORING & DEBUGGING Logs Audit Logs Error Guides MANAGE YOUR ACCOUNT Authentication Methods Contact Us Get Started SuprSend, Notification infrastructure for Product teams home page Search... ⌘ K Ask AI Contact Us Get Started Get Started Search... Navigation Notification Inbox Flutter (Headless) Documentation API Reference Management API CLI Reference Developer Resources Changelog Documentation API Reference Management API CLI Reference Developer Resources Changelog Notification Inbox Flutter (Headless) OpenAI Open in ChatGPT Integrate SuprSend inbox in Flutter using the headless SDK and hooks. OpenAI Open in ChatGPT SuprSend uses flutter hooks to provide inbox functionality in flutter applications. Installation 1 Project's pubspec.yaml changes Add the following line of code inside dependencies in the pubspec.yaml file under the dependencies section pubspec.yaml Copy Ask AI dependencies : flutter : sdk : flutter suprsend_flutter_inbox : "^0.0.1" 2 Run flutter pub get in the terminal Bash Copy Ask AI $ flutter pub get Initialization Enclose your Material App inside SuprSendProvider and pass the workspace key, workspace secret, distinct_id, and subscriber_id . main.dart Copy Ask AI import 'package:suprsend_flutter_inbox/main.dart' ; SuprSendProvider ( workspaceKey : < your workspace key > , workspaceSecret: < your workspace secret > , distinctId: distinct_id, subscriberId: subscriber_id, child: YourAppComponent() ) SuprSend hooks can only be used inside of SuprSendProvider. Adding SuprSend inbox component useBell hook This hook provides unSeenCount, markAllSeen which is related to the Bell icon in the inbox unSeenCount : Use this variable to show the unseen notification count anywhere in your application. markAllSeen : Used to mark seen for all notifications. Call this method on clicking the bell icon so that it will reset the notification count to 0. bell.dart Copy Ask AI import 'package:suprsend_flutter_inbox/main.dart' ; final bellData = useBell (); // bellData structure: { "unSeenCount" : int , "markAllSeen" : () =>void } useNotifications hook This hook provides a notifications list, unSeenCount, markClicked, and markAllSeen. notifications : List of all notifications. This array can be looped and notifications can be displayed. unSeenCount : Use this variable to show the unseen notification count anywhere in your application. markClicked : Method used to mark a notification as clicked. Pass notification id which is clicked as the first param. code.dart Copy Ask AI import 'package:suprsend_flutter_inbox/main.dart' ; final notifData = useNotifications (); // notifData structure: { "notifications" : List < Notification > , "unSeenCount" : int , "markAllSeen" : () =>void "markClicked" :( n_id ) =>void } // Notification structure: { "n_id" : string , "n_category" : string , "created_on" : int , "seen_on" : int , "message" : { "header" : string , "text" : string , "url" : string , "extra_data" : string , "avatar" : { "action_url" : string , "avatar_url" : string }, "subtext" : { "text" : string , "action_url" : string } "actions" :[ { "name" : string , "url" : string } ] } } Example implementation Example implementation can be found here . Was this page helpful? Yes No Suggest edits Raise issue Previous Embedded Preference Centre How to integrate a Notification Preference Center into your website and add its link to your notification templates. Next ⌘ I x github linkedin youtube Powered by On this page Installation Initialization Adding SuprSend inbox component useBell hook useNotifications hook Example implementation | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deceive | DECEIVE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster ✨📕 The NEW Collegiate Dictionary, 12th Edition Over 5,000 words added — Learn More! ✨📕 The NEW Collegiate Dictionary — Learn More! Menu Toggle Merriam-Webster Logo Search Chatbot Chatbot Games Word of the Day Grammar Word Finder Slang New Newsletters Wordplay Rhymes Thesaurus Join MWU More Games Word of the Day Grammar Wordplay Slang Rhymes Word Finder Newsletters New Thesaurus Join MWU Shop Books Merch Log In Username My Words Recents Account Log Out Est. 1828 Dictionary Definition Definition Synonyms Synonym Chooser Example Sentences Word History Phrases Containing Rhymes Entries Near Cite this Entry Citation Share Kids Definition Kids Legal Definition Legal More from M-W Show more Show more Citation Share Kids Legal More from M-W Save Word To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In deceive verb de·​ceive di-ˈsēv Save Word --> deceived ; deceiving Synonyms of deceive transitive verb 1 : to cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid deceiving customers about the condition of the cars bluffing at poker in order to deceive the other players 2 archaic : ensnare … he it was whose guile … deceived the mother of mankind … — John Milton 3 a obsolete : to be false to You have deceived our trust … — Shakespeare b archaic : to fail to fulfill … nor are my hopes deceived . — John Dryden 4 archaic : to while away These occupations oftentimes deceived the listless hour … — William Wordsworth 5 obsolete : cheat … deceived me of a good sum of money … — William Oldys intransitive verb : to make someone believe something that is not true : to practice deceit also : to give a false impression appearances can deceive https://merriam.atlassian.net/browse/MWSITE-9211 --> deceiver noun deceivingly di-ˈsē-viŋ-lē adverb Synonyms of deceive Relevance fool trick mislead See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus Choose the Right Synonym for deceive deceive , mislead , delude , beguile mean to lead astray or frustrate usually by underhandedness. deceive implies imposing a false idea or belief that causes ignorance, bewilderment, or helplessness. tried to deceive me about the cost mislead implies a leading astray that may or may not be intentional. I was misled by the confusing sign delude implies deceiving so thoroughly as to obscure the truth. we were deluded into thinking we were safe beguile stresses the use of charm and persuasion in deceiving. was beguiled by false promises Examples of deceive in a Sentence Quotes--> Extra Examples--> Her parents punished her for trying to deceive them. He was accused of deceiving the customer about the condition of the car. People who think they can eat whatever they want without harming their health are deceiving themselves. Remember that appearances can deceive —just because something looks good doesn't mean it is good. Recent Examples on the Web Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback . Your husband claims not to have known the weekend arrangements in advance, claiming you were both deceived — not only by his old friends, but by their wives, and by the single female neighbor. — Judith Martin, Mercury News , 8 Jan. 2026 That's when the voice distortion comes into play — but due to a history of viewers trying to cheat the system, The Masked Singer team does even more to deceive the audience. — Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE , 7 Jan. 2026 To keep the most vulnerable safe, Ivan has to decide to confront the soldiers or deceive them at the potential cost of his life. — Destiny Jackson, Deadline , 6 Jan. 2026 Relying Too Much On Garbage Disposals Though the name may be deceiving , garbage disposals aren’t actually designed to dispose of all garbage. — Quincy Bulin, Southern Living , 3 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for deceive Word History Etymology Middle English, from Anglo-French deceivre , from Latin decipere , from de- + capere to take — more at heave entry 1 First Known Use 13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 2 Time Traveler The first known use of deceive was in the 13th century See more words from the same century Phrases Containing deceive deceive oneself into thinking self - deceive Rhymes for deceive achieve believe conceive naive perceive receive relieve reprieve retrieve breve cleave cleeve See All Rhymes for deceive Browse Nearby Words deceivable deceive deceive oneself into thinking See all Nearby Words Cite this Entry Style Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deceive. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.">MLA Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , s.v. “deceive,” accessed January 13, 2026, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deceive.">Chicago Merriam-Webster.com dictionary . Retrieved January 13, 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deceive">APA Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deceive. Accessed 1/13/2026.">Merriam-Webster “Deceive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deceive. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026. Copy Citation Share Kids Definition deceive verb de·​ceive di-ˈsēv deceived ; deceiving 1 : to cause to believe what is untrue : mislead deceived the customer about the condition of the car 2 : to use or practice deceit https://merriam.atlassian.net/browse/MWSITE-9211 --> deceiver noun deceivingly -ˈsē-viŋ-lē adverb --> Legal Definition deceive verb de·​ceive deceived ; deceiving transitive verb : to cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid intransitive verb : to practice deceit compare defraud , mislead https://merriam.atlassian.net/browse/MWSITE-9211 --> --> More from Merriam-Webster on deceive Nglish: Translation of deceive for Spanish Speakers Last Updated: 9 Jan 2026 - Updated example sentences Love words? Need even more definitions? Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Merriam-Webster unabridged --> More from Merriam-Webster Can you solve 4 words at once? Play Play Can you solve 4 words at once? Play Play Word of the Day umbrage See Definitions and Examples » Get Word of the Day daily email! --> --> --> Popular in Grammar & Usage See More 5 Verbal Slip Ups and Language Mistakes 'Buck Naked' or 'Butt Naked'? 'Affect' vs. 'Effect' The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.' Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word? See More Popular in Wordplay See More Top 10 Sophisticated Insults Ten Kinds of Happiness The Words of the Week - Jan. 9 17 Words for Dog Breeds Skibidi, Mog & More: Gen Alpha Slang See More Popular See More 5 Verbal Slip Ups and Language Mistakes Top 10 Sophisticated Insults Ten Kinds of Happiness See More Games & Quizzes See All Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once? Play Blossom Pick the best words! Play The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist Play Farm Idioms Quiz If you've got a pig in a poke - what exactly is a... Take the quiz See All Merriam Webster Learn a new word every day. 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https://buf.build/blog/kafka-schema-driven-development | Cheap Kafka is cool. Schema-driven development with Kafka is cooler. Schema Registry Overview Pricing Schema Registry Overview Schema Registry Pricing Bufstream CLI Connect RPC Protovalidate Open Source Connect RPC Protovalidate Docs Blog 10.5k Login Sign up Contact Us Cheap Kafka is cool. Schema-driven development with Kafka is cooler. May 2, 2025 Team Buf and We've been hard at work on Bufstream , our drop-in replacement for Apache Kafka® rebuilt on top of S3-compatible object storage. It's one of the new breed of object-storage-based Kafka replacements, which seem to have become a dime a dozen. WarpStream kicked off the race in 2023, quickly followed by Bufstream, StreamNative Ursa, and Confluent Freight. In the coming months, even Redpanda is finally getting into the game, and there's a proposal to add support for object storage to Apache Kafka itself in the coming years. Why the surge? The pitch is simple: S3 replicates across availability zones for free. By using S3 as your backing store for your topics, you can eliminate associated inter-zone networking costs, massively reducing your Kafka spend. The trade-off is latency: S3 is slower than local disks, and most object-storage-based Kafka replacements will have a p99 end-to-end latency in the 500-1000ms range. If you can tolerate this (as almost all Kafka users can), then save the money. Along the way, benefit from a leaderless broker design: write any partition to any broker. If you're interested in these cost savings, we're convinced that Bufstream is (by far) your best option. We're happy to chat more , but here's the bullet points: Cost : If you're just looking to save Kafka costs, Bufstream beats its competition across almost any workload, sometimes by a lot. We'll do a deep dive on this in a future post. Security : Unlike Bufstream's competition, Bufstream deployments are completely self-hosted. We don't need to jump through any hoops to explain what BYOC is and isn't; Bufstream is entirely deployed within your VPC. Metadata is sensitive data, and we don't want to have access to yours. Simplicity : Unlike Apache Kafka, Bufstream is as simple to deploy and maintain as a web app. It autoscales from 0 all to way to 100 GiB/s of writes with no operator intervention. Under the hood, Bufstream is just a simple binary, which you can also run on your local machine. Reliability : Bufstream is solely built on widely-used and stable cloud technologies, leaving nothing to chance in production environments. Bufstream's only dependencies are an object store (S3, GCS, or Azure Blob Storage) and an off-the-shelf metadata store (Postgres, Etcd, or Google Cloud Spanner). Bufstream's competition uses proprietary or vendor-managed metadata stores of unknown quality. Correctness : As of this post, Bufstream is the only object-storage-based Kafka replacement that has been independently verified for correctness by Jepsen . We invest heavily in correctness testing; no message queue deployed in production should be left to chance. Bufstream was the first object-storage based Kafka implementation to support transactions and exactly-once semantics, and the only one to be adequately tested. If you're looking for a modern drop-in replacement for Apache Kafka to save costs and complexity, Bufstream is probably your best bet. We're happy to go head-to-head against any competitor, and we're confident we can win your business (candidly, in head-to-head POCs with our competitors, we usually do). We're proud of what we've built, but cost savings are generally a race to the bottom, and are not why we got into the Kafka game. We've got a bigger mission here, one that leads us back to where Buf started. A new world: one schema language to rule them all At Buf, we're driving a shift towards universal schema adoption, a world where you: Stop sending freeform JSON around and adopt schema-driven development . Your data should be governed by schemas. Never have to make a compromise between using schemas and getting things done. Most of your data can be described by a schema; using a schema language to describe it should make your life easier, not harder. Choose one schema language to define your schemas across your entire stack, from your network APIs, to your streaming data, to your data lake. Make sure your schemas never break compatibility, and verify this as part of your build. Enrich your schemas with every property required to truly understand the data they encapsulate, from semantic properties to access control. Ensure these properties are inherited as your data is transformed between different schemas. Make sure every component of your stack understands your schemas and their properties. Enforce these properties on your data as close to your source as they can. Engineers shouldn't have to define their network APIs in OpenAPI or Protobuf, their streaming data types in Avro, and their data lake schemas in SQL. Engineers should be able to represent every property they care about directly on their schema, and have these properties propagated throughout their RPC framework, streaming data platform, and data lake tables. A unified schema approach can dramatically reshape data engineering: Schema-driven development adopted across your entire stack would eliminate so much boilerplate that engineers would have to find new (and better) uses of their time. If schemas defined more than just basic properties ("this field is a string", "this field is an int") but semantic properties ("this string field must be a valid email address", "this int field is a human age and must be between 0 and 150", "this other int field must never be 0", "if field 1 exists, field 2 must exist"), we could have confidence that additional application-level logic was not needed to truly represent the shape of our data. If a single schema language were used to describe your network, application, and data shapes, producers could define the data's properties and make sure data sent downstream conforms to those properties. The closer to the data source you go, the better the understanding of what the shape and properties of the data is. Bad data could be stopped at the source. Patterns like the medallion architecture could go from mainstream to niche. If schemas never broke compatibility, consumers would never have to live in fear of whether the data they're consuming continues to match their expectations. BI dashboards or model training would not end up broken days after the fact due to missing columns (and the Kafka team would not get falsely blamed). If access control could be defined at the schema level, and understood by our RPC frameworks, Kafka-compatible message queues, and data lakes, we could have a unified view and understanding of data governance. The largest data engineering pain point — poor data quality — can be solved, transitioning from perpetual cleanup to consistently trusted data. Data engineers can stop being data quality QA personnel and get back to their jobs. We think that schema language should be Protobuf While what specific schema language is chosen is somewhat unimportant in theory, at Buf, we think it should be Protobuf : Avro has a lot of similarities, but falls short as a schema language to use across your entire stack. Avro's adoption has largely been limited to big data. Importantly, because of quirks in how Avro's binary format works, there are very few schema changes that are backward and forward compatible. In practice, a reader will be unable to reliably decode an Avro message without access to the exact version of the schema used to write it. This makes Avro largely impractical for network APIs, and no production-grade RPC framework using Avro has ever been widely adopted. Additionally, tooling is heavily focused on the JVM. JSON is a universal language that is useful as a human-readable representation of your data, but is inefficient as an interchange format, since every key is consistently duplicated across messages as a long-form string. This is especially problematic for high-throughput streaming data use cases. While tools like JSON Schema help solve the inherent freeform nature of JSON interchange, JSON's drawbacks make JSON Schema fall short as a modern schema language. SQL has in effect become a schema language of sorts for data lakes via CREATE TABLE statements. Given SQL's widespread use in big data, this is useful at one end of the spectrum. However, SQL is not a schema language appropriate for all parts of your stack; you'd never use CREATE TABLE statements to describe the shape of your RPCs and there's no tooling to do so. SQL just isn't great for structured data: nested types and lists need to be projected into sub-tables, and the mapping to language-specific objects or structs is less than obvious. Other Protobuf-like products like Apache Thrift™ , Cap'n Proto , Flatbuffers , and many others all have their pros and cons, but in the end, they aren't widely differentiated and aren't widely used. While Protobuf is far from perfect, Protobuf is the most battle-tested, widely-used schema language in existence today. If you're looking to use a schema language anywhere across your stack and in any language, there's probably a Protobuf library you can use (and we may have written it ). Protobuf also has a well-defined JSON mapping , which remains critical for human introspection and migratory use cases. The world has moved to Protobuf in the last decade, and that transition doesn't look to be slowing down. Buf has been working to make Protobuf accessible for over half a decade Adopting schemas across your stack has historically been a story of fragmentation and frustration. You'd have to use different schema languages at different parts of your stack. REST/JSON dominated the network API space, and fighting against the tide had a huge cost. With the rise of gRPC , Protobuf became the clear alternative by the late 2010s, however Protobuf development left a lot to be desired. To effectively adopt Protobuf, you'd have to solve compilation, stub generation, distribution, enforcement of common standards, breaking change prevention, documentation, and the list goes on. At best, you'd get CLI tooling seemingly designed in 1970, and perhaps a little bit of documentation. Early adopters had to cobble together patchwork solutions to these problems, which rarely rose to the challenge. Buf brought together the world's Protobuf experts to solve this once and for all: The Buf CLI integrates tightly with your IDE to make local Protobuf development easy. Compilation, stub generation, breaking change detection, linting, formatting, encoding conversion – buf is your one-stop shop for anything Protobuf. The Buf CLI has become the de facto standard for local Protobuf development across the industry. The Buf Schema Registry is the missing package manager for Protobuf. The BSR provides centralized distribution of your Protobuf APIs, generated SDKs that can be consumed via the native language package manager of your choice, generated documentation, plugin management, and breaking change and policy enforcement that is required for proper schema governance. The largest companies in the world rely on the BSR to back their Protobuf deployments. ConnectRPC brings to Protobuf an RPC framework that simply works across backend, frontend, and mobile use cases. It's entirely gRPC-compatible (in fact it's even more compatible with the gRPC spec than the core gRPC libraries ) but provides HTTP/1.1 and JSON compatibility where it matters. Implementations are based on the concept of production-grade through simplicity. Connect has joined the CNCF as a vendor-neutral home, and has been adopted by many large organizations. Protovalidate provides the semantic validation libraries required to properly represent your data's properties beyond simple field types. It builds on the success of the widely-adopted protoc-gen-validate , which Buf was asked to take over from the Envoy project. Protovalidate uses CEL to provide proper Protobuf validation across Go , Python , Java , C++ , and TypeScript . Bazel rules , Gradle support , a modern Protobuf compiler , LSP support , even the world's only language spec for Protobuf . All built at Buf, to make Protobuf work for everyone. Streaming data has a data problem So where does Bufstream fit in? Streaming data has a major problem with data quality, namely we have no guarantees of the quality of data being produced. This comes down to typical streaming data architecture. In traditional Kafka, brokers are simple data pipes; brokers have no understanding of what data traverses them. This simplicity helped Kafka gain ubiquity, however in practice, most data that is sent through Kafka topics has some schema that represents it. Unfortunately, in the Kafka ecosystem, schema validation is precariously left to clients, bolted on as an afterthought to an ecosystem not designed to understand schemas in the first place. Client-side enforcement is in effect "opt-in" enforcement. Producers can choose to do it or not, meaning you have no guarantees as to the quality of data sent to your consumers. This is a state of the world we'd never accept in i.e. network APIs – imagine if your application servers relied on your web clients to validate their data and your applications persisted whatever they were given – we'd all be in trouble! Bufstream is more than just a drop-in Kafka replacement. Bufstream is built from the ground up to understand the shape of the data traversing its topics. We call this broker-side schema awareness , and it brings some interesting capabilities. Chief among these is its ability to block bad data from entering topics in the first place. Bufstream provides governed topics that enable semantic validation via Protovalidate on the producer API. If a record is produced with a message that doesn't pass validation, the entire batch is rejected or the offending record is sent to a DLQ. Importantly, since this happens on the broker, consumers can rely on the knowledge that data within topics always matches its stated constraints. It's a tale as old as time: a required field is zeroed out, or some data is corrupted, and a downstream business intelligence dashboard is subtly wrong for days. The maintainer eventually realizes, and yells at the Kafka team for their data quality issues. The Kafka team, however, had nothing to do with it – they don't control the producers of the data. Everyone scrambles to find the lineage of the bad data until order is restored. Bufstream solves this once and for all: this tale is a thing of the past with broker-side semantic validation. Bufstream's awareness of your schemas provides so much more, from direct mapping to Iceberg tables with zero copies ( your Iceberg tables are your Kafka storage ), to a type-safe transformation engine that's dramatically more performant than any stream data processor in existence. We'll cover these in specific blog posts in the future. Schema governance is just as important as data quality It isn't enough to ensure that bad data for your current schemas doesn't proliferate. You also need to ensure that bad schema changes don't make it to production either. Deleting fields, changing their type, or adding backwards-incompatible semantic properties all can result in downstream consumers being hopelessly broken without any recourse. In almost all cases, breaking schema changes should never hit your network APIs, Kafka topics, or Iceberg tables, until you do a proper v2. Consumers need the confidence that producers will never break their schemas until v2 (usually, in an entirely new topic or table), but current practices do not incentivize proper schema management and evolution. Schemas are typically shared via a schema registry, such as the Confluent Schema Registry or Glue Schema Registry. Unfortunately, new schemas are registered with these schema registries at runtime via clients that provide whatever schemas are baked into their code. These schemas have no guarantee of compatibility or having gone through proper review – they could even appear from dev laptops from code on feature branches in the worst case. Here's a typical flow for a producer using the Confluent Schema Registry (CSR): A client wants to produce a new record that has a given associated schema. The client would like this record to be enveloped using the Confluent Wire Format , requiring a schema ID to be retrieved for the schema from the CSR. The client sends its representation of the schema to the CSR. If the CSR has seen this schema before, great, it will send back the associated schema ID. If the CSR has not seen this schema before and this schema breaks what CSR considers to be compatible, great (sort of), the CSR will send back an error. If the CSR has not seen this schema before but deems it to be compatible, it will send back a new schema ID representing this previously-unknown schema. This is a recipe for disaster. The CSR's checks for compatibility are basic, and don't take semantic properties into account. For Protobuf, the CSR doesn't check all properties that must be checked to ensure true Protobuf compatibility (a fact we'll dive into in a future post). Schemas can appear at runtime without any vetting. Buf introduces a different world with the Buf Schema Registry (BSR). Schemas cannot appear out of thin air, instead only being allowed to appear at build-time via explicit pushes from source control after passing stringent breaking change and policy checks. Buf will check not only basic properties, but semantic properties as well via Protovalidate. And Buf has the world's Protobuf experts – when we validate that your schemas have no breaking changes, we mean it . Schemas are code reviewed by relevant teams, just like any other piece of code. In the same flow as above: If the BSR has seen this schema before, great, it will send back the associated schema ID. If the BSR has not seen this schema before , the BSR will send back an error, end of story. Without this proper schema governance, there can be no confidence in the underlying data traversing your systems, and consumers have to stay on their toes. Buf brings it all together Buf brings a holistic approach to this problem. We're making it possible to use a single schema language across your entire stack with ease. Given the following Protobuf message: message User { option (buf.kafka.v1.topic) = "user-created" ; option (buf.kafka.v1.topic) = "user-updated" ; option (buf.validate.message).cel = { expression: "!has(this.first_name) || has(this.last_name)" }; string id = 1 [ (buf.validate.field). string .uuid = true , (acme. option .v1.safe_for_ai) = true ]; string handle = 2 [ (buf.validate.field). string .min_len = 1 , (buf.validate.field). string .max_len = 64 , (acme. option .v1.safe_for_ai) = true ]; string first_name = 3 [ (buf.validate.field). string .min_len = 1 , (buf.validate.field). string .max_len = 64 , (buf.rbac.v1.field).role = "pii" , (acme. option .v1.safe_for_ai) = false ]; string last_name = 4 [ (buf.validate.field). string .min_len = 1 , (buf.validate.field). string .max_len = 64 , (buf.rbac.v1.field).role = "pii" , (acme. option .v1.safe_for_ai) = false ]; string email = 5 [ (buf.validate.field). required = true , (buf.validate.field). string .email = true , (buf.rbac.v1.field).role = "pii" , (acme. option .v1.safe_for_ai) = false ]; uint32 age = 6 [ (buf.validate.field). uint32 .lte = 150 , (buf.rbac.v1.field).role = "pii" , (acme. option .v1.safe_for_ai) = true ]; } You should be able to: Evolve User safely and easily in your IDE of choice, using Buf's tools to enforce that changes to User comply with your style guide and policies. For example, you may want to make sure that every field has a safe_for_ai annotation, noting whether or not it is safe to train AI models on this field. As part of CI, check that changes to User do not introduce any breaking changes or policy violations. Bad changes to User will be blocked at build-time, and never allowed to propagate to generated code, Kafka topics, or data lakes. Allow clients to consume generated code for User in any language without needing to understand Protobuf or its toolchain. Prevent malformed Users from ever making it down your stack via Protovalidate. Your RPC framework should have interceptors at the application layer to enforce the properties of Users , and your Kafka-compatible message queue should either reject malformed Users via the Producer API, or send them to a DLQ. No bad data should ever again enter your topics or data lake. Store all Users produced to the user-created and user-updated Kafka topics into Iceberg tables in your data lake to be queried within seconds of production, while paying only once for both Kafka and data lake storage. Consumers of your Iceberg tables can be confident that the data they consume will always be correct, and the backing schema will never be broken. Mask out all PII fields for clients of your networks APIs, consumers of your Kafka topics, and users of your data lake tables for those without PII access. Your RPC framework, Kafka-compatible message queue, and data lake of choice should all understand the RBAC annotations from your single schema language, and these annotations should be propagated. Kafka should automatically apply masking via the Consumer API, and Iceberg tables read into Snowflake or Databricks should take RBAC annotations into account via Snowflake column-level security or Databricks column masks . And so much more. If this is a world that interests you, get in touch , we'd love to get to work. In this post Thank you! Your submission has been received! Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form. Product Bufstream Schema Registry BSR Pricing Buf CLI GitHub Docs Company Blog Events Careers Community Slack Contact Us © Buf Technologies, Inc. 2025 / Privacy policy , Terms of use , & Consent preferences | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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https://buf.build/legal/privacy-policy | Privacy policy Schema Registry Overview Pricing Schema Registry Overview Schema Registry Pricing Bufstream CLI Connect RPC Protovalidate Open Source Connect RPC Protovalidate Docs Blog 10.5k Login Sign up Contact Us Big news! Protovalidate is now v1.0. Privacy policy Effective as of Apr 11, 2024 This "Privacy Policy" describes the privacy practices of Buf Technologies, Inc. and our subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively, "Buf Technologies", "we", "us", or "our") in connection with the https://buf.build/ website and any other website or mobile application that we own or control and which posts or links to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the "Service"), and the rights and choices available to individuals with respect to their information. Buf Technologies may provide additional or supplemental privacy policies to individuals for specific products or services that we offer at the time we collect personal information. These supplemental privacy policies will govern how we may process the information in the context of the specific product or service. We provide important information for individuals located in the European Union, European Economic Area , and United Kingdom (collectively, "Europe" or "European") below . Table of Contents Personal Information We Collect How We Use Your Personal Information How We Share your Personal Information Your choices Other sites, mobile applications and services Security practices International data transfers Children Changes to this Privacy Policy How to Contact Us Notice to European Users Personal Information We Collect Information you provide to us. Personal information you provide to us through the Service or otherwise includes: Business and personal contact information , such as your email address and company name when you register for an account. Content you choose to upload to the Service , such as text, images, audio, and video, along with the metadata associated with the files you upload. Feedback or correspondence , such as information you provide when you contact us with questions, feedback, or otherwise correspond with us online. Transaction information , such as information about payments to and from you and other details of products or services you have purchased from us. Usage information , such as information about how you use the Service and interact with us, including information associated with any content you upload to the websites or otherwise submit to us, and information you provide when you use any interactive features of the Service. Other information , that we may collect which is not specifically listed here, but which we will use in accordance with this Privacy Policy or as otherwise disclosed at the time of collection. Information we obtain from social media platforms. We may maintain pages for our Company on social media platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Instagram, and other third party platforms. When you visit or interact with our pages on those platforms, the platform provider’s privacy policy will apply to your interactions and their collection, use and processing of your personal information. You or the platforms may provide us with information through the platform, and we will treat such information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Cookies and Other Information Collected by Automated Means We, our service providers, and our business partners may automatically log information about you, your computer or mobile device, and activity occurring on or through the Service. The information that may be collected automatically includes your computer or mobile device operating system type and version number, manufacturer and model, browser type, screen resolution, IP address, the website you visited before browsing to our website, general location information such as city, state or geographic area; and information about your use of and actions on the Service, such as pages or screens you viewed, how long you spent on a page or screen, navigation paths between pages or screens, information about your activity on a page or screen, access times, and length of access. Our service providers and business partners may collect this type of information over time and across third-party websites and mobile applications. See our Cookie Policy for more information. How We Use Your Personal Information We use your personal information for the following purposes and as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy or at the time of collection: To operate the Service. We use your personal information to: provide, operate and improve the Service provide information about our products and services establish and maintain your user profile on the Service enable security features of the Service, such as by sending you security codes via email or SMS, and remembering devices from which you have previously logged in communicate with you about the Service, including by sending you announcements, updates, security alerts, related content and support and administrative messages communicate with you about events or contests in which you participate understand your needs and interests, and personalize your experience with the Service and our communications provide support and maintenance for the Service respond to your requests, questions and feedback For research and development. We analyze use of the Service to analyze and improve the Service and to develop new products and services, including by studying user demographics and use of the Service. To send you marketing and promotional communications. We may send you Buf Technologies-related marketing communications as permitted by law. You will have the ability to opt-out of our marketing and promotional communications as described in the Opt out of marketing section below. To comply with law. We use your personal information as we believe necessary or appropriate to comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, and legal process, such as to respond to subpoenas or requests from government authorities. For compliance, fraud prevention, and safety. We may use your personal information and disclose it to law enforcement, government authorities, and private parties as we believe necessary or appropriate to: (a) protect our, your or others’ rights, privacy, safety or property (including by making and defending legal claims); (b) enforce the terms and conditions that govern the Service; and (c) protect, investigate and deter against fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical or illegal activity. With your consent. In some cases we may specifically ask for your consent to collect, use or share your personal information, such as when required by law. To create anonymous, aggregated or de-identified data. We may create anonymous, aggregated or de-identified data from your personal information and other individuals whose personal information we collect. We make personal information into anonymous, aggregated or de-identified data by removing information that makes the data personally identifiable to you. We may use this anonymous, aggregated or de-identified data and share it with third parties for our lawful business purposes, including to analyze and improve the Service and promote our business. How We Share your Personal Information We do not share your personal information with third parties without your consent, except in the following circumstances or as described in this Privacy Policy: Affiliates. We may share your personal information with our corporate parent, subsidiaries, and affiliates, for purposes consistent with this Privacy Policy. Service providers. We may share your personal information with third party companies and individuals that provide services on our behalf or help us operate the Service (such as customer support, hosting, analytics, email delivery, marketing, and database management services). These third parties may use your personal information only as directed or authorized by us and in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy, and are prohibited from using or disclosing your information for any other purpose. Professional advisors. We may disclose your personal information to professional advisors, such as lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers, where necessary in the course of the professional services that they render to us. For compliance, fraud prevention and safety.. We may share your personal information for the compliance, fraud prevention and safety purposes described above. Business transfers. We may sell, transfer or otherwise share some or all of our business or assets, including your personal information, in connection with a business transaction (or potential business transaction) such as a corporate divestiture, merger, consolidation, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets, or in the event of bankruptcy or dissolution. Your Choices In this section, we describe the rights and choices available to all users. Users who are located within the European Union can find additional information about their rights below . Access or Update Your Information. If you have registered for an account with us, you may review and update certain personal information in your account profile by logging into the account. Opt out of marketing communications. You may opt out of marketing-related emails by following the opt-out or unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of the email, or by contacting us at privacy@buf.build . You may continue to receive service-related and other non-marketing emails. Cookies & Browser Web Storage. We may allow service providers and other third parties to use cookies and similar technologies to track your browsing activity over time and across the Service and third party websites. For more details, see our Cookie Policy . When you visit or log in to our website, cookies and similar technologies may be used by our online data partners or vendors to associate these activities with other personal information they or others have about you, including by association with your email or online profiles. We (or service providers on our behalf) may then send communications and marketing to these emails or profiles. You may opt out of receiving this advertising by visiting https://app.retention.com/optout . Do Not Track. Some Internet browsers may be configured to send "Do Not Track" signals to the online services that you visit. We currently do not respond to "Do Not Track" or similar signals. To find out more about "Do Not Track," please visit http://www.allaboutdnt.com . Choosing not to share your personal information. Where we are required by law to collect your personal information, or where we need your personal information in order to provide the Service to you, if you do not provide this information when requested (or you later ask to delete it), we may not be able to provide you with our services. We will tell you what information you must provide to receive the Service by designating it as required at the time of collection or through other appropriate means. Other sites, mobile applications and services The Service may contain links to other websites, mobile applications, and other online services operated by third parties. These links are not an endorsement of, or representation that we are affiliated with, any third party. In addition, our content may be included on web pages or in mobile applications or online services that are not associated with us. We do not control third party websites, mobile applications or online services, and we are not responsible for their actions. Other websites and services follow different rules regarding the collection, use and sharing of your personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of the other websites and mobile applications and online services you use. Security practices The security of your personal information is important to us. We employ a number of organizational, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information we collect. However, security risk is inherent in all internet and information technologies and we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information. If you have any questions or comments about our security practices, or wish to report a potential security issue, please contact security@buf.build. International data transfers We are headquartered in the United States and have service providers in other countries, and your personal information may be transferred to the United States or other locations outside of your state, province, or country where privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your state, province, or country. European Union users should read the important information provided below about transfer of personal information outside of the European Union. Children As a general rule, children are not allowed to use the Service, and we do not collect personal information from them. We define "children" as follows: Residents outside of Europe: anyone under 13 years old; and Residents of Europe: anyone under 16 years old, or the age needed to consent to the processing of personal information in your country of residence. If we learn that we have collected personal information of a child without the consent of the child’s parent or guardian, we will delete it. We encourage parents with concerns to contact us . Changes to this Privacy Policy We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by updating the date of this Privacy Policy and posting it on the Service. We may, and if required by law will, also provide notification of changes in another way that we believe is reasonably likely to reach you, such as via e-mail (if you have an account where we have your contact information) or another manner through the Service. Any modifications to this Privacy Policy will be effective upon our posting the new terms and/or upon implementation of the new changes on the Service (or as otherwise indicated at the time of posting). In all cases, your continued use of the Service after the posting of any modified Privacy Policy indicates your acceptance of the terms of the modified Privacy Policy. How to Contact Us Please direct any questions or comments about this Policy or privacy practices to privacy@buf.build . You may also write to us via postal mail at: Buf Technologies, Inc. Attn: Legal – Privacy 50 Fountain Plaza, Suite 1400 Buffalo NY, 14202 Notice to European Users The information provided in this "Notice to European Users" section applies only to individuals in Europe. Personal information. References to "personal information" in this Privacy Policy are equivalent to "personal information" governed by European data protection legislation. Controller. Buf Technologies, Inc. is the controller of your personal information covered by this Privacy Policy for purposes of European data protection legislation. Legal bases for processing. We use your personal information only as permitted by law. Our legal bases for processing the personal information described in this Privacy Policy are described in the table below. Processing purpose (click link for details) Details regarding each processing purpose listed below are provided in the section above titled "How we use your personal information" Legal basis To operate the Service Processing is necessary to perform the contract governing our provision of the Service or to take steps that you request prior to signing up for the Service. If we have not entered into a contract with you, we process your personal information based on our legitimate interest in providing the Service you access and request. To administer events and contests For research and development To send you marketing communications To manage our recruiting and process employment applications For compliance, fraud prevention and safety To create anonymous data These activities constitute our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal information for these activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). To comply with law Processing is necessary to comply with our legal obligations. With your consent Processing is based on your consent. Where we rely on your consent you have the right to withdraw it any time in the manner indicated when you consent or in the Service Use for new purposes. We may use your personal information for reasons not described in this Privacy Policy where permitted by law and the reason is compatible with the purpose for which we collected it. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and explain the applicable legal basis. Sensitive personal information. We ask that you not provide us with any sensitive personal information (e.g., information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, biometrics or genetic characteristics, criminal background or trade union membership) on or through the Service, or otherwise to us. If you provide us with any sensitive personal information to us when you use the Service, you must consent to our processing and use of such sensitive personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not consent to our processing and use of such sensitive personal information, you must not submit such sensitive personal information through our Service. Retention We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, to establish or defend legal claims, or for fraud prevention purposes. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. When we no longer require the personal information we have collected about you, we will either delete or anonymize it or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible. If we anonymize your personal information (so that it can no longer be associated with you), we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you. Your rights European data protection laws give you certain rights regarding your personal information. If you are located within the European Union, you may ask us to take the following actions in relation to your personal information that we hold: Access. Provide you with information about our processing of your personal information and give you access to your personal information. Correct. Update or correct inaccuracies in your personal information. Delete. Delete your personal information. Transfer. Transfer a machine-readable copy of your personal information to you or a third party of your choice. Restrict. Restrict the processing of your personal information. Object. Object to our reliance on our legitimate interests as the basis of our processing of your personal information that impacts your rights. You may submit these requests by email to privacy@buf.build or our postal address provided above. We may request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and process your request. Applicable law may require or permit us to decline your request. If we decline your request, we will tell you why, subject to legal restrictions. If you would like to submit a complaint about our use of your personal information or our response to your requests regarding your personal information, you may contact us or submit a complaint to the data protection regulator in your jurisdiction. You can find your data protection regulator here . Cross-Border Data Transfer If we transfer your personal information out of Europe to a country not deemed by the European Commission to provide an adequate level of personal information protection, the transfer will be performed: Pursuant to the recipient’s compliance with standard contractual clauses, EU-US Privacy Shield (or Swiss-US Privacy Shield, as applicable), or Binding Corporate Rules Pursuant to the consent of the individual to whom the personal information pertains As otherwise permitted by applicable European requirements. Last modified: Apr 11, 2024 Ready for a trial? Talk with an expert Sign up Product Bufstream Schema Registry BSR Pricing Buf CLI GitHub Docs Company Blog Events Careers Community Slack Contact Us © Buf Technologies, Inc. 2025 / Privacy policy , Terms of use , & Consent preferences | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://buf.build/careers | Careers at Buf Schema Registry Overview Pricing Schema Registry Overview Schema Registry Pricing Bufstream CLI Connect RPC Protovalidate Open Source Connect RPC Protovalidate Docs Blog 10.5k Login Sign up Contact Us Big news! Protovalidate is now v1.0. Careers at Buf We'd love to have you join us. Open positions We're always on the lookout for great people to add to our team! If you're interested in Buf, join us in our community Slack and let's talk. Engineering Frontend Engineer (TypeScript, React) Engineering Manager - Bufstream Operations Business Operations Product Bufstream Schema Registry BSR Pricing Buf CLI GitHub Docs Company Blog Events Careers Community Slack Contact Us © Buf Technologies, Inc. 2025 / Privacy policy , Terms of use , & Consent preferences | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://www.git-tower.com/blog/posts/7-cli-tools-every-developer-should-install | 7 CLI Tools Every Developer Should Install | Tower Blog You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience. Tower Navigation Features Undo Anything Just press Cmd+Z Drag and Drop Make the complex effortless Integrations Use your favorite tools Tower Workflows Branching Configurations Stacked Pull Requests Supercharged workflows All Features Release Notes Pricing Support Documentation Contact Us Account Login Learn Git Video Course 24 episodes Online Book From novice to master Cheat Sheets For quick lookup Webinar Learn from a Git professional First Aid Kit Recover from mistakes Advanced Git Kit Dive deeper Blog Download Download < Back to Blog 7 CLI Tools Every Developer Should Install Bruno Brito October 2025 | 6 min read Share: In this post, we will have a look at 7 essential command-line tools that I believe every developer should consider adding to their arsenal. I will share why I think they're useful and provide some tips and commands to help you get the most out of them. All right, get your terminal ready and let's get right into it! 😎 In a hurry? Watch our brief 2-minute vertical video that introduces all the tools listed below. 1. btop: A Beautiful System Resource Monitor When you need to keep an eye on your system's performance, btop is my go-to tool. It's similar to programs like htop and atop , but in my opinion, it's much more pleasing to the eye! Btop - A Beautiful System Resource Monitor Btop provides a comprehensive overview of your CPU, memory, disk I/O, network usage, and running processes. It is great to spot resource hogs, as it allows you to quickly sort processes by various metrics (CPU usage, memory usage, PID, etc.). You can use the arrow keys to navigate between different sorting columns, such as memory or CPU, and then press r to sort them by that column. You can also filter a process by pressing f and then typing its name. Btop comes bundled with dozens of themes as well! Just press Esc to access the options, where you can customize many visual aspects of the application. 2. Ncdu: Your Disk Usage Detective Ever found yourself wondering where all your disk space went? Ncdu is a really fast disk usage analyzer that will quickly pinpoint the culprits. Ncdu: Your Disk Usage Detective Ncdu scans your directories and presents a hierarchical view of disk usage, making it incredibly easy to identify large files and folders. More importantly, it allows you to delete unnecessary items directly from its interface, saving you precious disk space and time. This is particularly handy for cleaning up large node_modules folders, old logs, or forgotten project artifacts. Navigating through directories is easy: just use the arrow keys to move up and down. When you find a file or directory to delete, simply press the D key. Keep in mind that Ncdu will ask for confirmation before deletion, but once it's gone, you won't find the files in the Trash! BTW, you can exclude folders with many files to speed things up. Simply type ncdu --exclude ~/Sites to exclude the "Sites" directory, for example. 3. fd: The Lightning-Fast File Finder find is powerful, but fd is fast, user-friendly, and often exactly what you need. It's a simpler, quicker alternative for finding files in your filesystem. fd: The Lightning-Fast File Finder fd is designed for speed and convenience. You can run it from a high-level directory without waiting, making it perfect for large codebases or for quickly locating a file when you know its name, even partially, but have no idea which folder it is in. You can easily filter by file type using the command: fd --extension psd . In this example, you will see a list of available Photoshop files. 4. git-flow-next: Supercharging Your Git Workflow If you enjoy branching workflows like Gitflow, then git-flow-next is worth exploring. It is fully compatible with the original Gitflow but includes powerful features, such as the ability to: Create custom branching configurations from scratch. Keep branches in sync with their parent branches by simply typing git flow update . git-flow-next: Supercharging Your Git Workflow Once you define your own branching configuration (or use a preset — you can choose between the classic Gitflow, GitHub Flow, and GitLab Flow and then customize them), you can quickly start and finish branches to integrate their changes and delete fully merged branches. Oh, BTW: `git-flow-next is an open-source project developed by the Tower team 😉 5. z: The Smart Directory Jumper Tired of typing out long paths to frequently accessed directories? z is a brilliant tool that learns your habits and lets you jump to any directory with just a few keystrokes. z: The Smart Directory Jumper z keeps track of the directories you visit most often (based on "frecency" - a combination of frequency and recency). Instead of typing cd ~/projects/my-awesome-app/src/components , you can simply type z components or z my-awesome . It's a massive time-saver for anyone who navigates their filesystem frequently! 6. Zellij: The Customizable Terminal Multiplexer In an age where AI assistants like Claude and Gemini CLI are often used directly in the terminal, a robust terminal multiplexer is non-negotiable. Terminal multiplexers allow you to run multiple terminal sessions within a single window, detach from them, and reattach later. This means you can keep your development environment running even if you close your terminal or lose your SSH connection. While tmux is way more popular, Zellij offers a fantastic out-of-the-box experience with incredible customization. Zellij provides a clean, well-designed interface for managing panes and tabs, and its plugin system allows for powerful extensions. Zellij: The Customizable Terminal Multiplexer To get started, simply type zellij -s your-saved-session to create a new session. If you detach from the session, you can later resume it by typing zellij attach your-saved-session . You can also view your entire list of sessions by typing zellij list-sessions . 7. ASDF: The Universal Runtime Version Manager Managing multiple versions of Node.js, Python, Ruby, or any other runtime can be a headache. ASDF simplifies this by providing a single, consistent interface for managing all your runtime versions. ASDF: The Universal Runtime Version Manager Instead of installing separate version managers (like nvm for Node.js, rbenv for Ruby, pyenv for Python), ASDF consolidates them all. You can easily switch between different versions globally or on a per-project basis, preventing conflicts and ensuring your projects run with the correct dependencies. To get started, install a plugin (such as Node.js or Ruby) by typing, for example, asdf plugin add nodejs . Then, you can easily install a specific version of a runtime by typing something like asdf install nodejs 22.14.0 . To set a global default version for a runtime, type asdf global <plugin-name> <version> . For a project-specific version, type asdf local <plugin-name> <version> instead; a .tool-versions file will be created in your current directory. Finally, you can type asdf list to see a list of all the installed versions for the runtimes of your choosing. We hope you enjoyed this list of CLI tools! Once you take some time to familiarize yourself with them, I think your experience using the terminal will be much more enjoyable! For more tips and tricks, be sure to sign up for our newsletter below and follow Tower on Twitter / X and LinkedIn ! ✌️ Join Over 100,000 Developers & Designers Be the first to know about new content from the Tower blog as well as giveaways and freebies via email. Join Over 100,000 Developers & Designers Be the first to know about new content from the Tower blog as well as giveaways and freebies via email. I have read and accept the Privacy Policy . I understand that I can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in any email. Table of Contents Introduction 1. btop: A Beautiful System Resource Monitor 2. Ncdu: Your Disk Usage Detective 3. fd: The Lightning-Fast File Finder 4. git-flow-next: Supercharging Your Git Workflow 5. z: The Smart Directory Jumper 6. Zellij: The Customizable Terminal Multiplexer 7. ASDF: The Universal Runtime Version Manager We make Tower, the best Git client. Try Tower Now Search the Blog Related Posts 10% More Productive: Mastering the Terminal The Command Line: love it or hate it, it's one of the most important tools for developers. This guide covers everything you need to know to get comfortable with the terminal. git-flow-next: The Next Iteration of Advanced Git Workflows Today, we're excited to introduce git-flow-next, a brand-new, open-source command-line tool built to reimagine the popular git-flow model. How Framer Manages Their Codebase with Tower We sat down with Jonas Treub and Niels van Hoorn from the Framer team to understand how Tower assists them in version controlling the Framer codebase, so that their users can build stunning websites. We make Tower, the best Git client for Mac and Windows. We help over 100,000 users in companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Twitter, and Ebay to easily & productively work with the Git version control system. Try it 30 days for free Your Download is in Progress… Giveaways. Cheat Sheets. eBooks. Discounts. And great content from our blog! Yes, I want the free newsletter that's loved by over 100,000 developers and designers. It's free, it's sent infrequently (approx. once a month) and you can unsubscribe any time. I have read and accept the Privacy Policy . I understand that I can unsubscribe at any time. Your trial is downloading… Try Tower "Pro" for 30 days without limitations! 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https://buf.build/case-study/clinician-nexus | From Reactive to Proactive: How Clinician Nexus Built a Schema-Driven Data Platform with Buf Schema Registry Overview Pricing Schema Registry Overview Schema Registry Pricing Bufstream CLI Connect RPC Protovalidate Open Source Connect RPC Protovalidate Docs Blog 10.5k Login Sign up Contact Us Case study From Reactive to Proactive: How Clinician Nexus Built a Schema-Driven Data Platform with Buf Prevention can save a whole lot of time and effort and complexity versus treating it after the fact. Healthcare data can be messy. When you're dealing with physician compensation data from hundreds of health systems across the country—each with their own regulations, formats, and quirks—the traditional “fix it when it breaks” approach to data becomes a recipe for disaster. This issue becomes even more challenging when working with human-created data, such as from surveys. Dwight Whitlock, Platform Engineering Lead at Clinician Nexus, learned this firsthand. His team processes survey-based compensation, performance, and job classification data from the majority of the country's health systems, ranging from individual survey submissions with five records to massive datasets with 5 million records. The challenge? Every health system sends data differently—some as CSV files, others as complex Excel spreadsheets with many different sheets, each with inconsistent schemas. Whitlock compares addressing data quality issues to preventing cancer. "My sister is a physician and is always telling my parents ways to be healthier and prevent cancer," Whitlock explains. "It's a lot harder to treat cancer than to do things that help prevent it. Streaming systems obviously are not cancer, but they share that common attribute where prevention can save a whole lot of time and effort and complexity versus treating it after the fact." This preventative medicine approach to data engineering is exactly what drove Clinician Nexus to adopt Bufsteam and the Buf Schema Registry. Before Buf Clinician Nexus is committed to delivering high-quality data and continuously improving their data engineering practices. But they saw challenges that most data teams face: Only the engineers who wrote the code could understand how field mappings worked or what validation rules were applied – knowledge that should be accessible to everyone. Beyond knowledge silos, they saw other areas for improvement. Breaking changes could go undetected until production, validation logic might be scattered across different systems, and their transactional architecture required over-provisioning infrastructure to accommodate highly variable workloads. This is the reality for most data teams—fragmented approaches to schema management that limit effectiveness. What Clinician Nexus wanted to improve: Making field mapping and data quality rules visible to business users . "Data quality rules were a black box to our business users," explained Whitlock. For example, teams couldn't understand how fields and schemas map to a header name without digging through engineering code. If analysts wanted to see changes over time, “they'd have to submit a ticket to a DBA and it would take however long to get an answer back." Catching breaking changes before they reach production. Clinician Nexus’ first iteration on Protobuf was a monorepo with no breaking change detection. Like most organizations, schemas could appear at runtime without proper vetting, where incompatible changes can get deployed without anyone knowing until systems break. Centralizing and clarifying validation logic. "Previously, if we were only applying data quality rules within the lakehouse, then our application team didn't understand what was being applied." Teams struggled with the smaller menial tasks of day-to-day data engineering – things like sorting out why does the schema look this way? What's the context behind it? Streamlining their architecture to eliminate bottlenecks, optimize provisioning, and strengthen data quality guarantees. Before streaming, Clinician Nexus’ survey ingestion used a traditional transactional application and database. Even after moving to streaming with Amazon MSK, their setup was still "prone to poison pill messages – both of bad schema and bad data quality." To support traffic spikes they had to overprovision the cluster, even though it often sat idle. We really liked the breaking change detection, the linting and formatting, and everything that that ecosystem (Buf) offers. Enter Buf When Whitlock joined Clinician Nexus in December 2022, his instructions were clear: "We want to build a data mesh. We're probably going to be within Databricks, and we also want to use Kafka. And our application teams are going to be using Protobuf with gRPC services. If you can make everything play nicely with each other, that'd be great." That's when they discovered Buf. “We were glad we found Buf pretty early on because we were able to get started with breaking change detection before we made it to production,” said Whitlock. The world has moved to Protobuf in the last decade, and Buf's platform for schema-driven development was exactly what Clinician Nexus needed. The Buf CLI's breaking change detection and linting capabilities immediately addressed their highest-priority goals. Moving beyond the CLI, using Buf tools throughout their entire stack is shifting Clinician Nexus from reactive problem-solving to proactive governance: The Buf Schema Registry (BSR) gave all stakeholders direct access to field mapping and data quality rules. "With a schema registry that's integrated with our version control, we have one place with really good rendered documentation, that our engineers and our business users can go and understand why a schema is the way it is, the history of changes to it, who made those changes," explained Whitlock. “Now it's a whole lot easier for people to find the answer to their own problems." Bufs breaking change detection prevented production issues through build-time schema governance. "We really liked the breaking change detection, the linting and formatting, and everything that that ecosystem offers," said Whitlock. “Any unexpected issue, which can happen a lot when dealing with schemas across different teams, is especially painful for us. When we catch those issues in our lower environment or in pull requests, that's a huge time savings." Protovalidate centralized their validation rules in schemas. "We're using Protovalidate within the context of our streaming pipeline… all producers and consumers know the quality contract." Protovalidate puts validation rules directly in the schema where everyone can see them. No more hunting through code to figure out what's supposed to be valid—the contract is right there in the schema definition. Bufstream provides broker-side schema awareness and cost savings. Unlike traditional Kafka—where poison pill messages can break everything downstream—Bufstream's semantic validation validates the contents of every message, blocking bad messages before they cause problems. Beyond data quality improvements, Bufstream eliminates over-provisioning by scaling in response to demand rather than requiring always-on infrastructure. When we catch those issues in our lower environment or in pull requests, that's a huge time savings. Saving money on infrastructure… while improving data quality and analytics The team processes about a terabyte of data per year in massive, unpredictable bursts. With Bufstream's autoscaling, they can now quickly scale up to handle these bursts, then automatically reduce capacity (and therefore costs) when traffic decreases. Clinician Nexus is particularly excited about Bufstream's direct-to-Iceberg feature, which eliminates the need for pipelines that read from Kafka and write to tables. Instead, the broker handles this continuously in the background. Breaking down communication barriers Perhaps the most underappreciated benefit of their Buf implementation is how the BSR facilitates communication between technical and non-technical teams. "It's a communication facilitator that automates the manual work that makes developers not want to communicate," Whitlock notes. Before the BSR, when business users wanted to understand schema changes or history, Clinician Nexus had to submit tickets to a DBA and wait for responses. Now, business users are added as code owners to relevant schemas in GitHub. When an engineer tries to delete a field, the business user gets a notification and can prevent the change—without needing to understand the underlying technology. The BSR provides a user-friendly interface for discovering schemas, understanding rules, and viewing change history. These descriptions come straight from the comments added to messages and fields in the schema, keeping the schema as the single source of truth, visible to all and propagating all the way to the Unity Catalog in Databricks. Words of advice When asked what he'd tell someone considering Buf, Whitlock cut to the core: “I’d start by asking if they’ve ever built against a REST/JSON API—then ask how often it’s broken their pipeline. Have they ever tried generating a Swagger client from outdated docs and keeping that in sync across a team? That’s usually when people start nodding—or getting angry. It’s painful. That lack of strong typing and reliable version control creates real fragility.” Clinician Nexus demonstrates the advantages of applying a schema-first approach across the entire stack. Backed by Buf technologies, the company has solved data quality issues, saved time and costs and, most importantly, shifted from reactive fire-fighting to proactive governance. In healthcare data processing, where accuracy impacts critical business decisions, that shift isn't just convenient—it's essential. Customer Overview Website: cliniciannexus.com Industry: Healthcare Buf products: Buf CLI Buf GitHub Action Buf Schema Registry (BSR) Bufstream Protovalidate Buf in action: Stops breaking changes before they reach production Validates each message against schema-driven validation rules Serves as a single source of truth for data quality Bufstream quickly scales up to handle bursts, then automatically reduces capacity (and costs) when traffic decreases. Product Bufstream Schema Registry BSR Pricing Buf CLI GitHub Docs Company Blog Events Careers Community Slack Contact Us © Buf Technologies, Inc. 2025 / Privacy policy , Terms of use , & Consent preferences | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://buf.build/resources/data-engineering-design-patterns | Data Engineering Design Patterns Schema Registry Overview Pricing Schema Registry Overview Schema Registry Pricing Bufstream CLI Connect RPC Protovalidate Open Source Connect RPC Protovalidate Docs Blog 10.5k Login Sign up Contact Us Free O'Reilly download, courtesy of Buf Data Engineering Design Patterns By Bartosz Konieczny Covering everything from idempotency to error handling and data observability, this is the definitive guide to building resilient data pipelines with reusable, proven design patterns. Adi Polak, Director of Developer Experience Engineering, Confluent Data engineers in many companies continue to work on problems that others have already solved. This hands-on guide shows you how to provide valuable data by focusing on various aspects of data engineering, including data ingestion, data quality, idempotency, and more. Author Bartosz Konieczny guides you through the process of building reliable end-to-end data engineering projects, from data ingestion to data observability, focusing on data engineering design patterns that solve common business problems in a secure and storage-optimized manner. You'll learn: Challenges data engineers face and their impact on data systems How these challenges relate to data system components Useful applications of data engineering patterns How to identify and fix issues with your current data components Technology-agnostic solutions to new and existing data projects, with open source implementation examples Get your free digital copy Product Bufstream Schema Registry BSR Pricing Buf CLI GitHub Docs Company Blog Events Careers Community Slack Contact Us © Buf Technologies, Inc. 2025 / Privacy policy , Terms of use , & Consent preferences | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://buf.build/blog/protovalidate-v1 | Protovalidate is now v1.0 Schema Registry Overview Pricing Schema Registry Overview Schema Registry Pricing Bufstream CLI Connect RPC Protovalidate Open Source Connect RPC Protovalidate Docs Blog 10.5k Login Sign up Contact Us Protovalidate is now v1.0 September 12, 2025 Team Buf and After two years of development, we're proud to announce that Protovalidate has reached v1.0. Protovalidate is the semantic validation library for Protobuf. Protobuf gives you the structure of your data, but Protovalidate ensures the quality of your data. Without semantic validation, you're stuck writing the same validation logic over and over again across every service that consumes your messages. With Protovalidate, you define your validation rules once, directly on your schemas, and they're enforced everywhere. We take stability seriously here at Buf: v1.0 is a commitment that Protovalidate will not break you. Not only are we committing to project stability moving forward, but we’re also confident that it is ready for all of your production workloads. In fact, companies as diverse as Microsoft, F5, GitLab, CoreWeave, Eurostar, ANZ, Bayer, Nike, and Cerbos already trust Protovalidate, and we hope that its v1.0 status will give them even more confidence. Protovalidate is available in Go , Java , Python , C++ , and TypeScript . Head over to protovalidate.com to get started. What is Protovalidate? Protovalidate provides standard annotations to validate common rules on messages and fields, as well as the ability to use CEL to write custom rules. Here's what this looks like in practice: import "buf/validate/validate.proto" ; message User { string id = 1 [(buf.validate.field). string .uuid = true ]; uint32 age = 2 [(buf.validate.field). uint32 .lte = 150 ]; string email = 3 [(buf.validate.field). string .email = true ]; string first_name = 4 [(buf.validate.field). string .max_len = 64 ]; string last_name = 5 [(buf.validate.field). string .max_len = 64 ]; option (buf.validate.message).cel = { id: "first_name_requires_last_name" message : " last_name must be present if first_name is present" expression: "!has(this.first_name) || has(this.last_name)" }; } This User message doesn't just define the shape of your data — it enforces that id is a valid UUID, age is reasonable, email is properly formatted, and names aren't absurdly long. The CEL expression ensures that if you provide a first name, you must also provide a last name. These aren't just nice-to-haves; they're guarantees. History The story of Protovalidate begins with protoc-gen-validate (PGV), originally developed at Lyft and maintained by the Envoy project . PGV pioneered the concept of declarative validation for Protobuf, and gained significant adoption across the industry. However, as Protobuf ecosystems evolved and new requirements emerged, PGV's architecture began to show its age. When the Envoy project approached us about taking over maintenance of PGV, we saw an opportunity to do more than just maintain the status quo. We'd been hearing from users about pain points: the difficulty of writing custom validation rules, the challenge of maintaining validation code generators for multiple languages, and the desire for more expressive validation semantics. Rather than bolt on features to PGV, we designed Protovalidate from the ground up to address these challenges. By building on CEL , we eliminated the need for custom code generation for validation logic. By designing a new annotation structure, we made rules more intuitive and composable. Working with the teams behind each language's CEL implementation, Protovalidate ensures consistent validation everywhere — your rules work the same in Go as they do in TypeScript, Python, Java, and C++. Protovalidate's adoption The response to Protovalidate has exceeded our expectations. Major organizations have widely integrated it into their production systems, validating billions of messages daily. What's driving this adoption? It comes down to a simple value proposition: bad data is expensive. Every engineer has war stories about production incidents caused by malformed data making its way through systems. A missing required field here, an out-of-bounds value there, and suddenly your dashboards are wrong, your models are corrupted, or worse, your systems are down. Protovalidate catches data quality issues at the source. When validation rules live with your schemas, they're impossible to forget or misconfigure. When validation happens automatically in your RPC framework or message queue, bad data never propagates. The result is systems you can trust. Where to go from here V1.0 is a beginning, not an end. We're committed to Protovalidate's stability, but that doesn't mean we're done innovating. Here's what's on the horizon: First, deeper framework integration. Protovalidate already works seamlessly with Connect , gRPC, and Bufstream . We're working to make integration even smoother, with native support in more RPC frameworks and message queues. Second, richer validation semantics. While Protovalidate already supports sophisticated validation through CEL and a rich set of standard rules , we're exploring additional standardized rules for common patterns like phone numbers with country codes and domain-specific identifiers. Third, better tooling. The Protovalidate playground already lets you test validation rules interactively. We're expanding this with IDE integration and comprehensive rule libraries. Most importantly, we're building toward a world where Protovalidate is just one part of a comprehensive approach to data quality. Combined with the Buf Schema Registry for governance, Bufstream for broker-side validation, and the rest of the Buf ecosystem, Protovalidate helps ensure that your data is not just well-structured, but correct. Protovalidate is more than a validation library — it's a commitment to data quality, enforced by the schema language itself. Ready to get started? Check out our quickstart guides for Go , Java , Python , C++ , and TypeScript . For those migrating from protoc-gen-validate, we've prepared a comprehensive migration guide . Welcome to Protovalidate v1.0. Your data will thank you. In this post Thank you! Your submission has been received! Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form. Product Bufstream Schema Registry BSR Pricing Buf CLI GitHub Docs Company Blog Events Careers Community Slack Contact Us © Buf Technologies, Inc. 2025 / Privacy policy , Terms of use , & Consent preferences | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://bellard.org | Fabrice Bellard's Home Page https://bellard.org Micro QuickJS : a Javascript engine for microcontrollers. TSAC : Very Low Bitrate Audio Compression. ts_zip : a practical text compression utility using a large language model. ts_sms : short message compression using a large language model. TextSynth Server is a web server proposing a REST API to large language models. They can be used for example for text completion, question answering, classification, chat, translation, image generation. NNCP (lossless data compressor) is now leading the Large Text Compression Benchmark . QuickJS : a small but complete Javascript engine. textsynth.com provides access to large language models. A tiny and obfuscated image decoder for the 2018 edition of the International Obfuscated C Contest . LibBF is small library to handle arbitrary precision floating point numbers. The TinyPI program computes millions of digits of PI. Run X Window or Windows 2000 in your browser. TinyEMU (previously known as RISCVEMU) is a small emulator emulating 128 bit RISC-V and x86 machines. The SoftFP library is a new IEEE 754-2008 floating point emulation library supporting the 32/64/128 bit floating point types. BPG (Better Portable Graphics) is a new image format based on HEVC and supported by most browsers with a small Javascript decoder. A 4G LTE/5G NR/NB-IoT base station running entirely in software on a standard PC. A new ASN1 compiler generating small and efficient C code. A PC emulator in Javascript : how much time takes your browser to boot Linux ? 2700 billion decimal digits of Pi computed with a desktop computer. Analog and Digital TV (DVB-T) signal generation by displaying an image on a PC display. QEMU is a generic machine emulator and virtualizer. FFMPEG , the Open Source Multimedia System. I launched this project in year 2000 and led it for several years. TCC is a tiny but complete ISOC99 C compiler which enables you to use C as scripting language. TCC has its roots in the OTCC project. The TCCBOOT boot loader demonstrate the speed of TCC by compiling and launching a Linux kernel in less than 15 seconds. QEmacs (for Quick Emacs) is an emacs clone I began to learn Unicode rendering algorithms, text buffers manipulation and XML/HTML/CSS parsing. OTCC is a very small self-compiling compiler for a subset of C I wrote to win the 2001 edition of the International Obfuscated C Contest . TinyGL : a Small, Free and Fast Subset of OpenGL. An online Scientific Web Calculator . Pi formulas, algorithms and computations. A tiny C program to print the biggest known prime number. Old projects . If you have any questions or suggestions, write to fabrice at bellard last update: December 22, 2025 | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://soundcloud.com/moesifhq/from-vision-to-venture-josh-twist-zuplo | Stream episode From Vision to Venture E01: Josh Twist - Co-Founder and CEO at Zuplo by Moesif podcast | Listen online for free on SoundCloud SoundCloud JavaScript is disabled You need to enable JavaScript to use SoundCloud Show me how to enable it From Vision to Venture E01: Josh Twist - Co-Founder and CEO at Zuplo by Moesif published on 2023-11-14T19:13:40Z From Vision to Venture is a Moesif podcast that highlights some of the biggest wins and challenges in the startup space today. Every episode, we'll talk to different founders to discover some of the strategies that they've used on their journey from being an early-stage startup to a little bit later stage. Whether you want to hear more about how to manage life as a startup founder or raise a round of investment, this is the podcast for you. Our guest on this episode is Josh Twist. Josh is the co-founder and CEO of Zuplo, one of the most cutting-edge gateways that are out there today. In today's episode, we're going to chat with Josh about some of the challenges that he's faced as well as some of the big wins they've had over at Zuplo in the last few years. Genre Technology Users who like From Vision to Venture E01: Josh Twist - Co-Founder and CEO at Zuplo Users who reposted From Vision to Venture E01: Josh Twist - Co-Founder and CEO at Zuplo Playlists containing From Vision to Venture E01: Josh Twist - Co-Founder and CEO at Zuplo More tracks like From Vision to Venture E01: Josh Twist - Co-Founder and CEO at Zuplo License: all-rights-reserved Your current browser isn't compatible with SoundCloud. Please download one of our supported browsers. Need help? Chrome | Firefox | Safari | Edge Sorry! Something went wrong Is your network connection unstable or browser outdated? I need help Popular searches | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://n8n.io/integrations/brightdata/?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=devchallenge | BrightData integrations | Workflow automation with n8n n8n.io n8n.io Product Product overview Integrations Templates AI Use cases Building AI agents RAG IT operations Security operations Embedded automation Lead automation Supercharge your CRM Limitless integrations Backend prototyping Docs Self-host n8n Documentation Our license Release notes Community Forum Discord Careers Blog Creators Contribute Hire an expert Support Events Enterprise Pricing GitHub 168,484 Sign in Get Started Back to integrations Integrate BrightData with 1000+ apps and services Unlock the full potential of BrightData and n8n’s automation platform by connecting Bright Data’s capabilities with over 1,000 apps, data sources, services, and n8n’s built-in AI features. Need something that’s not covered yet? Use n8n’s pre-authenticated HTTP Request node to create new connections, giving you the flexibility to build powerful automations on any stack. Get Started Build a node and get it verified Created by Bright Data Last update a month ago BrightData integration is built and maintained by our partners at Bright Data and verified by n8n. That means it’s solid, safe, and ready to help you tap into some great capabilities. Get to know more about Bright Data About BrightData Easily pull web data for machine learning, research, or business intelligence - no manual scraping or complicated setup required. Popular ways to use the BrightData integration Scrape Google Maps by area & generate outreach messages for lead generation Generate tailored resumes, cover letters & interview prep from LinkedIn jobs with AI Instagram influencer finder with Bright Data (Auto-Filter & Save to Sheets) E-commerce product fine-tuning with Bright Data and OpenAI Extract Google My Business leads by service or location with Bright Data Analyze competitor LinkedIn posts with Bright Data + Google Gemini to Google Sheets Scrape hotel listings with prices from Booking.com using Brightdata & AI Automate meeting prep & lead enrichment with Bright Data, Cal.com & Airtable Extract seed-funded startup data with RSS, GPT-4.1-MINI & BrightData to Excel Monitor Google Shopping prices with Bright Data & email alerts Create data-driven SEO content briefs with AI analysis of SERP data using Bright Data Generate B2B lead opportunities from websites with Brightdata & OpenRouter AI Reddit comment sentiment analysis with Bright Data and Gemini AI to Google Sheets Automate Morning Brew–style Reddit Digests and Publish to DEV using AI Extract & summarize LinkedIn profiles with Bright Data, Google Gemini & Supabase Analyze LinkedIn content performance with OpenAI, Bright Data and NocoDB Load more What can you do with BrightData? Marketplace Dataset Web Scraper Web Unlocker Deliver Snapshot Filter Dataset Get Dataset Metadata Get Snapshot Content Get Snapshot Metadata Get Snapshot Parts List Datasets List Snapshots Custom API Call Deliver Snapshot Download Snapshot Get Snapshots Monitor Progress Snapshot Scrape By URL Trigger Collection By URL Custom API Call Send a Request Custom API Call How to install BrightData and use it in your n8n workflows Verified nodes need a quick setup by an instance owner first, but after that, everyone on the instance can start using them in their workflows. Learn more here . Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Sign in to n8n , open the editor, and click + in the top right to open the Nodes panel Resources for BrightData BrightData API docs BrightData authentication docs BrightData on GitHub Using verified nodes in n8n The world's most popular workflow automation platform for technical teams including Connect BrightData with your company’s tech stack and create automation workflows Contact Sales There’s nothing you can’t automate with n8n Our customer’s words, not ours. Skeptical? Try it out , and see for yourself. Start building Build complex workflows that other tools can't . I used other tools before. I got to know the N8N and I say it properly: it is better to do everything on the n8n! Congratulations on your work, you are a star! Igor Fediczko @igordisco Thank you to the n8n community . I did the beginners course and promptly took an automation WAY beyond my skill level. 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https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bamboozle | BAMBOOZLE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster ✨📕 The NEW Collegiate Dictionary, 12th Edition Over 5,000 words added — Learn More! ✨📕 The NEW Collegiate Dictionary — Learn More! Menu Toggle Merriam-Webster Logo Search Chatbot Chatbot Games Word of the Day Grammar Word Finder Slang New Newsletters Wordplay Rhymes Thesaurus Join MWU More Games Word of the Day Grammar Wordplay Slang Rhymes Word Finder Newsletters New Thesaurus Join MWU Shop Books Merch Log In Username My Words Recents Account Log Out Est. 1828 Dictionary Definition Definition Did you know? Synonyms Example Sentences Word History Rhymes Entries Near Related Articles Podcast Cite this Entry Citation Share Kids Definition Kids More from M-W Show more Show more Citation Share Kids More from M-W Save Word To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In bamboozle verb bam·​boo·​zle bam-ˈbü-zəl Save Word --> bamboozled ; bamboozling bam-ˈbüz-liŋ , -ˈbü-zə- Synonyms of bamboozle transitive verb 1 : to deceive by underhanded methods : dupe , hoodwink I got bamboozled by the salesperson to buy a more expensive model. 2 : to confuse, frustrate, or throw off thoroughly or completely a quarterback bamboozled by an unexpected defense https://merriam.atlassian.net/browse/MWSITE-9211 --> bamboozlement bam-ˈbü-zəl-mənt noun Did you know? In 1710, Irish author Jonathan Swift wrote an article on "the continual Corruption of our English Tongue" in which he complained of "the Choice of certain Words invented by some pretty Fellows." (Note that pretty originally meant "artful, clever.") Among the inventions Swift disliked was bamboozle , which was used by contemporary criminals. Beyond those who favored the word, little is known of its early days, but the word has clearly defied Swift's assertion that "All new affected Modes of Speech ... are the first perishing Parts in any Language." With its first syllable like a sound effect, bamboozle hints at mystification or magic when it is used to mean "to confuse, frustrate, or perplex," as in "The batters were bamboozled by the pitcher's dazzling curveball." Synonyms of bamboozle Relevance deceive trick fool See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus Examples of bamboozle in a Sentence Quotes--> Extra Examples--> bamboozled by con men into buying worthless land in the desert I'm completely bamboozled by the latest changes in the tax code Recent Examples on the Web Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback . Lenders are more easily bamboozled by fake spreadsheets than by fake factories. — Liz Hoffman, semafor.com , 11 Nov. 2025 And now, a class action has been filed against Spotify for allegedly bamboozling consumers. — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter , 5 Nov. 2025 Basic tasks like sending emails and sharing documents can bamboozle them. — Tharin Pillay, Time , 4 Nov. 2025 Knowles could be key to shutting down an Ohio State that has bamboozled every challenger to date this year, but Saturday’s host is bound to have some tricks up its sleeve in return. — Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek , 1 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for bamboozle Word History Etymology origin unknown First Known Use 1703, in the meaning defined at sense 1 Time Traveler The first known use of bamboozle was in 1703 See more words from the same year Rhymes for bamboozle occlusal perusal recusal refusal See All Rhymes for bamboozle Browse Nearby Words bamboo worm bamboozle bamboozled See all Nearby Words Articles Related to bamboozle 8 Words for Trickery and Deception They'll put one over on you Words of Deception and Trickery Words to describe flimflammers, hucksters, and charlatans Podcast Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox! Sign Up Cite this Entry Style Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bamboozle. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.">MLA Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , s.v. “bamboozle,” accessed January 13, 2026, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bamboozle.">Chicago Merriam-Webster.com dictionary . Retrieved January 13, 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bamboozle">APA Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bamboozle. Accessed 1/13/2026.">Merriam-Webster “Bamboozle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bamboozle. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026. Copy Citation Share Kids Definition bamboozle verb bam·​boo·​zle bam-ˈbü-zəl bamboozled ; bamboozling 1 : to deceive by trickery : hoodwink 2 : to confuse, frustrate, or throw off completely https://merriam.atlassian.net/browse/MWSITE-9211 --> --> More from Merriam-Webster on bamboozle Nglish: Translation of bamboozle for Spanish Speakers Love words? Need even more definitions? Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Merriam-Webster unabridged --> More from Merriam-Webster Can you solve 4 words at once? Play Play Can you solve 4 words at once? Play Play Word of the Day umbrage See Definitions and Examples » Get Word of the Day daily email! --> --> --> Popular in Grammar & Usage See More 5 Verbal Slip Ups and Language Mistakes 'Buck Naked' or 'Butt Naked'? 'Affect' vs. 'Effect' The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.' Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word? 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https://apidesignmatters.substack.com/p/the-language-of-api-design | The Language of API Design - by David Biesack Subscribe Sign in The Language of API Design Why API Design with OpenAPI Matters David Biesack Feb 09, 2023 5 1 Share Subscribe The Language of API Design Today’s software landscape demands software systems that can talk to each other. Interoperability and open access to data and services is key to (sometimes phenomenal) success. Application Programming Interfaces—APIs—are at the heart of this revolution, from enabling all the apps on your phone to reinventing companies and entire industries. Forbes explained Why The API Economy Is The Web's Next Phase and Nordic APIs described the role of Open APIs across six diverse industry and government sectors . But it’s clear APIs are not just the “next wave”—they have been the wave for years. The most successful technology companies rely on APIs. Knowing how to design build APIs can reboot your career. The OpenAPI Specification (OAS) has emerged as the dominant format for describing HTTP and RESTful APIs in OpenAPI documents . OAS defines a structured document (with both JSON and YAML representations) of the interface contract of an API. As a structured document, an API definition written with the OAS specification goes far beyond just describing or documenting an API. It is data , and as data, it can be manipulated, processed, analyzed, and transformed. This is the foundation of OpenAPI's power and potential. Hence, this topic will the the heart of an in-depth series in API Design Matters: The Language of API Design Why API Design with OpenAPI Matters Describing an API in OAS enables a whole new level of software automation . Mastering OpenAPI lets you master your software development lifecycle. Via an abundance of tools which can process an OAS document, you can add code generation, mock servers, test automation, API documentation portals, security analysis, and even UI form generation to your tool belt. Because there is one “source of the truth”, you have a much higher degree of confidence that the generated software artifacts are more correct when compared to hand-curated artifacts. In this inaugural Language of API Design series of API Design Matters , you will directly experience this power. Turning an idea into an API is no easy task. Mastering OpenAPI and its ecosystem is critical to shipping software in this fast-paced industry and meeting your company’s goals. Via this series, you will learn to convert design concepts into OAS API documents . This is akin to picking up a new programming language and writing new programs in it to see how you express programming constructs in that new language. Astute learners (that's you, right?) also learn how the structure of the programming language feeds back on the design process by shaping the way you think about problems. Just as the constraints of a programming language restrict how you map ideas into programs, the constraints of the OpenAPI specification also constrains what types of APIs you can describe with it. This is less of a limitation—it is more like a set of guardrails that keep you on a smooth road rather than letting you go off a cliff. Those same guardrails let all the tools that work with OAS do their job within a well-defined space. Once you have an OpenAPI document, you and your team can anchor your software development lifecycle around the OpenAPI document, staying on that paved road and delivering your product faster while also ensuring your implementation is robust and correct. This Language of API Design series does not focus on designing APIs . I will explore API Design in future articles and series in API Design Matters. ( There are also some excellent resources for that task, such as The Design of Web APIs by Arnaud Lauret.) This series concentrates on transforming API design ideas and concepts into an API definition expressed with the OpenAPI Specification , then using that to bootstrap a significant body of work for your software development lifecycle. This is called an API Design First approach because much of the key development effort and software artifacts begin with and are derived from the API definition, and the OpenAPI document which captures and codifies that API definition is the source code for all the other software project elements. In this series, you will create OpenAPI documents from which you can automatically generate critical artifacts for your company’s software products: API documentation Client software development kits (SDKs) for calling your API from client applications Mock servers against which you can test your client applications so your front-end team can build and verify their work before the back-end team has finished Curated and automatic validation of the API against the contract Code to validate and reject invalid input sent to your API Server code to implement your API services Scenario I’m probably not unique in that I severely dislike trivial examples. Instead of using something cliche and tired like Pet Store, this series will employ a single realistic but fictional scenario throughout, and explore many API design and DX matters of this scenario: The most successful internet startups have been social media sites. You work as a full stack developer for a new startup which is building a social platform for fan fiction authors. Authors create stories, called chains , using the characters from fictional universes, “chaining” together and remixing text, images, and audio and video media clips. These story elements are called chain links . Authors can mix and remix chain links into new chains, or branch one chain to create alternate story lines and endings. You are tasked with creating the Chain Link REST API for a web service to be used by the web and mobile experience application. To do your job, you need to design a REST API that meets the application’s needs. You begin with domain driven design (DDD) to understand all the elements of the API. This series does not cover DDD in any depth but will borrow some of the concepts to guide the task of understanding the API client's domain and requirements. This DDD design includes the data objects managed by the API, the actors who use the API via the applications, and all the operations the applications need. You next move on to building an OpenAPI document to define and describe the API and its elements: the URI paths of the resources accessed by the API, the operations that clients use to manipulate those resources, and the data descriptions for the requests and responses. You use some tools to help validate what you are building, analogous to a programming language compiler that warns you about syntax errors or incorrect constructs while coding. Once you have a valid OpenAPI document in hand, you generate additional artifacts so your client application team can start building the client: A mock server accepts API calls and returns sample responses, adhering to the API definition. This lets the client team test their application before your back-end team has written a line of code. This also lets the team provide quick, iterative feedback to you as you design the API. A client Software Development Kit provides a library in the programming language used by the team for developing their application code. The SDK abstracts away the lower-level details of making REST API calls on top of HTTP, allowing the team to work at higher level. You also generate stubs for the back-end team to start implementing the Chain Link service, and a separate server-side SDK. You publish API documentation as a reference for both teams. The teams work in agile sprints, so you add features incrementally in each sprint, completing and delivering functionality and getting feedback from the consumers as you progress. Along the way, you will learn some handy tools to assist with these tasks. This series uses a variety of tools, but there are other options for you to explore. You can decide which tools work best for you and your team. Techniques employed The time of your team members is extremely valuable, so you want to use their time wisely. By automatically generating software artifacts from your OpenAPI documents, you let your team concentrate on their strengths—building software instead of creating boilerplate. You can also generate additional software to verify the implementation is correct. Albert Einstein said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." This also applies to API design with OpenAPI. An OpenAPI master knows what to include in the API definition, so that using the API is as simple as possible for the consumer. The master also knows what to leave out, such as implementation details that are of no concern to the consumers. This series emphasizes the mechanics of transforming ideas into OpenAPI constructs that capture the essence of the API, doing so concisely yet with enough fidelity, completeness, and precision that the software artifacts rise above ambiguity and inconsistency. For example, the more precise your API definition is, the more robust the generated SDK will be. This will prevent coding errors for the client team, as the compiler they use can detect coding errors earlier by enforcing the interface contract. Series Outline The Language of API Design series is broken into 5 topics, which you can explore by completing API design projects. This series builds progressively. In each of the five projects, you learn how to map various API concepts into OpenAPI, and you will add those features to the existing OpenAPI documents. At the end of each project, you can regenerate all the code artifacts from the OpenAPI document to share with the team, working iteratively. 1. Build your Product from an OpenAPI Document To start building an API, you need a good conceptual domain model which describes the problem you API will solve. We start by building a domain model, then start mapping that problem into an API model. To help with the task, we first create a GitHub repository to store our work (and share with others) and then create a project with an OpenAPI modeling tool. (The latter is not necessary but is easier for beginners, compared to using just a plain text editor.) The first OpenAPI design task is to define a few operations in the API and map them to the HTTP application protocol. Next, you will start creating useful development artifacts from our OpenAPI document. This first topic provides just a hint of the features available once you have a structured OpenAPI document. 2. Model your API Data with JSON Schema After the API operations, the second critical element of an API is the contract for the input and output of each operation. Most modern APIs use JSON for input and output, although many other data representations are also possible. OpenAPI uses JSON Schema as a data modeling language. There are other data elements in an HTTP API definition as well—query parameters, request and response headers.—which are also defined using schemas. To master OpenAPI, you must understand some JSON schema, schema composition, and how schema definitions translate into client programming language data structures (interfaces, types, classes). 3. Keep your OpenAPI DRY Copy/Paste is the bane of software developers. The “Don’t Repeat Yourself” (DRY) Principle states there should be one source representation of a code/data construct. Change the single source and all the derived elements are automatically updated. The OpenAPI Specification is designed to encourage using the DRY principle via reusable components, analogous to reusable functions in executable code. You will apply the DRY principle to define core elements of your API in the OpenAPI components object, then reference those elements where needed. 4. Securing Your API APIs are necessary for digital companies, but they are only valuable if they are secure. API vulnerabilities can mean the end of a company. OpenAPI has many features for capturing the API security design of your API. In this module, you will add security schemas — definitions of security aspects of your API operations. You will also see how to use OpenAPI to abstract internal implementation details of the underlying service in order to keep the data secure. 5. Create a Great API Developer Experience The OpenAPI and JSON Schema techniques you have learned cover many needs, but some APIs need more complex constructs to describe them fully. In this project, you will add some API features that require going beyond the basic capabilities of OpenAPI and JSON Schema. Recommended Resources These are resources directly influenced or are referenced throughout the Language of API Design series and can impact or expand your understanding of the series content. The Design of Web APIs by Arnaud Lauret API Design Patterns by JJ Geewax REST API cookbook by Subbu Allamaraju RESTful Web APIs by Mike Amundsen, Sam Ruby, Leonard Richardson Design and Build Great Web APIs by Mike Amundsen RESTful Web API Patterns and Practices Cookbook by Mike Amundsen Principles of Web API Design by James Higginbotham APIs You Won’t Hate by Philip Sturgeon Thanks for reading API Design Matters! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe Thank you for reading API Design Matters. This post is public so feel free to share it. Share 5 1 Share Discussion about this post Comments Restacks Top Latest Discussions No posts Ready for more? 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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb3-6 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL NOT APPLY TO LIABILITY OF A COMPANY PARTY FOR DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY CAUSED BY A COMPANY PARTY'S NEGLIGENCE; OR FOR ANY INJURY CAUSED BY A COMPANY PARTY'S FRAUD OR FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION. 8.2 Cap on Liability. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, COMPANY PARTIES WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR MORE THAN THE GREATER OF THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID TO COMPANY BY YOU DURING THE ONE-MONTH PERIOD PRIOR TO THE ACT, OMISSION OR OCCURRENCE GIVING RISE TO SUCH LIABILITY; $100; OR THE REMEDY OR PENALTY IMPOSED BY THE STATUTE UNDER WHICH SUCH CLAIM ARISES. 8.3 Exclusion of Damages. CERTAIN JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MIGHT HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS. 8.4 Basis of the Bargain. THE LIMITATIONS OF DAMAGES SET FORTH ABOVE ARE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN COMPANY AND YOU. 9. MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT. Company reserves the right to: take any action with respect to any of your Content that we deem necessary or appropriate in our sole discretion, including if we believe that such Content violates this Agreement, infringes any intellectual property right or other right of any person or entity, threatens the personal safety of users of the Company Properties or the public, or could create liability for the Company; disclose your identity or other information about you to any third-party who claims that material posted by you violates their rights, including their intellectual property rights or their right to privacy; take appropriate legal action, including without limitation, referral to law enforcement, for any illegal or unauthorized use of the Company Properties; and/or terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Company Properties for any or no reason, including without limitation, any violation of this Agreement. If Company becomes aware of any possible violations by you of the Agreement, Company reserves the right to investigate such violations. If, as a result of the investigation, Company believes that criminal activity has occurred, Company reserves the right to refer the matter to, and to cooperate with, any and all applicable legal authorities. Company is entitled, except to the extent prohibited by applicable law, to disclose any information or materials on or in Company Properties, including Your Content, in Company's possession in connection with your use of Company Properties, to comply with applicable laws, legal process or governmental request; enforce the Agreement, respond to any claims that Your Content violates the rights of third parties, respond to your requests for customer service, or protect the rights, property or personal safety of Company, its Registered Users or the public, and all enforcement or other government officials, as Company in its sole discretion believes to be necessary or appropriate. 10. TERM AND TERMINATION. 10.1 Term The Agreement commences on the date when you accept them (as described in the preamble above) and remain in full force and effect while you use Company Properties, unless terminated earlier in accordance with the Agreement. 10.2 Termination of Services by Company. You will have thirty (30) days from the Service Commencement Date, or any Renewal Commencement Date, for any Services hereunder, to cancel such Service, in which case Company will refund your Service Subscription Fee, if already paid pursuant to Section 5.1 (Payment) or 5.2 (Service Subscription Fees), for the applicable Service. Except as set forth above, the Service Subscription Fee for any Service shall be non-refundable. If timely payment cannot be charged to your Payment Provider for any reason, if you have materially breached any provision of the Agreement, or if Company is required to do so by law (e.g., where the provision of the Website or the Services is, or becomes, unlawful), Company has the right to, immediately and without notice, suspend or terminate any Services provided to you. You agree that all terminations for cause shall be made in Company's sole discretion and that Company shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination of your Account. 10.3 Termination of Services by You. If you want to terminate the Services provided by Company, you may do so by notifying Company at any time; and closing your Account for all of the Services that you use. Your notice should be sent, in writing, to Company's address set forth below. THE SERVICES WILL CONTINUE AT THE END OF EACH SUBSCRIPTION PERIOD UNLESS YOU CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROCEDURE SET FORTH IN SECTION 5.2 (SERVICE SUBSCRIPTION FEES). 10.4 Effect of Termination. Termination of any Service includes removal of access to such Service and barring of further use of the Service. Termination of all Services also includes deletion of your password and all related information, files and Content associated with or inside your Account (or any part thereof), including Your Content. Upon termination of any Service, your right to use such Service will automatically terminate immediately. You understand that any termination of Services may involve deletion of Your Content associated therewith from our live databases. Company will not have any liability whatsoever to you for any suspension or termination, including for deletion of Your Content. All provisions of the Agreement which by their nature should survive, shall survive termination of Services, including without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, and limitation of liability. 11. INTERNATIONAL USERS. Company Properties can be accessed from countries around the world and may contain references to Services and Content that are not available in your country. These references do not imply that Company intends to announce such Services or Content in your country. Company Properties are controlled and offered by Company from its facilities in the United States of America. Company makes no representations that Company Properties are appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who access or use Company Properties from other countries do so at their own volition and are responsible for compliance with local law. 12. DISPUTE RESOLUTION. Please read the following arbitration agreement in this section (“Arbitration Agreement”) carefully. It requires users to arbitrate disputes with Company and limits the manner in which you can seek relief from us. 12.1 Applicability of Arbitration Agreement. You agree that any dispute, claim, or request for relief relating in any way to your access or use of the Website, or to any aspect of your relationship with Company, will be resolved by binding arbitration, rather than in court, except that (a) you may assert claims or seek relief in small claims court if your claims qualify; and (b) you or Company may seek equitable relief in court for infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights (such as trademarks, trade dress, domain names, trade secrets, copyrights, and patents). This Arbitration Agreement shall apply, without limitation, to all disputes or claims and requests for relief that arose or were asserted before the effective date of this Agreement or any prior version of this Agreement. 12.2 Arbitration Rules and Forum.. The Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this Arbitration Agreement. To begin an arbitration proceeding, you must send a letter requesting arbitration and describing your dispute or claim or request for relief to 50 Fountain Plaza, Suite 1400, Buffalo, NY, 14202. The arbitration will be conducted by JAMS, an established alternative dispute resolution provider. Disputes involving claims, counterclaims, or request for relief under $250,000, not inclusive of attorneys' fees and interest, shall be subject to JAMS's most current version of the Streamlined Arbitration Rules and procedures available at http://www.jamsadr.com/rules-streamlined-arbitration/ ; all other disputes shall be subject to JAMS's most current version of the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures, available at http://www.jamsadr.com/rules-comprehensive-arbitration/ . JAMS's rules are also available at www.jamsadr.com or by calling JAMS at 800-352-5267. If JAMS is not available to arbitrate, the parties will select an alternative arbitral forum. You may choose to have the arbitration conducted by telephone, based on written submissions, or in person in the country where you live or at another mutually agreed location. Any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. 12.3 Authority of Arbitrator. The arbitrator shall have exclusive authority to determine the scope and enforceability of this Arbitration Agreement and resolve any dispute related to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability or formation of this Arbitration Agreement including, but not limited to, any assertion that all or any part of this Arbitration Agreement is void or voidable. The arbitration will decide the rights and liabilities, if any, of you and Company. The arbitration proceeding will not be consolidated with any other matters or joined with any other cases or parties. The arbitrator shall have the authority to grant motions dispositive of all or part of any claim. The arbitrator shall have the authority to award monetary damages and to grant any non-monetary remedy or relief available to an individual under applicable law, the arbitral forum's rules, and the Agreement (including the Arbitration Agreement). The arbitrator shall issue a written award and statement of decision describing the essential findings and conclusions on which the award is based, including the calculation of any damages awarded. The arbitrator has the same authority to award relief on an individual basis that a judge in a court of law would have. The award of the arbitrator is final and binding upon you and us. 12.4 Waiver of Jury Trial. YOU AND COMPANY HEREBY WAIVE ANY CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY RIGHTS TO SUE IN COURT AND HAVE A TRIAL IN FRONT OF A JUDGE OR A JURY. You and Company are instead electing that all disputes, claims, or requests for relief shall be resolved by arbitration under this Arbitration Agreement, except as specified in Section 12.1 (Application of Arbitration Agreement) above. An arbitrator can award on an individual basis the same damages and relief as a court and must follow this Agreement as a court would. However, there is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is subject to very limited review. 12.5 Waiver of Class or Other Non-Individualized Relief. ALL DISPUTES, CLAIMS, AND REQUESTS FOR RELIEF WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT MUST BE ARBITRATED ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT ON A CLASS OR COLLECTIVE BASIS, ONLY INDIVIDUAL RELIEF IS AVAILABLE, AND CLAIMS OF MORE THAN ONE CUSTOMER OR USER CANNOT BE ARBITRATED OR CONSOLIDATED WITH THOSE OF ANY OTHER CUSTOMER OR USER. If a decision is issued stating that applicable law precludes enforcement of any of this section's limitations as to a given dispute, claim, or request for relief, then such aspect must be severed from the arbitration and brought into the State or Federal Courts located in the State of California. All other disputes, claims, or requests for relief shall be arbitrated. 12.6 Severability. Except as provided in Section 12.5 (Waiver of Class or Other Non-Individualized Relief), if any part or parts of this Arbitration Agreement are found under the law to be invalid or unenforceable, then such specific part or parts shall be of no force and effect and shall be severed and the remainder of the Arbitration Agreement shall continue in full force and effect. 12.7 Survival of Agreement. This Arbitration Agreement will survive the termination of your relationship with Company. 13. Third-Party Marketplaces. If you purchase a license to any Company Properties through an authorized third-party marketplace, then the following terms will apply: you acknowledge and agree that (a) these Terms are concluded between you and the Company only, and not the provider of the third-party marketplace (“Third-Party Marketplace Provider”), and (b) the Company, not the Third-Party Marketplace Provider, is solely responsible for the Company Properties; you acknowledge that the Third-Party Marketplace Provider has no obligation whatsoever to furnish any maintenance and support services with respect to the Company Properties; and you acknowledge that, as between the Company and the Third-Party Marketplace Provider, the Third-Party Marketplace Provider is not responsible for addressing any claims you have or of any third-party relating to the Company Properties. 14. GENERAL PROVISIONS 14.1 Electronic Communications. The communications between you and Company may take place via electronic means, whether you visit Company Properties or send Company e-mails, or whether Company posts notices on Company Properties or communicates with you via e-mail. For contractual purposes, you consent to receive communications from Company in an electronic form; and agree that all terms and conditions, agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications that Company provides to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications would satisfy if it were to be in writing. The foregoing does not affect your statutory rights, including but not limited to the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act at 15 U.S.C. §7001 et seq. (“E-Sign”). 14.2 Assignment. The Agreement, and your rights and obligations hereunder, may not be assigned, subcontracted, delegated or otherwise transferred by you without Company's prior written consent, and any attempted assignment, subcontract, delegation, or transfer in violation of the foregoing will be null and void. 14.3 Force Majeure. Company shall not be liable for any delay or failure to perform resulting from causes outside its reasonable control, including, but not limited to, acts of God, war, terrorism, riots, embargos, acts of civil or military authorities, fire, floods, accidents, strikes or shortages of transportation facilities, fuel, energy, labor or materials. 14.4 Exclusive Venue. To the extent the parties are permitted under this Agreement to initiate litigation in a court, both you and Company agree that all claims and disputes arising out of or relating to the Agreement will be litigated exclusively in the state or federal courts located in San Mateo County, California. 14.5 Governing Law. THE TERMS AND ANY ACTION RELATED THERETO WILL BE GOVERNED AND INTERPRETED BY AND UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, CONSISTENT WITH THE FEDERAL ARBITRATION ACT, WITHOUT GIVING EFFECT TO ANY PRINCIPLES THAT PROVIDE FOR THE APPLICATION OF THE LAW OF ANOTHER JURISDICTION. THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON CONTRACTS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS DOES NOT APPLY TO THE AGREEMENT. 14.6 Notice. Where Company requires that you provide an e-mail address, you are responsible for providing Company with your most current e-mail address. In the event that the last e-mail address you provided to Company is not valid, or for any reason is not capable of delivering to you any notices required/ permitted by the Agreement, Company's dispatch of the e-mail containing such notice will nonetheless constitute effective notice. You may give notice to Company at the following address: 50 Fountain Plaza, Suite 1400, Buffalo, NY, 14202. Such notice shall be deemed given when received by Company by letter delivered by nationally recognized overnight delivery service or first class postage prepaid mail at the above address. 14.7 Waiver. Any waiver or failure to enforce any provision of the Agreement on one occasion will not be deemed a waiver of any other provision or of such provision on any other occasion. 14.8 Severability. If any portion of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion shall be construed in a manner to reflect, as nearly as possible, the original intention of the parties, and the remaining portions shall remain in full force and effect. 14.9 Publicity. You agree that the Company may use your name, trademark and logo to identify you as a customer of the Company on the Company's website and marketing materials. The Company agrees that it will not acquire any right, title or interest in any such names, trademarks or logos. 14.10 Entire Agreement. The Agreement is the final, complete and exclusive agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes and merges all prior discussions between the parties with respect to such subject matter. 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https://www.ycombinator.com/about | About Y Combinator | Y Combinator About What Happens at YC? Apply YC Interview Guide FAQ People YC Blog Companies Startup Directory Founder Directory Launch YC Startup Jobs All Jobs ◦ Engineering ◦ Operations ◦ Marketing ◦ Sales Internships Startup Job Guide YC Startup Jobs Blog Find a Co-Founder Library SAFE Resources Startup School Newsletter Requests for Startups For Investors Verify Founders Hacker News Bookface Open main menu Apply for X2026 batch. Apply What Happens at YC INTRODUCTION People often ask us what happens at Y Combinator. Here is an overview of what happens during the YC program and the benefits you get as a YC founder. You can read more about why you should apply to YC here . THE YC PROGRAM YC is a three month program. We now run YC four times a year, in the winter, spring, summer, and fall. Here’s what happens during the three months of YC: The Goal The overall goal of YC is to help startups really take off. They arrive at YC at all different stages. Some haven’t even started working yet, and others have been launched for a year or more. But whatever stage a startup is at when they arrive, our goal is to help them to be in dramatically better shape 3 months later. For most startups, better shape translates into two things: to have a better product with more users, and to have more options for raising money. Startups at all stages benefit from the intensity of YC. That’s probably the best word to describe the atmosphere. For 3 months, it’s all startup, all the time. Everyone around you—us, the other founders in your batch, the alumni, the speakers, the investors—wants to help your startup succeed. In that atmosphere it’s hard not to be highly motivated. And that kind of extraordinary motivation is what one needs to do something as difficult as starting a startup. Many founders describe the 11 weeks leading up to Demo Day as the most productive period in their lives. Though YC continues after the 3 month cycle, and the alumni community is an increasingly valuable resource, those 11 weeks are still the most important thing. You can’t make people something they’re not, but the right conditions can bring out the best in them. And since most people have way more potential than they realize, they’re often surprised by what they’re capable of. Funding YC invests $500,000 in every company on standard terms. Our $500K investment is made on 2 separate safes: We invest $125,000 on a post-money safe in return for 7% of your company (the “$125k safe”) We invest $375,000 on an uncapped safe with a Most Favored Nation (“MFN”) provision (the “MFN safe”) Groups During the batch, startups are sorted into 3 groups. Each group is led by YC partners who advise the founders in one-on-one and group office hours. Each group is split into sections (6-10 companies), so that founders get the benefit of an intimate setting within the larger batch. Office Hours Much of what takes place at YC happens during office hours. Partners host group office hours every two weeks and one-on-one office hours as often as founders want. What startups talk about at office hours depends on the stage of the company and where they are in the YC cycle. Bookface Bookface is the platform founders use to connect to one another—imagine a combination of Facebook, Quora, and LinkedIn. Each founder has a profile and can tag themselves as an expert in any topic. If you have a question, need an introduction, or want to poll for knowledge, you can post the request to the forum on Bookface. The knowledge base of the YC community is both broad and deep—the community includes founders who are the world’s foremost experts in everything from security to community building to nuclear energy. Batch Kickoff In the first few weeks of the batch we host a 3-day, in-person kickoff. The kickoff gives founders the opportunity to get to know each other, their group partners, and the YC team. Alumni Talks Every week, we invite an eminent person from the startup world to speak. Most speakers are successful startup founders — the founders of Airbnb, Stripe, Doordash and Ginkgo Bioworks often come back to tell the inside story of what happened in the early days of their startups. Talks are strictly off the record to encourage candor, because the inside story of most startups is more colorful than the one presented later to the public. Public Launches Once a startup has something built that’s ready to launch, we help founders figure out how to present it to users and the press. We prepare founders for launches on community sites like Product Hunt and Hacker News, and for their first press pitches and interviews. First Customers B2B and consumer companies often get their first 40-50 paying customers from the YC community. With that, you not only get first customers, you get the smartest early product feedback possible. Weekly Meetups Throughout the batch, we host weekly meetups in San Francisco. These events often feature special guests like the founders of YC and successful YC founders. Demo Day On Demo Day , the latest batch of Y Combinator-funded founders present their companies to an audience of specially selected investors and press. We doubt there’s another occasion when such a large percentage of the top startup investors have their attention focused on the same thing. In the weeks following Demo Day we keep in close touch with the startups as they negotiate the fundraising maze, and help them decipher the real messages in investors’ sometimes deliberately ambiguous responses. Often we talk to the investors ourselves, to find out what they’re really thinking about a particular startup. Because YC-funded startups are a known quantity to investors and get introduced to enough of them to create serious price competition, companies tend to get higher valuations than they might otherwise. BEYOND THE BATCH YC doesn’t stop after the 3 month program ends. Here are some of the resources available to YC alumni as their companies grow. ADVICE Ongoing office hours Office hours don’t stop after the YC program. We have office hours year round, and startups from all previous cycles can book time whenever they want. COMMUNITY Alumni community Today the YC alumni community is probably the most powerful community in the startup world. It’s powerful not just because of its size, but also because its members have such a strong commitment to helping one another. A culture of helpfulness has been an important part of YC since the beginning , and founders know that if they ever come across a challenge they need help with, they not only have the partners at their disposal, they have 6,000+ domain experts they can call on. Alumni Reunion Each year, YC hosts a formal gathering of alumni. Exciting things happen when you bring founders together — ideas are exchanged, deals get made, problem solving happens amongst peers. Founder Communities Founders have access to WhatsApp groups and Bookface channels that reach specific communities. There are lists for hardware, biotech, edtech, international, women founders, Black founders, Hispanic and Latino founders, and more. Alumni Demo Day Active YC founders get an early look at the YC companies in each batch at Alumni Demo Day. Deals Each YC company receives access to discounts and free accounts for over 100 products. Some of these are highly significant, including hundreds of thousands of dollars of free hosting for each company provided by major cloud hosting companies. BRAND Credibility When one company in YC does well, the whole community benefits. Because YC has such a strong track record, early adopters, investors and press are often more willing to take a look at YC founders, even if they’re first time founders. Company Directory YC companies are showcased in the YC Startup Directory . Our startups can be filtered and discovered by potential customers, investors, or hires. HIRING Work at a Startup Work at a Startup helps YC founders build their team — from first employees to VPs of product and operations. Thousands of jobseekers across hundreds of YC companies have landed roles through the platform and extended YC community. Hacker News HN is a news aggregator where users can find and discuss the latest news and submit content on anything that gratifies one’s intellectual curiosity. YC alumni also post engineering, product, and design jobs on HN. THE YC PROGRAM The Goal Funding Groups Office Hours Bookface Batch Kickoff Alumni Talks Public Launches First Customers Weekly Meetups Demo Day ADVICE Ongoing office hours COMMUNITY Alumni community Alumni Reunion Founder Communities Alumni Demo Day Deals BRAND Credibility Company Directory HIRING Work at a Startup Hacker News Footer Y Combinator Programs YC Program Startup School Work at a Startup Co-Founder Matching Company YC Blog Contact Press People Careers Privacy Policy Notice at Collection Security Terms of Use Resources Startup Directory Startup Library Investors SAFE Hacker News Launch YC YC Deals Make something people want. Apply Twitter Twitter Facebook Facebook Instagram Instagram LinkedIn LinkedIn Youtube YouTube © 2026 Y Combinator | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb6-7 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb6-10 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb3-1 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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A space to share projects, ask questions, and discuss server-driven templating Dropdown menu Dropdown menu Skip to content Navigation menu Search Powered by Algolia Search Log in Create account DEV Community Close DEV Help The latest help documentation, tips and tricks from the DEV Community. Help > Writing, Editing and Scheduling Writing, Editing and Scheduling In this article The Editor Drafting and publishing a post: Scheduling a post: Creating a Series Cross-posting Content Helpful Resources DEV Editor guide Markdown Cheatsheet Best Practices for Writing on DEV Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism on DEV Guidelines for AI-assisted Articles on DEV Common Questions Q: How do I set a canonical URL on my post? Q: How do I set a cover image for my post? Q: Do I own the articles that I publish? Q: Can I cross-post something I've already written on my own blog or Medium? Q: Can I use profanity in my posts? Q: Why has my post been removed? Q: Will you put ads on my posts' pages? 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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb5-4 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb10-11 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb8-1 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb6-6 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb8-6 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb6-12 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb6-4 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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Tower Navigation Features Undo Anything Just press Cmd+Z Drag and Drop Make the complex effortless Integrations Use your favorite tools Tower Workflows Branching Configurations Stacked Pull Requests Supercharged workflows All Features Release Notes Pricing Support Documentation Contact Us Account Login Learn Git Video Course 24 episodes Online Book From novice to master Cheat Sheets For quick lookup Webinar Learn from a Git professional First Aid Kit Recover from mistakes Advanced Git Kit Dive deeper Blog Download Download < Back to Blog git-flow-next: The Next Iteration of Advanced Git Workflows Bruno Brito September 2025 | 4 min read Share: Today, we're excited to introduce git-flow-next , a brand-new, open-source command-line tool that reimagines the popular git-flow model. It's designed to give you the agility and advanced capabilities needed for modern, demanding Git workflows. As the creators of Tower , we worked closely with a lot of teams using git-flow . We understood why it was so popular, but we couldn't ignore the friction and frustration it often caused. Instead of merely working around these problems, we decided to address them directly. While developing the Tower 14 for Mac release, which enables you to create custom branching workflows of any kind , we considered whether we could extend similar functionality to CLI users. Tower 14 for Mac – Branch Workflow Configuration With git-flow-next , we're doing just that! We're giving back to the development community a tool that adapts to the Git workflow you're seeking – regardless of complexity and the level of flexibility you require. Here's a 5-minute video that will guide you through all the capabilities of git-flow-next: Core Features git-flow-next was built on top of the original git-flow and gitflow-avh projects (both of which are now discontinued), paving the way forward with a strong emphasis on improving the developer experience and making it much more customizable. 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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb8-4 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb9-3 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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Read more → Mastering Google (for Developers) We all use search engines multiple times a day, so why not figure out how to get the most out of Google? Here are all the best tips and tricks... for developers! Read more → Tower 9 — A Brand-New Merge UI Our latest release brings many improvements around merging, as well as some other heavily-requested features. Here's everything you should know about the new Tower 9 for Mac! Read more → Getting Started with Git Hooks and Husky In this fun tutorial, let's see how Git hooks work by creating 5 different hooks with Husky, a popular JavaScript package. Read more → How We Built an Awesome Git Client for Windows An in-depth look at the development of the big Tower 3 for Windows update. Read more → Better File Comparison with Kaleidoscope A dedicated Diff Tool can be very valuable for any file comparison task. Let's explore Kaleidoscope's powerful features and see how we can use it together with Tower. Read more → Working with Feature Branches How to successfully work with Feature Branches: a primer on understanding the most popular branching workflow, identifying base branches, and performing effortless branch comparisons. Read more → Coming Up on the Roadmap (2022) What's on Tower's roadmap? Lots of new features. Here's what we have planned for both the Mac and Windows versions! Read more → The Three Phases of Software Development Discover the three phases of software development, as depicted through 30 commit messages encountered by our community! Read more → Mastering Tower (Mac Edition) Do you want to become a certified Tower for Mac sensei? Master your favorite Git client with our ultimate guide! Read more → Mac Dev Survey 2022 Results The 2022 Mac Dev Survey results are in! Learn which technologies, tools and resources developers on the Mac prefer! Read more → Setting Up Git on Windows Subsystem for Linux A guide on how to install Windows Subsystem for Linux and get up and running with Git! Read more → How to Clean Up Fully Merged Feature Branches Find out how you can delete fully merged branches from a Git repository with confidence — both with the Command Line and in Tower! Read more → Tower Stands with Ukraine 🇺🇦 We are united against violence. We will be donating all revenue from these items to Save the Children, an organization that supports children from Ukraine and other affected regions. Read more → Git and GitHub for Marketing Teams Git isn't just for developers. Anyone can benefit from its enormous power, and that includes Marketing professionals! Read more → The Great Mac Developer Survey Are you working as a web or software developer on the Mac? Participate in our short survey for a chance to win over 100 awesome prizes! Read more → GPG Support in Tower 3.1 for Windows Tower 3.1 for Windows brings GPG support. Now you can verify the authenticity of every commit or tag directly in Tower! Read more → Tower 8 - Next-Level Branching Get ready to work more productively with Branches with the new Tower 8 for Mac. Read more → The CTO Journey: Ryan Donovan of Hootsuite Ryan Donovan, CTO of Hootsuite, on the importance of communication, leadership, and rapid onboarding. Read more → The CTO Journey: Ryan Roemer of Formidable Ryan Roemer, CTO of Formidable, on studying law and CS, leading a consultancy business, and the importance of writing skills at work! Read more → Getting Started with Git Bash A guide on how to install Git Bash and get up and running with Git! Read more → The CTO Journey: Mark Porter of MongoDB Mark Porter, CTO of MongoDB, on falling in love with tech, transitioning to a manager, and onboarding new developers! Read more → Tower 3 for Windows - Our Best Version Yet Tower 3 for Windows is here! Read more → 10% More Productive: Mastering the Terminal The Command Line: love it or hate it, it's one of the most important tools for developers. This guide covers everything you need to know to get comfortable with the terminal. Read more → 10% More Productive: Mastering Sublime Text Are you a Sublime Text user? Here is our collection of tips to become more productive with this versatile text editor. Have a look at the most effective keyboard shortcuts to master, the best themes and packages, and some settings worth tweaking! Read more → 10% More Productive: Mastering the Keyboard From learning new keyboard shortcuts (or developing your own), to improving typing speed or setting up a hyper key, it's all here. This is our guide on how to become more productive with the keyboard. Read more → Tower’s Favorite macOS Apps for Front-end Web Development Curious about the apps we use at the office to keep our websites running smoothly? Here are some of our favorites for Front-end Web Development work! Read more → Pitch — Developing a Collaborative Presentation Tool for Modern Teams Pitch is a collaborative presentation tool for modern teams. Our interview with Adam Renklint covers Clojure, the benefits of choosing the right technology, and more. Read more → Force Push in Git - Everything You Need to Know In this article, we will answer all the most popular questions surrounding the powerful Force Push command. Read more → Tower 7 - The New Commit Experience Say hello to Tower 7 for Mac and its powerful new commit composing experience. Read more → Finding The Best Text Editor... For You! How do you find the right text editor for your needs? Our article compares popular alternatives and describes what to look for. Read more → Sketch — Developing an Industry-Standard Design App for the Mac The simplicity and focus of Sketch made it an industry standard and set an example for other apps. In this interview, Alexander Repty from the Sketch team talks about development using native Apple frameworks. Read more → Coming Up on the Roadmap (2021 Edition) In this post, we take a look at what's coming up in Tower. Read about features in development, including improvements to commit composing, history views, branch management, and more! Read more → Tower 3 for Windows Is Coming! The new Tower for Windows is coming, with a complete visual overhaul, a beautiful dark mode, new features, and a significant performance boost. Join the beta and discover your favourite Git client for Windows in a whole new light! Read more → Pixelmator — How A True Mac App Classic Keeps Evolving Using Native Frameworks How does a classic Mac app keep evolving, while also branching out with apps for iOS and iPadOS? Simonas Bastys from the Pixelmator team shares his experience with native Apple development. Read more → Mac Dev Survey 2021 Results The 2021 Mac Dev Survey results are in! Learn which technologies, tools and resources developers on the Mac prefer! Read more → VS Code — The Story and Technology Behind One of the World's Most Popular Desktop Apps for Developers How do you develop an editor based on web technologies and used by millions of people? Benjamin Pasero from the VS Code team shares his insights on Electron development. Read more → Tower 6.4 - Publishing a Local Repository Tower now lets you publish a local repository on a service without ever leaving the app. Read more → Tower — Developing a Native Git Client for macOS and Windows Learn about how the team behind Tower develops their graphical Git client natively for both macOS and Windows! This conversation starts off our new interview series on developing for the desktop. Read more → Git Analytics by Waydev This guest post from Waydev describes Git analytics and the features of the Waydev service. Read more → We're Hiring a Content Marketing Developer The team behind the Tower Git client is looking for someone to work on content creation, growth marketing, and website development. Read more → Tower 10 Year Anniversary As Tower celebrates its 10th birthday, we share some facts and numbers from the journey so far. Read more → Tower 6.3 - Force Push with Lease Our brand-new Tower for Mac update introduces another highly-requested feature: Force Push with Lease. Read more → How to Make Debugging Easier with Rollbar Discover how Rollbar can help you fix errors faster, with intelligent grouping, relevant context and more. Read more → Tower 6 - The Big Sur Update Say hello to Tower 6: redesigned for Big Sur - with new icons, new toolbar, new sidebar, and more. Read more → App Design on Big Sur Discover the sweeping design changes made by Apple in macOS Big Sur, and how we applied these to the Tower Git client. Read more → Git Cheat Sheet Download our free cheat sheet for Git. Because even with a GUI application at hand, there are times when you resort to the command line… and it's impossible to memorize all the important Git commands! Read more → Tools and Tasks in Visual Studio Code In the second article in a two-part series on VS Code, we look at VS Code's support for tooling, tasks and workspaces. Read more → New Releases for Tower on macOS and Windows With already 4 new releases over the summer, it's time to take a closer look at how they will benefit you and make Tower even better. Read more → 7 Tips to be More Productive with »Xcode 12« It's important to know an application inside out when you spend a lot of time in it. And for most iOS & Mac developers, Xcode is the application they spend virtually all of their time in. In this article, we've compiled 7 tips that help you become more productive with Xcode 12. Read more → An Illustrated History of macOS Step back in time and see how macOS has changed over the years! From the first public beta in 2000 to the release of macOS Ventura, here's our illustrated history of macOS. Read more → Efficient Editing in Visual Studio Code In the first article in a two-part series on VS Code, we look at how to edit and navigate your code efficiently. Read more → Using Git with WordPress — Part 4 In the last article in our series on using version control with WordPress, we look at two plugins that help us handle the database in our workflow. Read more → 8 Reasons for Switching to Git When it comes to version control, everybody is talking about Git these days. But of course, some chatter on the street is not enough to justify switching to Git. Here are some hard (and soft) facts that make Git great. Read more → Command Line Cheat Sheet For many, the command line belongs to long gone days: when computers were controlled by typing mystical commands into a black window; when the mouse possessed no power. But for many use cases, the command line is still absolutely indispensable! Our new cheat sheet is here to help all 'command line newbies': it not only features the most important commands but also a few tips & tricks that make working with the CLI a lot easier. Read more → Diff Tools on macOS A diff tool comes in handy to understand the changes that move the project forward. It makes changes visible and helps you understand them. Here is an overview of the best diff tools on the Mac. Read more → Diff Tools on Windows Understanding how a software project evolves is hard. However, a good Diff tool can make this much easier. To help you pick the right tool, we've compiled a short list of the best "Diff Tools" on Windows. Read more → Git for Subversion Users - A Cheat Sheet Sometimes, prior knowledge can be a disadvantage. For example when you're starting with Git - while trying to approach it like a new Subversion. You'll have to let go of a couple of old concepts before you can understand the new ones. Our cheat sheet helps Subversion users get started with Git. You can download it for free. Read more → 14 Git Hosting Services Compared Today, there are tons of services for hosting your Git repositories. Although having such a diversity to choose from is definitely a good thing, it also makes it hard to find the right one for your specific needs. Therefore, we've compiled a list of 14 services as a starting point for your own research. Read more → On-Premise Source Code Management - 7 Git Hosting Platforms Compared Today, every company is a software company. In any industry, code has become one of the most business-critical assets. As a result, storing, securing and collaborating around code has become an important challenge for enterprises large and small. Read more → 17 Ways to Undo Mistakes with Git Accidentally deleting files... Making typos in your commit messages... Committing on the wrong branch... a lot of mistakes happen when humans write code! But do not despair: Git offers countless tools to undo and recover from small and big mishaps. Here are 17 videos that help you learn how to save your neck! Read more → 5 Tips to be More Productive with Dash With today's wealth of frameworks, libraries and platforms, I don't know a programmer who doesn't have to look up things constantly . "Dash", a great little app for Mac OS, solves this problem by providing fast and easy access to over 200 API docs. Read on to learn how to get the most out of Dash! Read more → Understanding Rebase (And Merge) in Git This is an excerpt from our new ebook "Learn Version Control with Git". Read the full article in our free online book . Read more → Version Control Best Practices Today, version control should be part of every developer’s tool kit. Knowing the basic rules, however, makes it even more useful. We’ve compiled some best practices that help you get the most out of version control with Git. Read more → The Basic Workflow of Git When you're starting to use version control with Git, you first need to understand the 'big picture': What does a general workflow look like? Which steps are involved? What do they do? In our infographic, we provide a breakdown of a typical workflow with version control. Download it for free! Read more → Using Git with WordPress — Part 3 In the third article in our series on using version control with WordPress, we introduce the Composer package manager and use it to handle dependencies. Read more → Tower 5 for Mac is Here With version 5, we focused on making Tower’s diff viewer much more powerful - introducing some of the most requested features. Read more → Using Git with WordPress — Part 2 In the second article in our series on using version control with WordPress, we introduce an improved directory structure and use WordPress as a Git submodule. Read more → Using Git with WordPress — Part 1 In the first article in our new series on using version control with WordPress, we look at keeping a plugin or theme in Git. Read more → How We Built Undo Look behind the curtains of Tower development and learn how the undo feature — introduced in Tower 4.0 on the Mac — came to be. Read more → Win a Free Sticker Set Want to win one of our awesome sticker sets? Read more → Coming Up on the Roadmap (2020 Edition) In this post, we want to take a look at the future and give you a glimpse into what's coming up on our roadmap for Tower on Mac and Windows. Read more → 4 New Updates for Tower on Mac and Windows Over the course of just 4 weeks, we've released 4 new updates: versions 4.4 and 4.5 for Tower on Mac, as well as versions 2.5 and 2.6 for Tower on Windows. Let’s take a look at what these new versions have in store for you! Read more → How We Work Having made the switch to fully remote in 2015, the distributed team at Tower shares some insights into remote work culture, challenges and benefits. Read more → Tower 4.3 - Partial Stashing and First Parent Filtering The latest Tower for Mac update has some nice new features for you in stock. With version 4.3 we are introducing Partial Stashing and First Parent Filtering. Read more → What's New in Tower for Mac With Tower 4 for Mac being out the door, you might be wondering what you've missed since we shipped version 3. The answer: a lot! Read more → Undoing Mistakes with CMD+Z in Tower 4 There's a little keyboard shortcut that makes life a lot easier - and now it's also available in Tower for Mac: CMD + Z. In our latest update, version 4.0, Tower allows you to undo many Git actions, simply by pressing CMD+Z. Read more → Become a Better Programmer: 5 Essential Methods at a Glance Developing software in a professional way is more than just the simple act of 'coding'. To grow as a programmer, you'll have to master other practices as well. We've compiled an overview of 5 tools and methods that are timeless classics by now. Read more → 9 Reasons Why Code Breaks Sometimes, a simple typo can really be the root of all evil. But more often, the reason why code breaks is more complex. And yet, it can be avoided. Read more → The Design Manifesto The Design Manifesto keeps you focused on some of the things design is all about. Find it in wallpaper or poster form here! Read more → Boosting Developer Productivity Through Linters Receive instant feedback and catch problems early by checking your code automatically using linters. Read more → A Decision Tree for Undoing Things with Git You cannot avoid mistakes - but you can learn to undo them! Check out our decision tree and let it help you find the right Git command to undo your specific disaster. Read more → Tech Animals Meet the Firefox, the Swift bird, the PHP elephant, and all their friends. Support a good cause and get your favorite Tech Animal as a T-shirt, poster, or mug. All profits go to charity! Read more → New in Tower: GPG Support GPG support has been on our wishlist for a while - and with version 3.5, it finally arrives in Tower for Mac. Read more → New Releases for Tower Mac and Windows We are excited to ship new releases for both Tower's Mac and Windows version today. The highlight: on both platforms Tower now offers User Profiles. Read more → Tower 3.3 - Up to 5x Faster for Large Repositories In our latest update of Tower for Mac, version 3.3, we focused on a very specific task: making Tower faster when working with very large Git repositories. Read more → First Aid Kit for Git Git is a wonderful safety net: it allows you to undo almost anything - but only if you know the right commands and tools! Download our free "First Aid Kit" and learn how to undo your mistakes easily. Read more → Dark Mode for Tower Turning to the "dark side" has never been more visually appealing - because Tower is now available in "Dark Mode"! Read more → The Startup Manifesto Working (and living) at a startup isn't always easy. Our Startup Manifesto supplies you with enough motivation and good advice to pursue your goals. Take a look and see for yourself. Read more → Image Diffing & Reflog in Tower The new Tower is less than a month old - and yet we're already shipping a great new feature: say hello to Image Diffing! Read more → Better than Ever: The New Tower Has Launched Today, after years of work, we are finally launching a brand new version of Tower! It’s packed with awesome new features like Pull Requests, Interactive Rebase, and our unique "Quick Actions". It reinvents many existing features like Search, File History, or Blame. And it takes your productivity to a whole new level! Read more → Now in Public Beta: The NEW Tower We’re happy to announce that we have another major new version of Tower coming up! The public release is still some time away, but we are starting a Public Beta program today. Read more → Tower in Public Beta: Here's What's New! If you're part of the Public Beta for the new Tower, let me start by saying thank you for being part of this journey. We're excited to show the next major version of our popular Git client to the world. In this post, I'd like to give you a short overview of what's new in Tower. Read more → Our Development Philosophy (2): Collaboration & Testing There are lots of books about programming languages and frameworks - but only few resources that deal with "softer" topics like testing and collaboration in a software project. Part 2 of our "Development Philosophy" talks about just that! Read more → git push coffee me What's the most important Git command? We can't say for sure, but here's our suggestion: "git push coffee me"... Read more → Our Development Philosophy (1): Architecture, Design Patterns and Programming Principles Contrary to popular belief, software development is not about mastering a programming language. The real art begins when application architecture, modularity, and good habits become more important than lines of code. Read more → A Big Update for Tower for Windows We're excited to launch Tower for Windows 1.2 - the free update brings a big boost to performance and adds another round of highly anticipated features. Read more → You might be a nerd if... Do you qualify for the title of 'Nerd'? We have compiled a couple of sure-fire signals that help you find out! Read more → Tips & Tricks for Tower - Part 4 In this fourth episode of our "Tips & Tricks" series, we've compiled 5 tips that help you become more productive with Tower. Let's go! Read more → When it's Time to Start Using Version Control Sometimes, life gives signals: it wants us to wash the dishes, plant a tree, or simply start using version control. Our (fun) infographic tells you when it's time for the latter. Read more → Tips & Tricks for Tower - Part 3 In our "Tips & Tricks" series, we'd like to teach you some tricks to become more productive with Tower. Here is episode #3! Read more → May the Fork Be with You If Jedi Knights have their own way of saying 'good luck', then why shouldn't software developers have theirs!? Today, we're proud to finally say: May the fork be with you! Read more → Tips & Tricks for Tower - Part 2 This is episode #2 in our "Tips & Tricks" series: 5 animated GIFs help you become more productive with Tower. Read more → An Illustrated History of iOS The iPhone was one of the most exciting new products of this millenia. But as amazing as the device may be, the real superstar is the software that drives it! Take a seat and enjoy our wonderful "Illustrated History of iOS". Read more → An Illustrated History of Microsoft Windows Our Illustrated History of Microsoft Windows takes you on a wonderful journey through time: from the first Windows 1.0 in 1985 to the world's most popular operating system that we now know. Enjoy the ride! Read more → Tips & Tricks for Tower - Part 1 In this first episode of our "Tips & Tricks" series, we've compiled 5 animated GIFs that help you become more productive with Tower. Let's go! Read more → Optimize Your Websites: Our new Guide is Here With our goal in mind to help you become a better developer, we're extremely happy to announce a brand-new, extensive and totally free tutorial & ebook for you! Read more → The Developer Manifesto Coding is an art. The Developer Manifesto pays homage to the art and profession of software development. Take a look and see for yourself. Read more → New Year, New Releases - for both Mac and Windows We’re excited to start the new year with new releases for Tower - both for Mac and Windows. New features, speed improvements, and much more. Read more → Xcode Cheat Sheet Xcode is a central tool for many of us. We're spending countless hours with it - and should therefore make sure we're getting the most out of it. That's why we created a nice cheat sheet with both essential keyboard shortcuts and valuable tips & tricks. Download the cheat sheet for free. Read more → Chuck Norris and the Mountain Lion What sounds like the beginning of a (very strange) fairy tale is in fact even cooler: we are launching our own " Tower Stuff Store " with some really awesome T-shirts and posters. And to celebrate the launch, all products are 20% off until December 4th! Read more → The best Git Client has Finally Arrived on Windows Today is the day: we are publicly launching version 1 of Tower for Windows ! It took us many years of hard work and over 216,000 lines of native C# code - but we're proud to release a beautiful, user-friendly, and powerful desktop client for Git. Read more → Tower for Windows - Public Beta has Started The waiting is over: Tower for Windows is in Public Beta! You can now download the app for free and take the new Tower for Windows for a spin. Read more → Easter Eggs Hunting Season You might have already heard the big news: Tower is coming to Windows! If you're interested, sign up for the beta to get early access! Today, however, we'd like to invite you to have some fun - and win awesome stuff ! Read more → Tower 2.5 is Here - 100 Improvements + New Features It's been more than two years since we've launched Tower 2. Since then we shipped 28 updates with improvements and new features. Today we’re thrilled to announce Tower 2.5 - our biggest update yet. Instead of shipping a paid upgrade, we decided to keep improving version 2 and are happy to announce that Tower 2.5 is a free update for existing users! Read more → The Average Developer on the Mac Over 7,000 web and software developers on the Mac took part in our survey - and helped us paint a picture of the "Average Developer on the Mac". Read more → Now in Beta: Tower for Windows is Coming After years of hard work, Tower is finally coming to Windows! We are now inviting beta testers from around the world to be amongst the first to test-drive this new Tower version. Read more → The Best Programming Books - A Post-Santa Giveaway I hope that Santa was generous with you! But just in case he wasn't: we're giving away three of our all-time favorite programming books! Read more → Posting to Twitter, Facebook & Co. from Within Your App Do you want your app to post to social media platforms? In this guest post, Emy Carlan shows you three ways to (programmatically) get your posts out into social media land. Read more → Git & Tower - A Safety Net for Your Projects To err is human. And not only this: in our digital industry with its high amount of complexity, it's also very common. With this in mind, it's vital to have tools that help you in case of a mistake. The Git version control system is one of those tools. Combined with Tower, you'll have a strong safety net for your projects. Read more → Sketch for Developers Sketch is a popular graphic design tool for Mac OS. But, unlike the 800-pound Photoshop-Gorilla, it's a design tool that proves valuable for developers, too. Read more → New Services in Tower 2.3 Cloning and creating repos with a single click - that's what Tower's "Services" manager allows to do. Since Tower 2.3, this is now also possible with your GitHub Enterprise, Bitbucket Server / Atlassian Stash, GitLab, and Perforce GitSwarm accounts! Read more → Working with CodeKit and Git Bryan Jones, the creator of CodeKit himself, speaks to us. About using CodeKit and Git side by side. And about his relationship to Git. Read more → Customer Support Tools: Zendesk vs. Desk vs. Freshdesk Managing customer feedback is critical to the success of any business. Thankfully, a couple of great tools have emerged to make this easier. In this post, we're comparing three of the most popular ones. Read more → 1 Product - 70 Repositories For almost 5 years, our team has been working exclusively on a single product: Tower, our Git desktop client. From the outside, one might think that a bare handful of Git repositories should be enough to run the show. In fact, however, we have over 70 Git repositories to manage. Here's an overview of what powers Tower and our team. Read more → The Tools That Run Tower We're a very small company. Actually, with only 8 people, the word "tiny" would be even more adequate. But no matter the size, if you're working together in a team and want to deliver high quality in your work, you need the help of professional tools. Here's an overview of the toolchain we use while making Tower. Read more → Learn Git - Submodules & Git-Flow With over 500,000 readers, our "learn" section is one of the most popular resources for learning Git and version control. To help you get even smarter, we've just added two new chapters - explaining "Submodules" and "git-flow". Read more → Being More Productive with LaunchBar The right tools can save you tons of time. One of these tools is LaunchBar. We'll show you how to be more productive as a developer with this little app. Read more → Yosemite App Design Checklist Designing apps for Mac OS 10.10 has its own rules. We've noted some of them in a handy little checklist when we recently updated Tower for Yosemite. Read more → App Design on Yosemite Mac OS X has hit the streets with its latest version - and so has Tower 2. We've invested countless hours to fully adapt to Yosemite's new design language. Read about what it takes to make an app feel really at home on Mac OS 10.10. Read more → Building Your Own Blog It's 2015 - and yet we just relaunched our blog with a custom, home-made solution. We're well aware of all the great blogging platforms and systems out there. But we had a couple of good reasons to go custom. Read more → Finding the Right Text Editor There's definitely no shortage of text editors on the Mac. Quite the contrary: today, developers can choose from more great tools than ever. With this abundance of tools, however, the question is not how to find a "good" tool per se - but how to find the right tool for your needs. Luckily, text editors differ vastly in features and philosophy. By determining what general type of tool you're looking for, your options suddenly become manageable. Read more → Understanding the Concept of Branches in Git This is an excerpt from our new ebook "Learn Version Control with Git". Read the full article in our free online book ! Read more → Marketing to Software Developers Robert Reiz learned the hard way about marketing to software developers. An experienced dev himself, he shares his insights from growing VersionEye , a notification system for software libraries. This is a guest post in our series "A Word of Advice". We're asking successful developers, designers, and entrepreneurs to share a bit from their experience. Read more → Switching from Subversion to Git This is an excerpt from our new ebook Learn Version Control with Git . Read the full article in our free online book . Read more → 5 Tips to be More Productive with BBEdit BBEdit is one of the most feature-rich text editors on the Mac. Over many years, it has been improved and refined to become the powerful application that it is today. In this post, we have compiled 5 tips that will help you get the most out of it. Read more → Leave a Task Unfinished Some mornings, it's really tough to get started. Dennis Reimann, famous for his iOctocat iOS app, has found a nice litte routine that kickstarts his day. This is a guest post in our series 'A Word of Advice', where we're asking successful developers, designers, and entrepreneurs to share a bit from their experience. Read more → Don't Do It Yourself Doing things yourself has many advantages: you can save money, you have everything under control, etc. But it also has some serious downsides. And over time, they clearly came to outweigh the advantages for us! Read more → Leave Your Office to Find Focus Did you ever find yourself in a place other than your office that enabled you to be extremely focused on one task? For many, getting work done still means being in the office and in the office only. Even though they have a hard time focusing and being productive. Often a simple change of scenery can help. Read more → You Only Get a Single Chance It's common knowledge, almost folk wisdom: 'Go to market as early as possible'. But while this advice is undoubtedly true, there's also a downside to it. Because some people will give your product only a single look. This is a new post in our series 'A Word of Advice'. Read more → A Simple Tweak for Making 'git rebase' Safe on OS X The introduction of the 'Auto-Save' and 'Versions' features in Mac OS 10.7 placed some hardship on Git users on the Mac: new system components don't always play nice with Git commands like 'git rebase'. However, with a simple customization, problems can be avoided. Read more → Why Subversion Scares Me For many users, version control has long been a scary thing. Because committing your code inevitably meant sharing it with the world - imposing all its bugs and flaws on your poor teammates. However, this is only true for centralized systems like Subversion. In a modern VCS like Git, you can let go of these fears. Read more → Don't Ask for Money - Ask for Advice Rasmus Makwarth gives some valuable advice on how to approach Business Angels and VCs. He has successfully raised money for his own company 'Opbeat', a collaborative web operations platform launching January 2014. This is a guest post in our new series 'A Word of Advice', where we're asking successful developers, designers, and entrepreneurs to share a bit from their experience. Read more → Increase your Productivity with 'Offline Hours' As a distributed team with two offices we rely on communication tools probably more than others. Besides email we mainly use Campfire as a team chat and Skype for video calls. However, this constant availability resulted in way too many distractions each day. If you had a question or problem, you could just jump online. Unlike when sharing an office, you wouldn't know if your colleague was busy or taking a break. Read more → Bootstrapping a Company (Part 2) - Lessons Learned In the first part of this series , we talked about why & when you might bootstrap a company - and when you shouldn't. Now, enough of theory: Here's what we've learned by bootstrapping our first product Tower from the ground up. Read more → Why Sync Will Always be a Tricky Task Martin Hering, well-known from apps like Instacast and Snowtape, shares some of his experience developing a syncing solution. This is a guest post in our new series 'A Word of Advice', where we're asking successful developers, designers, and entrepreneurs to share a bit from their experience. Read more → Git is Not a New Subversion Basing the decision to buy a car solely on horsepower can leave you with a tank in your garage. Not a very practical "car". Now don't get me wrong: Git has plenty of horsepower , but this should not be the reason to use it in favor of Subversion or any other VCS. Git isn't just a "new Subversion" that is faster, offline-capable, and somehow "cooler". The interesting parts about Git are where it's completely different from Subversion. These are the parts that change the way you develop software. Read more → Bootstrapping a Company (Part 1) - Why & When Building a company without investors comes with many advantages - like keeping all of the shares and remaining free in your decisions. And still: "bootstrapping" is not a silver bullet. In this first post of our two-part series, we'll explore why & when it makes sense to build a company without investors. Read more → 5 Tips to be More Productive with »Coda 2« Panic's Coda is one of the most popular text editors among people working with the web - especially since version 2. Besides the obvious features, Coda has lots of little helpers & shortcuts under the hood. In this article, we'll introduce you to 5 of them - to help you get the most out of the app. Read more → 5 Secret Features of Chocolat, the Popular Text Editor Chocolat is one of the best text editors on the Mac. It combines a very clean interface with a lot of powerful features under the hood. For many, it has become the legal (though unofficial) successor of the popular Textmate editor. We have compiled 5 tips that help you get the most out of Chocolat. Read more → 10 Steps to Becoming a Ridiculously Agile Developer As a developer, you can never be too agile! Our infographic shows you some (fun) ways to be as agile as possible. Read more → How to Plan and Scale a Beta (2/3) In the first part of our series on "How to Get Your First Users", we talked about the strategy to get the first users for your product. In this second part we will share our learnings on how to best plan and scale a beta up to tens of thousands of users. Read more → CSS3 Transforms by Example A new blog needs a little bit of glamour. And since we wanted to play around with CSS3 Transforms for quite a while, we relaunched our blog with a little gimmick: when hovering over the ticket-like items in our sidebar on the left, a little animation brings them to life. The animation is achieved with CSS3 3D Transform properties. In this article, we'll explain in a nutshell how the flip effect is achieved and will also provide a couple of useful web resources for creating 3D Transforms. Read more → How to Get Your First Users (1/3) In order to live, a product needs users. And you’ll rarely have the luxury of users “just being there”. You have to go out and find them - even before your product is on the market. In this first post of our three-part series, we'll talk about how we found early | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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Ask AI About Neon Architecture Architecture overview Compute lifecycle Serverless Autoscaling Overview Autoscaling architecture Autoscaling algorithm Configure autoscaling Scale to zero Scale to zero Scale to zero guide Branching Get started with branching About branching Branching workflows Branch archiving Branch expiration Schema-only branches Reset from parent Read replicas Overview Create and manage Use cases Read-only access Ad-hoc queries Analytics queries Scale applications With ORMs Prisma Logical replication Getting started Concepts In Neon Commands Schema changes Tips Data recovery Backup & restore Restore window Instant restore Time Travel Time Travel tutorial Schema diff Schema diff tutorial Data protection IP Allow Private Networking Protected branches High availability High availability / About branching Branching Branch your data the same way you branch your code With Neon, you can quickly and cost-effectively branch your data for development, testing, and various other purposes, enabling you to improve developer productivity and optimize continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. You can also rewind your data or create branches from the past to recover from mistakes or analyze historical states. What is a branch? A branch is a copy-on-write clone of your data. You can create a branch from a current or past state. For example, you can create a branch that includes all data up to the current time or an earlier time. working with sensitive data? Neon also supports schema-only branching. Learn more . A branch is isolated from its originating data, so you are free to play around with it, modify it, or delete it when it's no longer needed. Changes to a branch are independent. A branch and its parent can share the same data but diverge at the point of branch creation. Writes to a branch are saved as a delta. Creating a branch does not increase load on the parent branch or affect it in any way, which means you can create a branch without impacting the performance of your production database. Each Neon project is created with a root branch called main . The first branch that you create is branched from the project's root branch. Subsequent branches can be branched from the root branch or from a previously created branch. Branching workflows You can use Neon's branching feature in variety workflows. Development You can create a branch of your production database that developers are free to play with and modify. By default, branches are created with all of the data that existed in the parent branch, eliminating the setup time required to deploy and maintain a development database. The following video demonstrates creating a branch in the Neon Console. For step-by-step instructions, see Create a branch . You can integrate branching into your development workflows and toolchains using the Neon CLI, API, or GitHub Actions. If you use Vercel, you can use the Neon-managed Vercel integration to create a branch for each preview deployment. Refer to the following guides for instructions: Branching with the Neon API Learn how to instantly create and manage branches with the Neon API Branching with the Neon CLI Learn how to instantly create and manage branches with the Neon CLI Branching with GitHub Actions Automate branching with Neon's GitHub Actions for branching The Neon-Managed Vercel Integration Connect your Vercel project and create a branch for each preview deployment Testing Testers can create branches for testing schema changes, validating new queries, or testing potentially destructive queries before deploying them to production. A branch is isolated from its parent branch but has all of the parent branch's data up to the point of branch creation, which eliminates the effort involved in hydrating a database. Tests can also run on separate branches in parallel, with each branch having dedicated compute resources. Refer to the following guide for instructions. Branching — Testing queries Instantly create a branch to test queries before running them in production Temporary environments Create branches with TTL by setting an expiration date . Perfect for temporary development and testing environments that need automatic deletion. Branches with expiration are particularly useful for: CI/CD pipeline testing environments Feature development with known lifespans Automated testing scenarios AI-driven development workflows Restore and recover data If you lose data due to an unintended deletion or some other event, you can restore a branch to any point in its restore window to recover lost data. You can also create a new restore branch for historical analysis or any other reason. Restore window Neon retains a history of changes for your branches, enabling data recovery features. The restore window determines how far back you can restore data, with defaults of 6 hours on Free plan and 1 day on paid plans. Increasing your restore window expands your data recovery options but also increases storage costs, as more history is retained. You can configure it up to 7 days on Launch or 30 days on Scale plans. For complete information about the restore window, including how to configure it, plan limits, storage implications, and how it works, see Restore window . Learn how to use these data recovery features: Instant restore Restore a branch to an earlier point in its history Reset from parent Reset a branch to match its parent Time Travel queries Run SQL queries against your database's past state Previous Get started with branching Next Branching workflows Last updated on December 11, 2025 Was this page helpful? Yes No Thank you for your feedback! On this page What is a branch? Branching workflows Restore and recover data Copy page as markdown Edit this page on GitHub Open in ChatGPT Neon Docs Neon A Databricks Company Neon status loading... 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https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/migration-of-bings-workflow-engine-to-net-5/ | Migration of Bing’s Workflow Engine to .NET 5 - .NET Blog Skip to main content Microsoft Dev Blogs Dev Blogs Dev Blogs Home Developer Microsoft for Developers Visual Studio Visual Studio Code Develop from the cloud All things Azure Xcode DevOps Windows Developer ISE Developer Azure SDK Command Line Aspire Technology DirectX Semantic Kernel Languages C++ C# F# TypeScript PowerShell Team Python Java Java Blog in Chinese Go .NET All .NET posts .NET Aspire .NET MAUI AI ASP.NET Core Blazor Entity Framework NuGet Servicing .NET Blog in Chinese Platform Development #ifdef Windows Microsoft Foundry Azure Government Azure VM Runtime Team Bing Dev Center Microsoft Edge Dev Microsoft Azure Microsoft 365 Developer Microsoft Entra Identity Developer Old New Thing Power Platform Data Development Azure Cosmos DB Azure Data Studio Azure SQL OData Revolutions R Unified Data Model (IDEAs) Microsoft Entra PowerShell More Search Search No results Cancel Dev Blogs .NET Blog Migration of Bing’s Workflow Engine to .NET 5 .NET 10 is here! .NET 10 is now available: the most productive, modern, secure, intelligent, and performant release of .NET yet. Learn More Download Now June 15th, 2021 1 reaction Migration of Bing’s Workflow Engine to .NET 5 Ben Watson Principal Software Engineer Show more Bing runs one of the world’s largest, most complex, highly performant, and reliable .NET applications. This post discusses the journey and the work required to upgrade to .NET 5, including the significant performance gains we achieved. This application sits in the middle of the Bing architecture stack and is responsible for much of the coordination among thousands of other components that provide results for all queries. It is also at the heart of many other services outside of Bing. The team that owns this component is called XAP (“Zap”). I have been a member of this team since 2008, shortly after I joined Microsoft (when Bing was Live Search!). In 2010, we migrated most of our stack from C++ to .NET Framework. The efforts to migrate XAP to .NET Core began in July of 2018. We consulted with teams that had already done this migration, such as Bing’s UX layer, as well as the .NET team itself. The XAP team has long relied on a close working relationship with the .NET team, especially the Common Language Runtime (CLR) portion of that team. With the announcement of .NET Core, we knew that we would want to migrate. The anticipated performance benefits, open-source nature, and faster development turnaround were additional incentives. This migration has been an unqualified success for our team, with improvements in performance and agility already obvious. XAP: A Primer To provide some context, let me convey a high-level picture of XAP’s architecture. Three years ago, Mukul Sabharwal detailed on the blog how his team had migrated Bing’s frontend to .NET Core. Sitting underneath this UX layer is a high-performance workflow execution engine that manages the coordination and communication amongst the various data backends that feed Bing. This middle layer is also used in many non-Bing services within Microsoft. It is worth noting that the Bing frontend team has already moved on to .NET 6 previews. They went into production with .NET 6 Preview 1 and are now on Preview 4. They have seen some very significant improvements, primarily related to the new crossgen2 features . The XAP team has two major areas of ownership: Operating this middle portion of the live site for Bing (and other search-related applications such as Sharepoint, Cortana, Windows Search, and more). Providing the runtime, workflow engine, tools, and SDK for our internals partners to build and operate scenarios themselves on this platform. In Bing, our largest workload, XAP operates thousands of machines across a global set of data centers. On each machine, XAP is loading over 900,000 workflow instances and 5.3 million plugin instances—all in a process with a 50 GB heap that loads 2,500 unique assemblies, and JITs over 2.1 million methods. At its most fundamental, XAP’s ApplicationHost is a host for independently developed plugins (functions), grouped into a directed acyclic graph called a workflow. Workflows consist of plugins and other workflows. XAP’s job is to execute this workflow as efficiently and quickly as possible. A typical Bing query will execute about 12,000 nodes (including over 2000 network calls) in a few hundred milliseconds. A single machine typically executes over 30,000 nodes per second at peak. In order to execute efficiently, as well as maintain a safe system, we enforce numerous constraints on plugin authors, such as: Limited API surface area. No process-altering APIs, no threads, no I/O, no synchronization. Those capabilities are all managed via the workflow engine and specialized plugins (e.g., Xap.HTTP). Immutable state. Plugins cannot reference mutable static data. Their outputs are made immutable to avoid synchronization in their dependents. Strict monitoring. Plugins have tight latency requirements, and after a timeout we will start running their dependents. Plugins that fail often are automatically disabled. The runtime engine is also highly optimized to execute these plugins efficiently. We avoid thread synchronization as much as possible, we minimize our memory allocations, we pool large objects to avoid repeated Large Object Heap allocations, and we generate code to more efficiently execute dynamically loaded plugins. Performance Results Before releasing to production, we had been running various builds on multiple test machines and carefully analyzing the results. Once we were reasonably confident, we expanded to small-scale production experiments. Starting with ten random machines running on .NET 5, we gradually expanded the experiment until an entire data center was running .NET 5 in production. Production Results We began rolling out .NET 5 preview 6 to production on one data center on July 8, 2020, nearly 2 years after the project began. (We have since upgraded to the RTM of .NET 5.) We delayed rollout on other data centers for several weeks to give us ample time to monitor stability and performance. Latency Latency is one of the primary metrics we track. One data center’s migration is particularly noticeable: Here is a high-level summary for multiple environments. These numbers are approximate and taken from daily averages over multiple months. They measure the % improvement in two percentiles. Environment P95 % Improvement P99 % Improvement A 3% 5% B 4% 7% C 1% 2% D 12% 14% E 7% 10% There is a wide variation between these data centers, which can be explained by differences in traffic and machine configuration. Overhead Latency The total time that ApplicationHost adds to query execution decreased by 11%: CPU Overall CPU usage showed a drop of about 27%, and the difference is especially obvious when we look at the aggregate CPU time taken by non-I/O plugins in a BingFirstPageResults query: Garbage Collection Measuring the precise impact of GC across the builds is tricky with counters. Not only has the GC implementation significantly changed, but we’ve applied new configuration in .NET Core. The % Time in GC counter has increased: It has gone from an average 0.3% to 0.8%, a lot in relative terms, but not very much in absolute terms. One explanation for this is a change we made in consultation with the CLR team, after much measurement, to decrease the size of the Gen0 budget. This caused GCs to be faster, but more frequent. This directly contributed to improvements in overall query P99 latency, but it comes at the cost of more time spent in GC. This is an area of active investigation to see if we can improve further, and there are some promising leads in other configuration tweaks. Exceptions The average exception rate dropped significantly: It went from an average of 7.8/sec to 3.5/sec, an improvement of 55%. Lock Contention Managed lock contention showed a large drop in the peaks, but slightly higher baseline levels: On average, it dropped from 645 contentions/sec to 410 contentions/sec, an improvement of 36%. This is more significant for the fact that .NET Core changed the algorithm for locks, going to a wait state more quickly than in .NET Framework (which would spin for a while). Thus, a significant portion of the contentions under .NET Core might not have been counted at all in .NET Framework. Startup Times A reduction in startup time is important because it means that less of each data center is down while we deploy (multiple times per day), leading to lower peak latencies and higher availability at peak load. Startup time decreased significantly: Startup time is primarily driven by warmup time, where we run non-user queries through the system before accepting real traffic. Warmup time is determined by CPU time. The 28% drop is strongly correlated with drops in overall plugin CPU usage. ThreadPool One way we measure efficiency is how long plugins that are ready to be executed stay in the queue waiting for a free processor. This metric is also determined by CPU usage, so it’s not a pure measure of thread pool efficiency. Average P95 enqueue latency dropped about 31%. Average P99 enqueue latency dropped about 26%. Migration Approach The performance numbers are great, but what about the work that went into achieving them? It’s worth highlighting the goals for our migration: Flexibility in choosing whether a machine loaded under .NET Framework or .NET Core. This would allow us to: Dynamically switch back and forth based on infrastructure concepts such as Machine Function, Scale Unit, Environment, or Data Partition. Rollback in production, even months after we migrate. Make changes in our repository without interfering with others’ work. By ensuring that code worked under both runtimes, nobody had to do anything special—we were testing both. Single code base Single copy of binaries Avoiding the need to migrate all our partners to target netcore/netstandard from the beginning. This would have been impossible. With those principles in mind, we embraced a hybrid approach to building and running the XAP platform: Continued to build the platform under .NET Framework 4.7.2. Used the ApiPort tool to verify API-level compatibility. This ensured that all .NET library calls we made in our platform existed in .NET Core as well. Developed a custom CoreCLR-based host application that dynamically loaded and executed the Framework-built binaries. This approach helped simplify the testing and deployment aspects of this project and it allowed all our partners to continue developing their scenarios exactly how they were before without having to migrate everything to a new platform at once. We will eventually migrate all of our binaries to build directly against netstandard2.0 and .NET 5 or .NET 6 directly and have no more need for the hybrid approach. Challenges Soon after we began this effort, we realized that the challenges we would face would be numerous and of a different type and scale than what other teams had experienced. A Binary Problem Quite a few assemblies that XAP uses are required for the service to even startup or process a single query. Without fixing every dependency, it is impossible to even start testing. There are dozens of these dependencies. It is an “all or nothing” kind of problem. C++/CLI When we started the migration process, .NET Core was at version 2.0, which did not support C++/CLI. These DLLs would not even load. Bing uses a number of common infrastructure components that are surfaced to managed code via C++/CLI interfaces. Without these assemblies, the process cannot even bootstrap itself, let alone process queries. With the help and cooperation of teams throughout the company, we converted all of them to use P/Invoke interfaces. Even with support in the latest version of .NET Core for C++/CLI projects, these assemblies would require being rebuilt. Since we’re already on the new interfaces, this isn’t necessary for us to pursue. Incompatible Code The XAP runtime consists primarily of a hosting process named ApplicationHost, as well as all the libraries we provide to partners to execute on our platform. We relied on many managed libraries that had small pieces using APIs that did not exist in .NET Core. Examples include: In-memory caching that used .NET’s MemoryCache library A hash computation library .NET remoting (WCF) HTTP functionality Custom assembly loading Each case required separate resolution. In some cases, there were alternate APIs in .NET we could switch to. In others, we needed to upgrade libraries. Often, this led to a long chain of upgraded dependencies. Hundreds of our partners’ plugins also used various APIs that did not exist in .NET Core. The number of unique broken APIs was relatively small—perhaps a dozen or so. But the number of plugins and partner teams that owned those plugins was daunting. We work with over 800 developers throughout the world and it was a challenge for the XAP team to communicate with all of them. So we developed automated tools to scan all plugins using the .NET team’s ApiPort tool. We included these as part of the automated deployment processes that all plugin authors must go through, first as a warning, then as a blocking error. We put together documentation about the most common incompatibilities and the recommended changes to bring them into compliance. Plugins that had been abandoned by their teams were permanently disabled. .NET Bugs and Functional Changes There were many challenges the XAP team faced because of some areas of highly specialized functionality that we have built. Sometimes we relied on unstated assumptions and internal functional changes in .NET caused behavioral changes we needed to resolve. In other cases, our extreme levels of scale and unique architecture brought out bugs that other testing had yet to find. Loader XAP relies on some very specific functionality for the way we consume our partners’ assemblies to achieve side-by-side assembly loading. This is a fundamental part of our isolation model. Some subtle differences in .NET’s loader required us to do a detailed investigation and we ultimately escalated to CLR developers, who found at least two bugs ( dotnet/runtime #12072 and dotnet/runtime #11895 ), one of them a critical stack overflow crash. We were required to make some changes to our code as well. In addition, because of our traces and investigation, they fixed an assembly resolution performance bug that was impacting us. Our unique architecture and scale allowed us to highlight these obscure bugs well before others would have found them. ETW and TraceEvent Another significant challenge was with the Microsoft.Diagnostics.Tracing.TraceEvent library. When ApplicationHost was first built and we decided on ETW as our logging mechanism, ETW technologies were not yet in the .NET Framework, and the open source versions were at an early stage. We forked the code for both EventSource and TraceEvent into our own private versions, and they diverged over the ensuing ten years. For various reasons, it proved difficult and costly for us to migrate to the official version once they were more available. Finally, we migrated to the official package, finding a couple of small bugs along the way. Another couple of interesting bugs we ran into that were fixed in .NET 5 were related to the CLR’s event provider. When our logger code rolls over files, it needs to unsubscribe from the events it listens to, including CLR events. When the logger re-subscribes to the events for the new files, it never received the CLR events anymore. Even external tools, such as PerfView, which we rely on for debugging and performance profiling, could no longer receive these CLR events. The bug was challenging mostly because it was very difficult to reproduce, and our usage pattern was likely a bit unusual. Performance Counters XAP is very metric-focused. We collect 6 billion events/min across 500 million time series. Most of these are our own, but we rely on many system and .NET-level counters. In .NET Core 2.x, this infrastructure was non-existent, and we were blind in many areas. Starting in .NET Core 3.x, some performance counters were made available. We have asked for quite a few more to be added. See here , here , and here . Many of these were added in .NET 5. Exception-Handling Bug While not strictly a bug due to the migration, this was conflated with many of our other issues while investigating performance, and we dealt with it in tandem with other investigations into CLR performance. For quite a while XAP had been noticing long pauses in unusual places in query execution—places where there was no obvious cause. With help from the CLR team, we gathered traces and discovered that the thread pause was being blocked by the exception-handling mechanism doing disk I/O in some very specific edge cases. This was an acknowledged bug, but curiously all the relevant stacks were from a single plugin that was throwing exceptions (and catching them) on nearly every query. We saw with ETW events that it was the biggest source of exceptions in the process and asked the code owner to do some validation before calling the exception-throwing API (this was a trivial fix for them). Once the partner team deployed, the mysterious thread pauses were resolved and the biggest source of our high-latency queries cleared up. The CLR team has since fixed the bug . This graph gives an idea of the impact of this fix, showing the change in percentage of very-high latency queries: GC Changes A big change that helped us was in how memory is decommitted. The change moved decommit out of the GC pause for server GC and made a number of other changes to improve the performance. HTTP Stack One of the most challenging areas of transition was in our HTTP client stack. Worldwide, our HTTP plugin is called by our partners more than 7.5 million times per second. .NET Framework and .NET Core have very different HTTP client stacks. Given that one of our important goals was to have a single code base and be able to transition between Framework and Core with just a process restart, we had very important problem to solve. In .NET Framework, we were relying on functionality in ServicePointManager and WebRequestHandler , neither of which are present in .NET Core. At first, it was recommended to move to WinHttpHandler , but this class is missing a lot of the functionality we relied on. There were real implications for performance should we adopt it, as some backend teams in Bing implemented load balancing that was impossible to achieve using WinHttpHandler . The ultimate recommendation, SocketsHttpHandler , was only available for .NET Core. Our situation can be summarized by the following table: Library Contains Needed Functionality .NET Framework Compatible? .NET Core Compatible WebRequestHandler Yes Yes No WinHttpHandler No Yes Yes SocketsHttpHandler Yes No Yes We didn’t want to move to WinHttpHandler and end up in the worst of both worlds. In the end, we created an HTTP interface that dynamically loaded either WebRequestHandler or SocketsHttpHandler , depending on what runtime was in use. Both of those classes have similar functionality, but don’t share a common interface, so we developed our own. In addition, in .NET Framework, some TCP settings are set process-wide via ServicePointManager , but in .NET Core, they are set on the SocketsHttpHandler object. This meant a little more conditional code in the app. Scaling Engineering Effort Because of the binary nature of so many parts of this massive project, it was easy to become completely blocked, especially at early stages. For example, while we were waiting for C++/CLI libraries to be migrated to P/Invoke, we would only work on other things that we knew would need to be changed. There was no way to actually start up the ApplicationHost and test it out or see what else was broken. There were many issues like this. Of course, other work was still simultaneously being done; for example, building automated systems to analyze our partners’ code. Conclusion Overall, .NET 5 demonstrates a significant performance improvement over .NET Framework in XAP’s scenario. While there is still more work to do, the overall picture is clear that .NET 5 is phenomenally superior in most respects. We hope that the lessons learned from XAP’s migration story will help guide other teams at Microsoft and the larger industry as they contemplate migration to .NET 5 and beyond. 1 9 0 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on Linkedin Copy Link --> Category .NET ASP.NET Developer Stories Performance Share Author Ben Watson Principal Software Engineer Since 2008, Ben Watson has worked on building and improving the fast, scalable, high-volume, low-latency platform that runs Bing and many of the search and workflow execution portions of other Microsoft products such as Exchange, SharePoint, Cortana, Office, Windows, and more. He is the author of the book Writing High-Performance .NET Code, 2nd Edition. In his spare time, he enjoys music, reading, and spending time with his wife and children outdoors in the beautiful Pacific northwest. 9 comments Discussion is closed. Login to edit/delete existing comments. Code of Conduct Sort by : Newest Newest Popular Oldest Chris DaMour --> Chris DaMour --> July 13, 2021 1 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> In the end, we created an HTTP interface that dynamically loaded either WebRequestHandler or SocketsHttpHandler, depending on what runtime was in use. Both of those classes have similar functionality, but don’t share a common interface, so we developed our own. any chance of OSS’ing this? Daniel Steiner --> Daniel Steiner --> June 16, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> did you notice that the comment counter in a posting on devblogs.microsoft.com is no longer working and always saying “0 comments” whereas the counter on the overview page devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet seems to be correct. is this an issue with .NET 6 Preview 4 ? Grzegorz Hordyński --> Grzegorz Hordyński --> June 16, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Couple of questions of you don’t mind: In case of isolation of plugins, are you using coreCLR assembly context unloading (which I find really unreliable) or did you go to process isolation? Am I right to assume you were using AppDomains previously? What did you replace WCF/Remoting with? gRPC? The thing about loading .Net Framework binaries in coreCLR host, what mechanism did you use to communicate between them? Ben Watson --> Ben Watson Author --> June 16, 2021 1 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> To Slava and Grzegorz: Plugin isolation model: We never used AppDomains, and we did not start using assembly load contexts (but those are on our radar to look as a potential aid). AppDomains was a little too-isolated for our needs, same as process-level isolation. Those techniques would not easily scale to the amount of independent code we execute. Instead, our isolation is built on extreme control of the 3rd-party code we load: With those rules, we essentially have a soft-guarantee that no plugin can impact either the global state of the system or another plugin. It is de facto isolation by strict... Read more To Slava and Grzegorz: Plugin isolation model: We never used AppDomains, and we did not start using assembly load contexts (but those are on our radar to look as a potential aid). AppDomains was a little too-isolated for our needs, same as process-level isolation. Those techniques would not easily scale to the amount of independent code we execute. Instead, our isolation is built on extreme control of the 3rd-party code we load: We heavily restrict the APIs that the code can call: no I/O, no async, no process-altering instructions (e.g., anything in the Environment class, among many others), no P/Invoke. We do have the ability to grant exceptions to these rules. Detailed monitoring of the code. Plugins must meet strict quality and performance rules: not too much CPU usage, no unhandled exceptions. If they are violated, the plugin gets disabled. Immutable inputs to remove the need for synchronization. Immutable static state. With those rules, we essentially have a soft-guarantee that no plugin can impact either the global state of the system or another plugin. It is de facto isolation by strict rule adherence, rather than setting up boundaries that would impact performance negatively in other ways. WCF/Remoting replacement We were using this in only a few places. We were already using Bond for most of our schema-based communication, so we moved the rest to that. We have also implemented gRPC more recently. Core Framework Hosting The .NET runtime is capable of loading arbitrary .NET Framework binaries. If those binaries happen to call an unsupported API, then you’ll get a runtime exception, but otherwise it will work. So our .NET 5-based host executable just calls Assembly.LoadFile(“ApplicationHost.exe”) (ApplicationHost.exe targets net472) and then invokes Main with MethodInfo.Invoke. We used ApiPort to ensure API-level compatibility. We also started converting all of our dependencies to netstandard2.0 to strengthen these compatibility guarantees. We have since migrated to building directly against .NET 5, so this technique is no longer used. Read less Kalle Niemitalo --> Kalle Niemitalo --> June 21, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> I guess these API restrictions differ from the deprecated Code Access Security by not having to defend against deliberately malicious code, which might try to locate import tables by pointer arithmetic. Slava Mokrov --> Slava Mokrov --> June 16, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Nice article! We’re seeing some of the same issues. Can you tell more about the plugin loader and the isolation model you have? This is a major pain for us even without migration to .NET 5. Or maybe even better have another article about it. shanyou zhang --> shanyou zhang --> June 15, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> .NET lacks a stable and powerful workflow engine and has no plans for open source ZAP John0King --> John0King --> June 15, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> I think it also lack a rich eco-systems🤣 saint4eva --> saint4eva --> June 16, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Wonderfully stupid statement. Read next June 15, 2021 .NET Framework June 2021 Cumulative Update Preview Tara Overfield June 16, 2021 Conversation about networking Richard Lander Stay informed Get notified when new posts are published. Email * Country/Region * Select... 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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb6-8 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb3-9 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb6-11 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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https://feedback.telerik.com/kendo-react-ui | Progress® KendoReact Feedback Portal Progress® KendoReact Feedback Portal Create an account Log In Recently Updated New Items Most Popular Status Info Recently Updated Request a Feature Report a Bug Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 09 Jan 2026 13:09 by ADMIN Accessibility issue: Alternative to Single Pointer options is not provided for adjusting the graph points. Created by: eDAD Comments: 3 Category: KendoReact Type: Bug Report 0 Vote Accessibility issue: Alternative to Single Pointer options is not provided for adjusting the graph points. Title: Alternative to Single Pointer options is not provided for adjusting the graph points. Test Environment: OS: Windows 11 Version 24H2 (OS Build 22631.3958) Browser: Microsoft New Edge Version 128.0.2739.42 (Official build) (64-bit) Repro Steps: Open URL: React Charts Library & StockChart - StockChart - KendoReact Docs & Demos (telerik.com in Edge browser. "Kendo React Stock Chart Overview" chart will appear. Navigate to the second chart present under Example using tab key. Now verify whether the single Pointer options alternative is provided for adjusting the graph points or not. Actual Result: An alternative to Single Pointer options is not provided for the dragging functionality to adjust the graph for start and end point. Please refer attachment- Single Pointer options a lternative is not provided for adjusting the graph points. Expected Result: Single Pointer options alternative should be provided for adjusting the graph points. Example: There can be editable fields provided so that the user can add values accordingly. Pending Review Follow Last Updated: 06 Jan 2026 10:04 by eDAD Keyboard focus order is not logical when navigating through the "Upload" controls of bar charts components in windows. Created by: eDAD Comments: 0 Category: KendoReact Type: Feature Request 0 Vote Keyboard focus order is not logical when navigating through the "Upload" controls of bar charts components in windows. Test Environment: OS: Windows 11 Version 24H2 (OS build 26120.2705) Browser Edge Version 132.0.2957.55 URL: https://codesandbox.io/p/sandbox/objective-blackburn-jvz3py User Impact: Keyboard dependent users will find it difficult to navigate as the focus order is not logical when navigating through the "Upload" controls of bar charts components. Repro steps: Open URL: https://codesandbox.io/p/sandbox/objective-blackburn-jvz3py in the latest chrome browser. Code sandbox page will appear. Press tab key from the top of the page to "https://jvz3py.csb.app/" edit field on right side to reach the Bar chart. Press tab key to move focus between bar charts and press arrow keys to navigate through the bar chart points. Verify on pressing tab keys whether the keyboard focus order is logical while navigating the "Upload" controls of Bar chart components. Actual Result: Keyboard focus order is not logical when navigating through the "Upload" controls of bar charts components in windows. Focus will not move to the 'Upload' button it will move to the next bar graph control. Refer Attachment: Keyboard focus order is not logical when navigating through the Upload controls of bar charts components.mp4 Expected Result: Keyboard focus order should be logical while navigating the "Upload" controls of Bar chart components in windows. Focus should move to the 'Upload' button. Completed Follow Last Updated: 06 Jan 2026 09:57 by ADMIN Kendo UI React GridColumn component needs minWidth and maxWidth properties Created by: n/a Comments: 17 Category: Data Grid Type: Feature Request 54 Vote Kendo UI React GridColumn component needs minWidth and maxWidth properties Currently the GridColumn Component only supports width property. It should also support minWidth and maxWidth properties for better responsive design. https://www.telerik.com/kendo-react-ui/components/grid/api/GridColumnProps/ Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 05 Jan 2026 08:57 by Yen All-Day-Only View with Vertical Resource Grouping Created by: Yen Comments: 0 Category: KendoReact Type: Feature Request 1 Vote All-Day-Only View with Vertical Resource Grouping *** Support ticket created by Telerik by Progress staff *** *** Please follow-up with additional details, if necessary. Thank you. *** The KendoReact Scheduler currently does not provide a supported way to display only all-day events while hiding all time slots when using vertical resource grouping (Week or Timeline-based views). It would be beneficial if we had a mechanism for implementing an all-day–only Scheduler view that supports vertical resource grouping, renders multi-day events as a single continuous bar across consecutive days, and preserves the existing Scheduler structure and interactions. Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 01 Jan 2026 09:32 by Grant Enable customization options for the GridToolbarColumnsChooser Created by: Grant Comments: 0 Category: KendoReact Type: Feature Request 1 Vote Enable customization options for the GridToolbarColumnsChooser It would be beneficial for GridToolbarColumnsChooser to offer customization options that allow developers to control which columns can be shown or hidden. Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 31 Dec 2025 13:38 by ADMIN Additional chart wizard features Created by: Martin Comments: 3 Category: Chart Wizard Type: Feature Request 1 Vote Additional chart wizard features Hi We use the chart wizard in our app to allow our end users to create their own charts by storing the chart wizard settings and then displaying the chart with updated data. This works very well. However there are some limitations with the chart wizard settings that result in us not being able to create as clean and readable charts as we would like. These are: - In a bar chart the borders of each bar are black irrespective of the colour of the bar. This creates messy charts when have lots of bars that end up being next to each other as only see the black borders and not the (say) red bars. Ideally there should be no bar border - You can't set the frequency of the x axis labels and hence with lots of items the labels overlap - You can't have mixed series types i.e. choose type (line, column etc) for each series The other usage issue is that if you change chart type from (say) bars to columns you loose your settings (eg which data items selected) even though only changing chart orientation Declined Follow Last Updated: 19 Dec 2025 10:41 by ADMIN The Data Grid does not work properly with large datasets Created by: Hubert Comments: 1 Category: KendoReact Type: Bug Report 0 Vote The Data Grid does not work properly with large datasets The Data Grid does not work properly with large datasets. In the example below with one million records, it is impossible to scroll to the bottom of the grid. Firefox : Rows fail to render after scrolling past approximately 200,000 rows. Chrome : Rows do render, but the skip parameter never exceeds 745,645 even when the scrollbar is at the bottom, preventing access to the remaining ~254,000 records. This contradicts the documentation's claim that the grid "scales from hundreds to millions of records while maintaining a responsive user experience." https://stackblitz.com/edit/react-aaxnyzxm?file=app%2Fapp.tsx Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 19 Dec 2025 10:03 by ADMIN Scheduled for 2026 Q1 (Feb) Grid footer is not sticky Created by: Jie Comments: 1 Category: KendoReact Type: Bug Report 1 Vote Grid footer is not sticky Please see the example - https://codesandbox.io/p/sandbox/silly-wind-tpfg8n When column "Unit Price" is locked, while moving the horizontal scroll bar, the group header is sticky (expected behavior), but the group footer is not sticky (wrong behavior). Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 18 Dec 2025 08:00 by ADMIN Configurable indentation / spacing for grouped rows in KendoReact Grid Created by: Nurik Comments: 1 Category: KendoReact Type: Feature Request 1 Vote Configurable indentation / spacing for grouped rows in KendoReact Grid When using KendoReact Grid with multiple grouping levels , the Grid automatically adds horizontal indentation inside <td> elements to represent group hierarchy. While this behavior is expected, there is no public API to control, customize, or disable this indentation . As grouping depth increases, this extra space causes layout issues, unexpected horizontal overflow, and breaks strict or custom design systems. Is there a reason why this spacing is not configurable? Are there plans to expose an official option (e.g. groupIndent / groupPadding) or any supported API to manage grouped row indentation? Example: Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 11 Dec 2025 12:59 by eDAD Screen reader is not announcing descriptive information on the pager section in windows Created by: eDAD Comments: 0 Category: KendoReact Type: Feature Request 1 Vote Screen reader is not announcing descriptive information on the pager section in windows Description User Impact: Screen reader users will miss important descriptive details on the pager section, making navigation unclear. This can lead to confusion and difficulty in understanding page context or available actions. Plan KendoReact Steps To Reproduce Open the URL: https://www.telerik.com/kendo-react-ui/components/grid in edge browser in windows. 'React Data Grid Overview' page will be open. Press tab key to navigate to the pager section. Verify whether screen reader is announcing descriptive information on the pager section in windows or not. Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 11 Dec 2025 12:37 by Bharath Spreadsheet controlled mode Created by: Bharath Comments: 0 Category: Spreadsheet Type: Feature Request 1 Vote Spreadsheet controlled mode Currently, there is no option to utilize controlled mode for the Spreasheet data. The current workaround is to set the defaultProps and then re-initialize the Spreadsheet using the "key" prop. Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 09 Dec 2025 08:31 by ADMIN [Menu] Add Arrow Key Navigation Support for Vertical Menus with Scrollable Options Created by: Prathamesh Comments: 3 Category: Menu Type: Feature Request 0 Vote [Menu] Add Arrow Key Navigation Support for Vertical Menus with Scrollable Options Hi, Currently, the vertical menu/tree component lacks keyboard navigation using arrow keys when the menu options exceed the visible screen area. Users who are not familiar with or comfortable using scrollbars face difficulty navigating through lengthy menus. Problem Statement: Large vertical menus that extend beyond screen height require scrollbar usage Not all users are familiar with scrollbar navigation Poor user experience for keyboard-reliant users Proposed Solution: Add an enable/disable configuration option for arrow key navigation that allows: Up/Down arrow keys to navigate through menu items Auto-scroll behavior when reaching menu boundaries Enter/Space key to select items Configurable option to enable/disable this feature Attached is the screenshot of desired feature on tree (just for reference). Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 05 Dec 2025 12:41 by ADMIN datetimepicker Created by: amir Comments: 1 Category: KendoReact Type: Feature Request 0 Vote datetimepicker DateTimePicker - TRL support in case of no value - "שנה/חודש/יום" instead of "יום/חודש/שנה" when the format is YYYY/MM/DD Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 05 Dec 2025 10:34 by ADMIN Globalization -> Internationalization -> Loading Data -> does not work with current version of cldr* Created by: Hubert Comments: 1 Category: KendoReact Type: Bug Report 1 Vote Globalization -> Internationalization -> Loading Data -> does not work with current version of cldr* The examples from https://www.telerik.com/kendo-react-ui/components/intl/i18n/loading-data work with cldr* packages up to version 47.0.0. The Current version 48.0.0 causes an error: Error in /turbo_modules/@progress/kendo-intl@3.1.2/dist/npm/main.js (759:20) Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'replace') Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 02 Dec 2025 11:34 by ADMIN Export FormContext in @progress/kendo-react-form Created by: Jeff Comments: 4 Category: KendoReact Type: Feature Request 4 Vote Export FormContext in @progress/kendo-react-form The Kendo Form component internally uses a FormContext which is ued by FormElement and Field. However this Context is not exported in @progress/kendo-react-form Please export this context. It would really help with the usability of the Form component for complex forms. There are things in the FormContext that are not available in the formRenderProps. Alternatively, put everything from the context into the FormRenderProps. These don't seem like they needed to be 2 different objects. Specifically with the Context you can see what fields have been `touched`, `visited` and `modified`. But with the render props you only get a boolean if any field has been touched, visited or modified; not the names of the fields. Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 28 Nov 2025 13:05 by ADMIN Issue with Kendo Spreadsheet: Cross-sheet formulas not calculating on sheet switch. Created by: pradeep Comments: 3 Category: Spreadsheet Type: Feature Request 1 Vote Issue with Kendo Spreadsheet: Cross-sheet formulas not calculating on sheet switch. Dear Team, I am writing to report an issue I am encountering with the Kendo UI Spreadsheet component. The Issue: Formulas function correctly on the inside sheet ("Food Order"). However, when I switch to a secondary sheet (sheet1) or attempt to reference cells across different sheets, the formulas not working. Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 26 Nov 2025 15:43 by ADMIN Chart Time Series Aggregate Behaviour Created by: Pablo Comments: 1 Category: KendoReact Type: Feature Request 1 Vote Chart Time Series Aggregate Behaviour Be able to to modify the cut-off point depending on what baseUnit is selected in a chart time series. e.g. Given the following data points: Data = [ Friday 10th Oct: 123, Saturday 11th Oct: 54, Sunday 12th Oct: 77, …, Tuesday 20th January: 10, ] If baseUnit = year Currently what happens is: 1st Jan -> 1st Jan -> 1st Jan What we want: 10th Oct -> 10th Oct -> 10th Oct If baseUnit = month Currently what happens is: 1st Oct -> 1st Nov -> 1st Dec What we want: 10th Oct -> 10th Nov -> 10th Dec -> etc *Edge case of 29th, 30th, and 31st: Default to last day of the month Oct 31st -> Nov 30th -> Dec 31st If baseUnit = week Currently what happens is: Sunday 5th Oct -> Sunday 12th Oct -> Sunday 19th Oct What we want: Friday 10th Oct -> Friday 17th Oct -> Friday 24th Oct -> etc If baseUnit = day This is our minimum unit so everything works Unplanned Follow Last Updated: 25 Nov 2025 10:31 by ADMIN Other variant of MultiSelectTree Created by: Attila Comments: 1 Category: KendoReact Type: Feature Request 6 Vote Other variant of MultiSelectTree In our software we want to create a filter with MultiSelectTree. The hierarchy is this: LV1 -> LV2 -> LV3. In the database the data is assigned to LV3. If the component is loaded with lot of LV3 items then selecting the parent LV2 node will result a very long tag list in the textbox part of the MultiSelectTree which is not user friendly. In this case I expect selecting the LV2 node will check the LV3 subnodes also but the textbox part has only that LV2 tag as selected. So the checkboxes should remain the same textbox should display the selected parent only. Other cases: - when LV1 is selected, then every children will be checked but textbox should display only the selected location - when 99 of 100 LV3 items are checked then LV2 parent is not fully checked so textbox should display only the bins but only the first N items then use ... characters. Need More Info Follow Last Updated: 21 Nov 2025 13:08 by ADMIN Error when resizing the container in the treelist Created by: Andrei Comments: 10 Category: KendoReact Type: Bug Report 0 Vote Error when resizing the container in the treelist We use " @ progress / kendo - react - treelist " : " ^ 5.10.1 " in our project . Trees are usually placed in flexible containers , and users can reduce their size to 0 . At this point , we get an error when calling the tableRowsVirtualization function . I have attached a screenshot at the moment of debugging . You can see that the values of items [ 0 ] and lastItem are undefined when the container size approaches 0 . I didn 't prepare an example to reproduce the error , because I think it 's pretty clear that an error occurs here . So the questions are : if this is a bug , is it fixed in the new versions of the package ? If there is a possible error on our part or it has not been fixed in the new versions , then what should we do to solve the problem ? Thanks Declined Follow Last Updated: 19 Nov 2025 09:23 by ADMIN In the ArcGauge component, setting the rangeLineCap to round and square looks misleading Created by: Aman Comments: 2 Category: KendoReact Type: Bug Report 0 Vote In the ArcGauge component, setting the rangeLineCap to round and square looks misleading With the ArcGauge component, when you set the rangeLineCap to something other than 'butt' (ie: round or square), the indicator does not line up with the tick lines. This leads to misleading values. Please look at this StackBlitz: https://stackblitz.com/edit/react-itztql This will show the comparison between round and butt rangeLineCaps. From the screenshot as well, the ArcGauge on the right looks like the value is greater than 0, resulting in the user being mislead on the result. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Create an account Log In View Recently Updated New Items Most Popular Status Info Type All Bug Report Feature Request Status All Completed (212) Declined (64) Duplicated (14) In Development (2) Need More Info (2) Pending Review (1) Planned (6) Under Review (1) Unplanned (557) Won't Fix (13) Category All KendoReact ActionSheet Agentic UI Generator AI Coding Assistant AIPrompt Animation AppBar ArcGauge AutoComplete Avatar Badge Barcode BottomNavigation Breadcrumb Button ButtonGroup Calendar Card Chart Chart Wizard Chat Checkbox Chip ChipList ChunkProgressBar CircularGauge ColorGradient ColorPalette ColorPicker ComboBox ContextMenu Conversational UI Data Grid Data Query Date Math DateInput DatePicker DateRangePicker DateTimePicker Dialog Drag & Drop Drawer Drawing DropDownButton DropDownList DropDownTree Editor Error Excel Export ExpansionPanel ExternalDropZone File Saver FileManager Filter FlatColorPicker FloatingActionButton FloatingLabel FontIcon Form Gantt Gauge GridLayout Hint InlineAIPrompt Input Label Licensing LinearGauge ListBox ListView Loader Map MaskedTextBox Menu MultiColumnComboBox MultiSelect MultiSelectTree MultiViewCalendar Notification NumericTextBox OrgChart Page Templates / Building Blocks Pager PanelBar PDF Processing PDF Viewer PivotGrid Popover Popup ProgressBar QR Code RadialGauge RadioButton RadioGroup RangeSlider Rating Ripple Sankey Scheduler ScrollView Signature Skeleton Slider Sortable Sparkline SpeechToTextButton SplitButton Splitter Spreadsheet StackLayout Stepper StockChart SVGIcon Switch TabStrip TaskBoard TextArea TextBox TileLayout Timeline TimePicker Toolbar Tooltip TreeList TreeView Typography Upload VS Code Extension Window 165k+ 50k+ 17k+ 4k+ 14k+ Telerik and Kendo UI are part of Progress product portfolio. 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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb2-1 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb7-4 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb8-7 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb6-9 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb10-1 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://buf.build/events/bsr-workshop-jan26 | Getting Started with the Buf Schema Registry Schema Registry Overview Pricing Schema Registry Overview Schema Registry Pricing Bufstream CLI Connect RPC Protovalidate Open Source Connect RPC Protovalidate Docs Blog 10.5k Login Sign up Contact Us Workshop Getting Started with the Buf Schema Registry Jan 22nd, 2026 Our interactive workshop is the best way to learn the ins and outs of our centralized registry for tracking and evolving Protobuf APIs. Protobuf is a great schema language—until you need to manage imports and dependencies across multiple projects. Without proper tooling, teams struggle with schema distribution, keeping definitions in sync, and maintaining compatibility as APIs evolve. Filling this need, the Buf Schema Registry (BSR) handles schema distribution, discovery, and documentation with built-in breaking change detection and dependency management. Learn all about the BSR in our online workshop. Our engineering team will share why we built the BSR, its capabilities, tips for getting started, example use cases, and best practices. We’ll stop to answer your questions throughout this interactive session. We’ll cover: Why Protobuf needs dependency management Dependency management with the BSR Schema documentation Generated SDKs Q&A throughout Presenters: Joe Rinehart Developer Relations Engineer, Buf Sam Small Engineering Manager Register now Book a meeting Access on demand Product Bufstream Schema Registry BSR Pricing Buf CLI GitHub Docs Company Blog Events Careers Community Slack Contact Us © Buf Technologies, Inc. 2025 / Privacy policy , Terms of use , & Consent preferences | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://share.transistor.fm/s/bca43ae5#copya | APIs You Won't Hate | An API for APIs with Gil Feig from Merge APIs You Won't Hate 40 ? 30 : 10)" @keyup.document.left="seekBySeconds(-10)" @keyup.document.m="toggleMute" @keyup.document.s="toggleSpeed" @play="play(false, true)" @loadedmetadata="handleLoadedMetadata" @pause="pause(true)" preload="none" @timejump.window="seekToSeconds($event.detail.timestamp); shareTimeFormatted = formatTime($event.detail.timestamp)" > Trailer Bonus 10 40 ? 30 : 10)" class="seek-seconds-button" > 40 ? 30 : 10"> Subscribe Share More Info Download More episodes Subscribe newValue ? setTimeout(() => copied = false, 2500) : null)" @click="copied = copyFeedUrl()" class="form-input-group" > Copied to clipboard Apple Podcasts Spotify Pocket Casts Overcast Castro YouTube Goodpods Goodpods Metacast Amazon Music Pandora CastBox Anghami Anghami Fountain JioSaavn Gaana iHeartRadio TuneIn TuneIn Player FM SoundCloud SoundCloud Deezer Podcast Addict Share newValue ? setTimeout(() => copied = false, 2500) : null)" @click="copied = copyShareUrl()" class="form-input-group" > Share Copied to clipboard newValue ? setTimeout(() => copied = false, 2500) : null)" @click="copied = copyEmbedHtml()" class="form-input-group" > Embed Copied to clipboard Start at Trailer Bonus Full Transcript View the website updateDescriptionLinks($el))" class="episode-description" > Chapters June 1, 2022 by APIs You Won't Hate View the website Listen On Apple Podcasts Listen On Spotify Listen On YouTube RSS Feed Subscribe RSS Feed RSS Feed URL Copied! Follow Episode Details / Transcript On this episode, Mike talks to cofounder of Merge, Gil Feig, about building a service that integrates with many APIs. Show Notes On this episode, Mike talks to cofounder of Merge, Gil Feig, about building a service that integrates with many APIs. Find Merge at https://merge.dev Gil Feig @GilFeig Merge is Hiring! Thank you so much to our sponsors: Lob: https://lob.com/careers Treblle : https://treblle.com/apisyoulove Creators and Guests Host Mike Bifulco Cofounder and host of APIs You Won't Hate. Blogs at https://mikebifulco.com Into 🚴♀️, espresso ☕, looking after 🌍. ex @Stripe @Google @Microsoft What is APIs You Won't Hate? A no-nonsense (well, some-nonsense) podcast about API design & development, new features in the world of HTTP, service-orientated architecture, microservices, and probably bikes. Mike Bifulco: Hi friends. Welcome back to API. As you won't hate, this is Mike, your co. For this episode, I'm chatting with Gil , who is the co-founder of merge. Him and I had a great time talking about what he's been building with his team at merge, what it's like to grow an API centric product to the challenges inherent in that some of the really cool learnings that his team has come across when they've been building their product and what it's like to grow an API centric product especially one that was born during the pandemic. I know it was a great discussion. I hope you enjoy it. Please check out the interview, send me any feedback you've got at Reverend Mike on Twitter or at API and you won't hate. For our next episode, I believe we'll be back with Phil and Matt and myself, chatting about APIs and catching up on some of the news and latest goings on in the world in the meantime, I hope you enjoy this interview with Gil. It was a fantastic discussion and really think he's on something exciting there. Love to see people in the API universe, building interesting products and sort of pushing the limits of what's been done before. And especially when it makes all of our lives easier products like that, really trying to sing their own tune. Yeah. And so before we get off to the interview here's a quick message from our sponsors. Thanks so much for listening and I hope you enjoyed the interview. All right. And I'm here with Gil five from merge, Gail. How are you doing today? Gil Feig: I'm great. How are you doing? Mike Bifulco: I'm doing really good. Thanks. Yeah. So I appreciate you taking the time to chat with us or wanted to talk a little bit about you and merging your story and how all that applies to API APIs and the, the world you're kind of living in. And so maybe we can start with, a bit about yourself your background, perhaps, and how you got to where you are today. Gil Feig: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm Gil. I am a software engineer through and through. I've been been, so since I was pretty young, I had a computer in my room and started coding, but got serious about it in college, made her majored in computer science and graduated and went straight into software. So I worked at LinkedIn for a few years. Then Wealthfront. And then finally I joined a startup called canvas now called untapped, which is recruiting. And while I was there had to build a ton of integrations with different applicant tracking systems. And it was one after the next, it was an insane amount of work. We first built greenhouse then lever. Then we had to build Workday and in order to close new customers, we had to build the ATS is that they were using because we needed to be able to interact with whatever data they had on their end. And my co-founder who I, who I actually met way back in college. At the same time she had gone into finance for a while, ended up at a startup as chief of staff. And there, she was building out a lot of different integrations with ticketing systems and they ran into the exact same problem. They had to build it every single integration with every single ticketing system, depending on what their customer was on. So we noticed this, this very joint problem. B2B companies when they want to integrate with other platforms, they have to integrate with all the competitors that that space. And that's ultimately how we came upon the idea of merge, where we build unified API APIs or one API to integrate with all the competitors in, in each vertical. Mike Bifulco: Yeah, Got it. Okay. So it sounds like you were living through the pain of something like many startup founders do and kind of saw that pain as an opportunity. So how long ago was that? When, when did you found merge? Gil Feig: Yeah, we started murders right at the beginning of the pandemic. So it was around June of 2020. Wow. Yeah, dove right into the deep end. Huh? Mike Bifulco: We did we, I mean, what better time? The opportunity costs of starting a company then was you either sit there in your room and do nothing or you start a company. So. Gil Feig: Yeah. Okay. So. That, that's how you got to merge. And you kind of said it already, but what's maybe the value proposition or the elevator pitch for why someone would want to use merge. Mike Bifulco: Yeah, absolutely. So when, when you're starting a company and you know, you, you know that you need to be data rich, I would say most startups, these days have some sort of data that they need to interact with. And, and even existing companies, large companies we sell to as. Basically come up with these product ideas. Like we want to build X, Y, and Z, but we need to pull in our customer's data from their HR system. Let's say we need to pull up all of their employees and we need to pull in all of their job titles. For example, the, the current approach is all right, well, we need to go ask our customers, which HR platforms. We're going to stack rank them based on maybe contract value, maybe which one the most customers are using. And we'll just start tackling them one by one in that order. But building them out is not just a simple fee, right? It could take three to six months to build out one integration. Then you have three to six months of long tail follow-ups and fixes, as your devs are finding edge cases or things you just couldn't have predicted because you have customers who have set up their HR system in some custom way that affects how the API returns data. So you're basically assigning, you know, multiple. Six months or more, plus you have your support teams involved. It's just a whole company, problem, partnerships, everything. So instead you can either do that go one by one or instead you can choose marriage integrate just once with us, we offer for one of our categories, HR and payroll, we offer 35 integrations and we're constantly adding new ones. Once you build that out, once you don't have to do any extra work, ask, merge to build one out, if one's missing and we'll do it. And it's just available to your. Gil Feig: Sure. Yeah. So that, that seems like a pretty easy call, right? When the alternative is go ask one of your developers to become an expert on someone else's product for a little while or long enough to be dangerous, or maybe not even an expert, but to just go try their best to figure it out. And then maybe not have the time later on to go keep up with changes. Oh, when things break to go and update the, the implementation and have to worry about those details. So you mentioned one of your, your. verticals and it sounds like you've got a few verticals that merged focuses on. Can you, can you talk a little bit about those and maybe how you chose them? Mike Bifulco: Yeah. Sure. So we first started with recruiting, which is ATS or applicant tracking systems and HR and payroll. Those were our two categories that, that kind of launched HR and payroll kind of being one joint one. So it's HR payroll, and then ATS, the reason we chose those. We were familiar with ATS. It's something I had built out extensively before ATS also comes with a lot of customizability and a lot of variation between platforms. So it was a good way for us to just start out building a really robust system that we knew would extend to simpler verticals in the future. So it was I would say it was a bit bold to start with, but ultimately it's proven to be really great because we've been able to expand very quickly after that. So after that we launched accounting. So those are ERP systems, things like. NetSuite and QuickBooks. And then after that we did ticketing. So JIRA sauna, that's a mix of ticketing system. So JIRA, sauna, Trello, those sorts of things, but then also help desk. And then we also have a new one. We just launched was just CRM. So Salesforce hubs. Gil Feig: Yeah. Wow. All things that are in their own way, very, very customizable and a pretty significant problem to approach from a development standpoint. I think maybe the only way you could have taken a harder route in would have been to start with something like electric health records. But it sounds like you went with a good challenge to start, and it's cool to see that you've found some traction and whatnot. So for the API, you won't hate audience. One of the questions that I like to ask, because people invariably want to know is can you tell us a little bit about what you built and merge with? Maybe languages, architecture approaches, things like that. Mike Bifulco: Yeah, absolutely. So I think for us choice of stack was, was more about speed to market. How quickly can we move? What is something that a lot of people are going to know coming in or something that people can easily learn as opposed to going for something that is the most optimized, fast language? So naturally we chose Python, which I think as we grow now, it is a bit of a slow language, but again, it lets us move incredibly quickly. We've adapted, we use a Django backend and we've added typing since. So, you know, we, we run into fewer issues there. Then on the front end, we're we're fully react. We have a pretty complex front end. I would say it's actually surprisingly for an API based startup, we probably have a more complex front end than most even non API based startups. So yeah, that's, that's sort of our most common. Gil Feig: Yeah. Got it. And So on the other side of that, for your customers who are consuming services through merge, it looks like you ship a few different client libraries and, and a couple of different languages. Which of those do you support them? Mike Bifulco: Yeah. So what we did early on was was basically, we need to be able to move incredibly quickly. Everything we've done is about how much we can automate. And so we're using open API for our APIs to document them. I'm sure most listeners here know this, but a sort of similar to swagger or any model Jen that you have at had a lot of bigger companies where they build in house. But we use open API. Our open API spec itself is auto-generated using something called Django spectacular. So it looks at our end points themselves, and then it generates our spec. And then our spec is used by we, we sponsor and we use open API general. Which can generate the client libraries or the SDKs. They're not perfect. Always, I would say. And so we we've started to fork those templates a bit to customize them and support some of the things that we need, but overall it's helped us move incredibly. Gil Feig: Sure. Yeah. That's probably the sign of a growing organization that has, has you know, multi-variable requirements to fulfill. But also one of those things where suddenly you don't have to go hire a Python developer and a Ruby developer and a Java guy and somebody who can do C plus plus and all these other things for people who want to consume in every flavor under the sun open API is a good way to scale that stuff out. That's really cool. Mike Bifulco: Yeah, it's been great. And I think, you know, there's, there's obviously some, some elements of it. Like when, when you stretch open API to its max, or when you stretch in general, like the rest spec to its max, for example, we support the expand parameter, which is a common rest, you know, sort of thing where, where we have certain foreign keys relations that come back as. But if in the request to our API, you say expand, and then that field name, it comes back as a fully unwrapped object, as opposed to the ID the generators being able to in the SDK say the type of this is either a string or an object, depending on how that request went out. They're not so great for that. So those are some of the things we've had to adapt. We run into a lot of issues as you get more advanced. Gil Feig: sure. Yeah. I'd imagine as you get clients using your tools that are running more sophisticated organizations, they want more of those things too. And you kind of stress test those those, you know, little edge cases of the API to. Mike Bifulco: Yeah, exactly. But when you have, you know, when you have 12 different languages across five different API APIs, that 60 repos, it can be pretty hard to stay on top of with a lean dev team. So. Gil Feig: Yeah, Yeah. To that end. How, how big is your team right now? Mike Bifulco: Yeah. So we are currently a total of 40 people. We have about 12 engineers full time, and then we have five people focused fully on building new integrations, using sort of a lot of the internal tooling that we've built. Gil Feig: Yeah, got it. Got it. so okay. That's, that's actually a pretty sizable team and it makes sense. Given the number of integrations you've got, like, I'd imagine you'd have to have a pretty, pretty solid standing army to just to build out new integrations, let alone keeping up with the old ones. When we're talking about the services that you integrate with, I know you mentioned that you started with sort of the applicant tracking stuff first. How did you prioritize the, even the first API that you chose to integrate with Mike Bifulco: Yeah, so we, we totally focus on market share here. We, we can obviously try to build ones that we want to build, but the most important is what people want. So with ATS, there's. Certain, I would say like looking at different market sectors, there's there's dominant platform. So in ATS you have greenhouse and lever that are really common among tech companies. But then we start selling to tech companies, right? So we might sell to a company that helps you analyze that the diversity of your recruitment funnel and that company is selling to companies we've never heard of, you know, so maybe some oil company in Texas, or maybe they're selling to taco bell of kid of Ohio. Right, right. You're now integrating with, with, you know, greenhouse and lever are relevant to those people. It's, it's Oracle Taleo, it's SAP's recruitment platforms. And so we've really had to sort of focus on what our customers are asking for that being said, building new integrations doesn't slow us down because we spent our first six to eight months building out that infrastructure to be able to build new integrations. So it's more actually the sort of maintenance or dealing with edge cases, as opposed to the initial build out. That takes much time. Gil Feig: Yeah. Okay. Okay. You said something earlier that, that I kind of grazed over pretty quickly, but it's, it may be very interesting thing about the way it sounds like you run the company. How are you discovering what your customer is? How, how are you picking those next integrations? Like, is there a strategy for asking for feedback on those things or is it something you're discovering through maybe the sales process or, or I don't know, help desk ticketing, something like that. Mike Bifulco: Yeah, absolutely. So essentially with all of our, all over our marketing pages, our landing page. We show which integrations we support. And whenever we do, there's always a button next to them that says request new integration on top of that on our two premium plans or two plans that people are committing to annually, we include building new integrations at no extra cost. So we just say, get us an API key from a customer or a, you know, a sandbox key from a customer. We're happy to go build that out on your behalf. And so people can sign with merge knowing that any platform that they need, as long as that bot form has an API, it's going to be supported and basically say mergers. Now our integrations team offloaded. Gil Feig: Yeah, that's ambitious. That is quite the strategy. That's very cool. Do you ever find, you're asked to integrate with something that is just not ready for the kind of integration you're looking for? Mike Bifulco: Yeah. So there's, there's a few different cases that happens in number one is they don't have an API there there's a lot of value in that. And we do have some ways of like, all right, we can try to integrate with reports as a service. And we, we do support doing that, but some really don't have an API. And if there's something that no one's really requesting, we're just not gonna, we're not gonna do it. Other ones we've been asked to actually help customers or help companies design their APIs. So we'll have, we'll have a customer who's pioneering, let's say some new HR platform or some. Relatively new HR platform. And they're hounding that HR platform saying, get, we need an API. We want to pull our data out. That HR platform, sometimes they'll connect them to us and we'll help them design and figure out what it should look like. And then lastly, you do have ones that are missing core functionality. So we also work with platforms on that. We integrated with an ATS. Not to name names, but we, we didn't agree with one recently that exposed a lot of data, but was missing just key candidate and application data and pulling jobs is interesting, but most companies need to know who's actually applying for the jobs. So working with them to add that from. Gil Feig: Yeah, I don't really cool. Do you provide a backlog of, of integrators that you're hoping to implement next? Mike Bifulco: We do, but it's really funny. I know, I know it sounds a little hard to believe, but in general, our backlog is not new integrations. It's functionality. We are, we have 12 engineers and they're not even building integrations, right? That's our, that's our platform team. And they're just incredibly fast. We've gotten to the point where we can build most new integrations unless we're heading something crazy. Most new integrations in a matter of a couple of hours, a record of my, my co-founder actually built three integrations in a day once. The biggest part for us is, is passing them off to our QA team. They take a couple of weeks to really, really test them out. Gil Feig: Sure that for off the cuff, having never really done this myself, that sounds pretty mindblowing. I would expect a scale of, I don't know, at least a month, a two to a couple of months for the integration in QA and then release kind of thing. So it sounds like you're moving really fast and able to work with, I mean, loads and loads of providers for good reason. You, you must have a really good process for doing that. That's that's very cool. That's super impressive. Mike Bifulco: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we like to say we've seen it all at this point. I eat like 15 different types of auth. We've seen people implement ooff, you know, oh, up to like 12 different ways we found security vulnerabilities and how people implement it. So our tooling is basically. If the company, you know, we have, we have a pretty guided, I would say process to help people on board. And it's like, what is the name of the field that the access token comes in? If the company does not abide by the spec and they call it something else, enter that field name here. So it's really guided. It's really adaptable and kind of just helps us move really fast. Gil Feig: Sure. Yeah. Built from all the little scars and pain points you've experienced in the past. No doubt. Mike Bifulco: Yep. Gil Feig: Yeah. Cool. So let's talk a little bit about API APIs. In general, I'm interested in your thoughts on since you, your company has integrated with and consume so many API APIs what to you makes up a good API one. That's good for developers to work with. Mike Bifulco: Yeah. I think thinking about. First of all just being consumer first, thinking about what applications there are people going to use your API for and creating good access patterns around that data is, is really critical. Anything to avoid people having to make a ton of API requests you make end queries. And of course, obviously I think, I think before any of this actually comes just really great documentation. Yeah. You know, there are preferences around using coauthor versus using other offers is security of, of those. And there, there are merits each of them, but if it's not documented. I, yeah. And, and I can tell you from our team, who's built hundreds of integrations. At this point. We don't really have a preference for what type of author you're using. One might be a bit more of a pain to implement, but if we can't figure it out by immediately looking at your dogs, that's, what's the really annoying part having to get in touch with your team and try to have, have that team, you know, figure it all out. So yeah. Documentations number one. Gil Feig: Sure. Yeah, Often the special sauce when you're implementing with anything is kind of being able to read and understand what you're looking at. And honestly, frankly, kind of an overlooked career path too, right? Like really, really good technical writers who understand the problems that are being solved and can eloquently describe what's going on. And also accurately is it really, really special when you're working with an API. Mike Bifulco: Yeah, it's true. And it's so it's like great technical writing is really important. The other one is just the story or the journey of your docs. You know, it's, it's really underrated and people aren't thinking about the path that developer's taking there, but if, how you, if, if the method of authentication is the last thing in your. You know, you're, you're kind of guiding someone of path pathway having to click all around and go all over. So for us, we actually have our designer and, you know, I would say our product team really dedicated to understanding the journey of our customers within our documentation. We treat that as a product really intensely now to the point where, you know, we, we think of user stories and we say, all right, well, they can do this. It's a really complicated action. So we need them to be able to find this, this detailed doc along their journey at the right time. But only if they need it, otherwise we don't. Slam to which information wants. So we think really deeply about that journey that the developers. Gil Feig: sure. Yeah. I, I lack of sufficient term to describe this, but almost the user experience. Learning how to build with something is underappreciated in the industry in general. There's definitely companies, organizations with huge budgets who can go And spin up a UX researcher just to work on docs, but that's often not the case. And so you really just need engineers or technical writers with a lot of love and care and patience for going and rewriting and, you know, experiencing the journey and watching other people do it. Mike Bifulco: Yeah. And it's funny because companies are willing to invest big bucks in optimizing copy on their landing page. Just not people from, from bouncing. But what about stopping developers from bouncing as they go through your docs? Gil Feig: Right. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. We, we sometimes fund the wrong things at the wrong time, I think. So okay. I'm interested in any challenges that you've faced in sort of building this unifying API service. Is there something that stands out to you along the way that you, that you've taken away? Um, Mike Bifulco: Yeah. So I think you can, of course look at all the differences in authentication and pagination and, you know, rate limits and all of that. They're solvable, right? You just build things around them. I think what is hard is what we describe as the mixed functionality problem, which is that ultimately we can't define one, the functionality of the platforms that we integrate with and two, what their API is exposed. And so, and a lot of ways when you're building a unified API, or when you're saying we want to build integrations with, let's say HR platforms, and it's important to us to pull in everyone's title so that we can show that in this spot, on our site, You know, ultimately our customers are like, we want that for all platforms, but if a platform doesn't support it, we have to be able to tell our customer like, Hey, that that's not possible. And I would say that's been a really big challenge for us. It's actually becoming better as we be, as we grow in the market, we have a bit more sway with API providers asking them to add more data. But ultimately again, if a doesn't support it, they don't support it. And so building a unified API that perfectly claims to normalize all data is tough. When some firms just don't have certain data and some platforms have way more. Gil Feig: Sure. Yeah. Are you finding that you need to demonstrate to people who end up buying your services that they're getting ROI, or is it something that is kind of proving itself once they get into implementation? Mike Bifulco: Yeah. I mean, I think first of all, for us, we only add value. What merged does is revenue generating. First of all right, you, you need certain integrations. You don't have the capacity to develop them out. You need those because you need to support customers who are on them. So by having merged, you're able to close those new customers. And then on top of that, you're saving developer time. So it's revenue generating and it's costing. It's, two-fold people come into our sales calls and they're, they, they get it. They know what they're buying into before they even get on that call. It's, it's pretty exciting. I would say our AEs, our, our, our salespeople who have been at multiple companies before ours that are, that are doing not similar things, but other, you know, sort of like maybe API bays or other tech companies have described marriage as just the easiest product to sell when they get on a call with someone, because everybody just understands it and viscerally, grasps the pain. So. Gil Feig: Yeah. That's a perfectly into my next question of how do you know in general, if you're building something that people want. Mike Bifulco: Yeah. I mean, I think for us, it was a bit easier because Shamsi, my co-founder and I both came from backgrounds. We would have used those. Right. And so, so there was a little bit of bias of us coming into this being like, all right, well, we both needed this and we both wanted this. And so we, we also spent about six months before we started the company talking to, we talked to over a hundred different startups in, in a bunch of different verticals. So we were like, all right, well, we don't want to just be biased because we know this is a problem in recruiting and tickets. We want to tackle everything. So let's, let's ask. So we talked to companies that needed HR integrations. We talked to companies that needed marketing automation and CRM and ticketing, just so many different things. And with that every single time we got on a call, we were just like, if something like this existed, would you use it? Absolutely. How much would you be willing to pay? Honestly, anything we pay a team of five developers. It costs us a million dollars a year, anything to take away the pain. We even, even sometimes would flip it and we would just say like, how are you doing it internally? And they'd be like, well, essentially we have this one service that integrates with all the different platforms and translates it to a common language. And we're like, okay, well you've essentially built merge internally. So it was either, they said they needed it or they had done it. Gil Feig: yeah, sure. Along those lines then when you're when you were first starting out, so you talked to a hundred customers, you spent six months kind of researching things. Did those 100 startups? Sorry. Did they end up being your sort of first customers or was there something else you had to do to kind of get the word out there? That merge was open for business? Mike Bifulco: Yeah, they, they definitely, I would say a good number of them did for sure. And we actually still have close them. I think we, we fully remember it. My co-founder tweeted about this recently, but there were three out of those hundred that were, were very discouraging. That's always going to happen, but we're like, this is a terrible idea. Don't do it. And I think it was as of like two months ago, all three are now signed customers emerged. So very, very validating. And then that felt. Gil Feig: Yeah, that's amazing. I hope you pop the champagne or had a nice lunch that day. Something like that. That's really. Mike Bifulco: Yeah, it was really exciting. Gil Feig: For a follow on to that is how has your strategy for acquisition of new customers changed since your initial launch? Mike Bifulco: Yeah. So, so we still continue to do a bit of outbound. We're more inbound and outbound though. Word of mouth is a big one. I would say we're hearing about, you know, a lot of our customers are coming in now saying, oh, we heard that, that, you know, this company is using. We have to a lot of competitors thinking about how their competitors are building and, and, you know, wanting to get a leg up or wanting to at least have the same advantage that they have. Those, those are a couple, we are really big on SEO. So you do things like search for, you know, any platform that we integrate with search for that name, plus API on Google, we tend to rank. So we're, we're really trying to follow the developer's journey, which in that case is, you know, their CEO is going to them saying, Hey, all of our customers are asking for Workday API integration. But in general, if you, if you need a work day integration, you need just works in bamboo HR and, you know, Gusto and namely and all the other ones. And so when you, when you click on it, you land on marriage. It says, get a, get a Workday integration, but also get all of these other ones sign up now. And that's sorta how we're acquiring. Gil Feig: Yeah, Cool. That's really cool. It's it's you've built a lot of momentum inherently in the process here. Let's say tomorrow you were starting from scratch again and you were gonna build a new API first company, whether it was merged or something else that was sort of APIs at its core what are the things you would do first? Mike Bifulco: Yeah, it's interesting. I want to say, like, I would choose a more, more performant language, but I actually don't cause, cause the fact of the matter is we constantly had to just pivot and change how we were building and you know, doing Django and Python at Elta enabled us to move incredibly quick. We've been able to really scale with that. So I wouldn't change, you know, choice of language or any technologies. I think one thing that we might might've done is just do a bigger sort of survey of the landscape, more research across APIs and understand what the variability looks like, because along the way, we've enforced it just tack on things like, you know, I kind of mentioned that earlier, but if they don't call this field the correct thing, then what, what, you know, do they get. But if we had just really gone and looked at a hundred API APIs and spent the time we could have, we could have really planned out, like, all right, here's a robust system, rather than having all these flags that we have to deprecate and be like, does the platform do this? Doesn't apart from, and now the flags are kind of confusing. We've we've done some work to clean that up, but you know, again, I think doing a bigger survey, the landscape would have gone on. Gil Feig: Sure. Yeah, For whatever it's worth from where I'm sitting, that sounds like a great optimistic task and also something that would require you to become an expert on a hundred new APIs which takes a lot of time. And you may never have been able to get things off the ground, you know? Mike Bifulco: Yeah, it's true. It's a balance. And yeah, I say that now, going back when we were sitting there with no product, just sit there and spend potentially two months going through a hundred APS and deeply understanding our off. Probably not. So maybe getting an expert, someone who's built a hundred integrations, but that's also tough. Right? Who's done that. I mean, I had, I had already built several and I think we still, we still just constantly see new things that we haven't seen before. Gil Feig: Sure. Sure. Yeah. Oh, that's all very interesting. You you've had quite the journey kind of from gosh, 2020. I mean it's two and a half years or whatever, something like that to this 0.2 years, roughly. That's. That's a lot of first of all, a lot of implementation, but also a lot of lessons learned that it sounds like you're speaking from some really good experience and have built a really fascinating product. What, what haven't I asked you about merge that I should have asked. Mike Bifulco: Yeah. I mean, I think, I think one thing that we find really interesting is just how people actually use versus what the customer use cases are. They've been, they've been really exciting for us. I'm happy to dive into that a little bit, but I would say they they're very varied and I'm glad we went in with this mindset of, you know, we want to provide the data. We don't want to provide any. Information on top of it. Like let's say you're building a diversity recruiting platform and you want to help people analyze the diversity of the candidates throughout your recruiting funnel. We didn't, we didn't focus on that use case necessarily when we were building, we more said, let's give companies the data there. Maximize the amount of data that's normalized and return from our API APIs and all the tools that developers need to be able to pull it efficiently and do what they want with it. Let's not try to be experts in data analytics or insights or anything on top of it. And so because of that, we've had some really, really cool use cases on top. And so a good example would be, you know, a lot of credit card companies like ramp and you know, some other big ones that, that, you know, you've probably heard of that, that startups are using to power employee credit cards. They, they use us for one really cool. One is a lot of employees are remote these days by companies still want to give a lunch stipend, give $25 a day to all engineers. For a lunch if you're within the engineering org, but if you're in the partnerships org, you get $200 a week for travel and meals. Cause you might want to take out a client or something, you know, along there to take out a partner. And so what, what ramp does is they offer integrations with 35 different HR platforms because they don't know which HR platform their customers on. So they're using merge. Of course now a ramp costs were, can just log in, connect their HR system and then say, all right, we see these teams coming in from merge. Which team, and now give them a budget and give them, you know, sort of spending categories and employee joins. They, we automatically send ramp a web hook to say, Hey, an employee just joined. This is their department. Here's their address? Here's everything ramp allocate to credit card and automatically just mails it to them with all the categories that that's one great use case. Another, another really cool one. And then I'll stop. There is, is cybersecurity. So a lot of these soft to automation platforms that are becoming popular, vantage drugs. That that helped you make sure that you're in compliance. They use us to monitor employees. Are they contractors or full-time. And with that, they're able to make sure that if someone gets terminated, for example, was there access, revoked from all other services within 24 hours? So many different use cases. I've only gotten into a couple and those are just within our HR API, but it's been really. Gil Feig: Yeah, those are really creative and they, they provide some special, like magical solutions to modern problems too, that you definitely need to tie into lots of things for it to make sense, to even try something like that. Mike Bifulco: Yeah, absolutely. And what's interesting also is just that, that nowadays as, as a consumer, you expect everything to be integrated deeply. Like when when, when you're buying a platform and they're like, all right, well, whenever someone joins come add them and invite them here, or, you know, whenever someone does. Whenever you close a sale, go out in Salesforce, but also go add it in our platform. No one wants to do that anymore. And no one expects. Everyone expects that your systems are. Gil Feig: Yeah. Yeah what about other verticals? So are there other other verticals that you're dying to get into, or that are interesting to merge? Mike Bifulco: Yeah, we do have other verticals for sure. And we can build very quickly. What's important to us is that our customers have a great experience. So since we're B2B, we're actually B2B to be all of our customers also sell to businesses, of course, right. Because these are B2B tools we're integrating with. And so it's, it's really important to us to give them a good experience because their customers are probably paying them. Yeah. Anywhere from 10 to several hundred thousand dollars a year for that, for that service. And that means it has to be great. And so we do spend a lot of time on follow-up making sure that the use cases are supported and that the data is high quality. But we do have a bunch of other verticals we want to move into. We're, we're, we're not publicly disclosing get which ones, but there's some really cool ones and, and they definitely need unification. But what we do is. Analyzed demand. Look at what our existing customers want versus what new customers want. Look at, you know, where VCs investing, what are emerging markets. There's so many different factors that go into it. Also, how fragmented is a market? If there's one player that's dominant, what's the power of a unified API. Gil Feig: Yeah, sure. Yeah. I figured you might not be able to share kind of what's coming, but it couldn't hurt to ask there. Mike Bifulco: Yeah, I think there are some good ones and some ones that developers especially will be really excited about. Gil Feig: Yeah, Cool. Cool. Well, we'll have to keep an eye out for news. And along those lines if our listeners developers are interested in following merge and keeping an eye on merger, trying out merge for their product where should they go? Mike Bifulco: Yeah, absolutely. So a merge is it's free to sign up and just get started. You can, you can go to merge.dev dev. There we have, you know, really good guides to get you started to help you dive in. And you can start with any of our categories. It's you get a hundred dollars a month for free. So it's really easy to just have. Gil Feig: Yeah. got it. Are there interesting sort of first integrations they can try? Mike Bifulco: Yeah. So a lot of our integrations, we actually listed there, but a lot of our integrations have free trials listed. So like bamboo HR is a great example. If you, if you go in and just sort of look at a bunch of the platforms there, you can just click on them and we provide links to the free trials or instructions on how to get a demo account. And then also, you know, again, since, since you know, any listener who'd be interested, likely works at a B2B company. You can also test with adding your company's zones. Gil Feig: Yeah. Cool. So there's, there's a value prop in itself of just being able to get in and try sort of the whole full fledged thing with free tools. That's really interesting and I'm sure lots of the folks that will be listening to this podcast are more on the, Hey, we need to integrate with this side of things as well. What sort of things are you interested in hearing feedback on from our audio? Mike Bifulco: Yeah, we, we would love to hear, you know, we are a developer first company. We think that's why, you know, we're, we're winning among developers is, is everything we do is focused on deaths. So we want to hear about the experience we want to hear about onboarding was anything confusing in the journey. We want it to be as clear and as simple as possible. We're developers building for developers. We feel fortunate that we can almost be product managers of our own products, because we understand what we're building. But that being said, you can be, you know, sometimes caught up in, in the internals of something and take for granted that you have some inside knowledge. And so we just want, we would love feedback on what the journey is like, what the onboarding journeys like and then any additional features and things people are looking for. Gil Feig: Yeah, you'll, you'll be surprised to hear that our audience is not shy about sharing their thoughts on things. So hopefully you get some good feedback there. What about hiring? Are you hiring for. any roles right now? Mike Bifulco: We are absolutely hiring. We are hiring for virtually every role across the board. We have grown incredibly fast. We went from zero to 1700 customers in under a year. So we, yeah, so we're really looking to hire we're hiring back end engineers software back at, sorry, back end front end, full stack. Definitely across the board there. And, you know, even, even things like technical solutions, engineers customer facing things more on sales, and then we're, we're hiring people to build integrations on our platform team. So I definitely everywhere in the org and that's ed merged.dev/. Gil Feig: Cool. And just for sake of completeness, cause I know someone will ask me, are you hiring remotely or you're hiring just in a specific location. How does that work? Mike Bifulco: Yeah. So we're, we are in person we're in New York and San Francisco and both offices are where we're open to. We were remote flexible. I would say we, we, you know, we like to say we're kind of pre COVID, you know, your packages are, you want to work remotely for a week here and there. Totally fine. But in general, we are in. Gil Feig: Gotcha. Cool. Okay. So that's a bit about merge. How can our listeners find you if they want to get in touch with you? Mike Bifulco: Yeah, absolutely. So you can feel free to email me gil@merged.dev dev. Follow me on Twitter, Gil FEI, G Gill fag or, you know, also send me a LinkedIn. Gil Feig: Heck. Yeah, I will stick all of the relevant links and URLs in the show notes for this and make sure that they're posted when the show goes live here. It's been really fantastic talking to you. I appreciate you coming and spending some time with me and sharing about your product experience. Yeah. Thanks for your time. It was great chatting. Mike Bifulco: Thank you so much for having me All audio, artwork, episode descriptions and notes are property of APIs You Won't Hate, for APIs You Won't Hate, and published with permission by Transistor, Inc. Broadcast by | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://neon.tech/docs/changelog | Changelog - Neon Docs This 250+ engineer team replaced shared staging with isolated database branches for safer deploys Neon Docs Search ... Ask AI Log In Sign Up Get started About Connect Connect to Neon Clients & tools Troubleshooting Develop Frontend & Frameworks Frameworks Languages ORMs Backend Data API Neon Auth Postgres RLS AI AI for Agents AI App Starter Kit Tools & Workflows API, CLI & SDKs Local development Integrations (3rd party) Workflows & CI/CD Templates Examples repo Manage Neon platform Plans and billing Neon on Azure Security & compliance Postgres Extensions Postgres guides Compatibility Version support Upgrade PostgreSQL Tutorial Resources Status Support Changelog Roadmap Early access Community Glossary RSS feeds Platform integration Search ... Ask AI Changelog / Changelog Changelog The latest product updates from Neon RSS feed Subscribe to our changelog. No spam, guaranteed. Subscribe Jan 09, 2026 New graphs for monitoring pooled connections Neon uses PgBouncer for connection pooling , allowing thousands of client connections to share a smaller pool of actual Postgres connections. The monitoring page in the Neon Console now includes Pooler client connections and Pooler server connections graphs (these display data when you use a pooled connection). The Pooler client connections graph shows connections from your applications to PgBouncer, while Pooler server connections displays the actual connections from PgBouncer to Postgres. These graphs help you understand connection usage patterns, identify bottlenecks, and determine when to adjust your pool size or compute resources. For more information, see Monitoring dashboard . Pooler client connections Pooler server connections Additionally, the OpenTelemetry and Datadog integrations now export PgBouncer connection pooling metrics, giving you visibility into pooler client and server connections in your observability platform alongside the new charts in the Neon Console. New integrations automatically include these metrics. To enable them for existing integrations, you can either edit the integration settings to trigger a collector upgrade or delete and recreate the integration. GitHub Action support for Neon Auth and Data API The Neon Create Branch GitHub Action now supports retrieving branch-specific URLs for Neon Auth and the Neon Data API. This makes it easy to run integration tests against isolated branch environments with the same auth and data access patterns you use in production. Set get_auth_url: true or get_data_api_url: true in your workflow to access the auth_url and data_api_url outputs for your test branch. - name : Create Neon Branch uses : neondatabase/create-branch-action@v6 id : create-branch with : project_id : ${{ vars.NEON_PROJECT_ID }} branch_name : feature-branch api_key : ${{ secrets.NEON_API_KEY }} get_auth_url : true get_data_api_url : true - name : Use outputs run : | echo "Auth URL: ${{ steps.create-branch.outputs.auth_url }}" echo "Data API URL: ${{ steps.create-branch.outputs.data_api_url }}" Introducing the new Neon VS Code Extension The Neon VS Code Extension brings a revamped database development experience directly into your IDE. Connect to your Neon organizations, projects, and branches, browse schemas in a rich tree view, run SQL queries, and view or edit table data in a spreadsheet-like interface—all without leaving your editor. This release replaces the previous Neon Local extension. The new extension no longer uses a local proxy or localhost connection strings. Instead, it helps you manage direct Neon connection strings for your branches. The extension also automatically configures the Neon MCP Server, enabling AI-powered workflows for managing projects, branches, and databases from your coding agent. Available for VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and other VS Code-compatible editors. Get started with the Neon VS Code Extension . Fixes & improvements Instagres Added a logical_replication option to Instagres databases (default is false ). This lets sync engines spin up Postgres databases with logical replication enabled without needing to sign up for a Neon account to manually enable it. Neon CLI Fixed a misleading "org_id is required" error in the Neon CLI when running neon branches list without specifying a project. The CLI now provides clearer guidance when you have multiple projects, and automatically selects your project if you only have one. Upgrade your Neon CLI installation to get this fix. See upgrade instructions . OpenTelemetry integrations You can now edit endpoint and authentication credentials for existing OpenTelemetry integrations , enabling you to fix configuration issues without having to delete and recreate the integration. Monitoring Fixed monitoring graph x-axis labels to dynamically adjust based on the selected time range. When you zoom into a custom range on the graph, the labels now show more granular time information (hours instead of just day names) making it easier to read detailed metrics. Fixed an issue on the monitoring page where clicking once on a chart would cause empty charts to display. Clicking on a chart now has no effect, preventing unintended empty range selections. Postgres extension updates Updated the anon extension (PostgreSQL Anonymizer) to version 2.5.1, which fixes a table name escaping bug that could cause anonymization failures. Neon Console Added a project count display to the Projects page in the Neon Console, making it easier to see how many projects you have at a glance. Projects created from the Neon Console are now created with a production branch only. Previously, projects created in the Neon console included both production and development branches. Projects created via the Neon CLI or API are unaffected by this change. Jan 02, 2026 Help shape what we build in 2026 From the Neon team, we'd like to extend a warm and heartfelt Happy New Year to every member of our community. What a year 2025 was. In May, Neon joined Databricks , but our mission hasn't changed. We're still focused on delivering the best Postgres experience for developers and AI agents. Beyond that, we shipped a ton of features in 2025. You can see everything we built here . Here's the thing though, none of this happens without you. Your feedback, whether you chat with us in Discord, ping us on Twitter, or drop it in the console, that's what shapes what we build. Every suggestion, bug report, and feature request matters to us. So as we kick off 2026, we want to ask What should we ship next? Got a feature you're waiting for? A bug that's causing you trouble? An idea that would take things to the next level? We want to hear it. You can share your feedback on Discord , Twitter/X , or via the Send Feedback modal in the Neon Console. Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Let's build great things together in 2026! 🚀 Dec 19, 2025 Project recovery Accidentally deleted a project? You can now recover it within 7 days of deletion. This feature restores your entire project infrastructure, including all branches, endpoints, compute configurations, and project settings. Your connection strings, collaborators, and snapshots all come back exactly as they were. Recovery is available through the CLI and API. There are no storage costs or recovery fees during the 7-day recovery window. For more information, see Recover a deleted project . 100 Free plan projects Another week, yet another increase: The Neon Free plan now includes: 80 projects 100 projects That's 100 separate database projects you can spin up, experiment with, and build on. Whether you're prototyping ideas, learning Postgres, or running multiple side projects, you've got plenty of room to work. This change applies automatically to all Free plan users. No action required. For more information about plan limits, see Neon plans . Learn about why we're increasing project limits on the Free plan Easier setup for Neon MCP Server Connecting AI editors to the Neon MCP Server is now a single command: npx neonctl@latest init This command authenticates via OAuth, automatically creates a Neon API key, and configures Cursor, VS Code, or Claude Code CLI to connect to Neon. It handles all the setup steps that previously required manual configuration file edits and API key management. Once configured, you can immediately ask your AI assistant to create projects, manage branches, or query your database. If you’re an existing Neon MCP user, setting up the MCP Server this way means you won’t be prompted to repeatedly reconnect through browser-based OAuth flows. Your local configuration and API key are created and saved for reuse. For more information, see Connect MCP clients to Neon . Data masking enhancements We've added address-specific masking functions to data masking in the Neon Console. These functions provide specialized handling for text fields like street addresses, cities, and postal codes, letting you mask location data while preserving geographic patterns. As well, all masking functions are now organized into categories (Names, Email Addresses, Phone Numbers, and Addresses). For more information about data masking, see Data anonymization . AI-powered Neon Auth setup Your AI editor can now scaffold complete authentication flows with Neon Auth. We've published AI rules, MCP prompt templates, and a Claude skill that teach AI assistants how to integrate Neon Auth into your apps. These tools detect your framework, install the right packages, create the necessary files, and follow best practices automatically. The setup includes: AI rules MCP prompt templates Claude skill This means you can open Cursor, Claude, or VS Code, ask your AI assistant to "add Neon Auth," and let it handle the implementation. Learn more in our blog post, Teaching AI to Do Auth (So You Don't Have To) . Fixes & improvements SQL Editor: SQL Editor commands like \d and \h now fully support all Postgres 18 features through an updated psql-describe package. Neon Auth: Added Vercel as an OAuth provider, enabling you to integrate Vercel authentication into your applications. Now works with branch expiration . Data Anonymization: Materialized views are now automatically refreshed after data anonymization to prevent stale un-anonymized data from remaining in views. GitHub Actions now supports creating anonymized branches directly in your CI/CD workflows using the new masking_rules input to specify which columns to mask. Vercel Integration: Added support for Vercel Marketplace to trigger database credential rotation for enhanced security. Deleted Vercel integrations are now handled gracefully without triggering errors during operations. Documentation: Added an Encore framework integration guide showing how to build backend applications with automatic infrastructure provisioning and Neon Postgres. Was this page helpful? Yes No Thank you for your feedback! Subscribe to our changelog. No spam, guaranteed. Subscribe Neon Docs Neon A Databricks Company Neon status loading... Made in SF and the World Copyright Ⓒ 2022 – 2026 Neon, LLC Company About Blog Careers Contact Sales Partners Security Legal Privacy Policy Terms of Service DPA Subprocessors List Privacy Guide Cookie Policy Business Information Resources Docs Changelog Support Community Guides PostgreSQL Tutorial Startups Creators Social Discord GitHub x.com LinkedIn YouTube Compliance CCPA Compliant GDPR Compliant ISO 27001 Certified ISO 27701 Certified SOC 2 Certified HIPAA Compliant Compliance Guide Neon’s Sub Contractors Sensitive Data Terms Trust Center self.__next_f.push([1,"357:[[\"$\",\"h2\",null,{\"children\":\"Neon Auth is here! Get authentication in a couple of clicks\"}],\"\\n\",[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"children\":[\"After a successful Early Access period, Neon Auth is now available in \",[\"$\",\"strong\",null,{\"children\":\"Beta\"}],\" to all users! 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This feature keeps traffic between your client application and Neon database within AWS's private network, bypassing the public internet.\"]}],\"\\n\",[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"children\":[\"This feature is available on our Business and Enterprise plans, but if you're on our Launch or Scale plan and want to try it out, you can request a trial from your Neon organization \",[\"$\",\"strong\",null,{\"children\":\"Settings\"}],\" page.\"]}],\"\\n\",[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"children\":[\"The GA release includes Neon API and CLI support for self-serve setup and management of Private Networking. See our \",[\"$\",\"$L18\",null,{\"to\":\"/docs/guides/neon-private-networking\",\"target\":\"$undefined\",\"rel\":\"$undefined\",\"icon\":null,\"children\":\"Neon Private Networking\"}],\" guide for details.\"]}],\"\\n\",[\"$\",\"h2\",null,{\"children\":\"Database Branching for Vercel Preview Environments\"}],\"\\n\",[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"children\":[\"For users who come to Neon through Vercel — the \",[\"$\",\"strong\",null,{\"children\":\"Neon Postgres Native Integration\"}],\", available from the \",[\"$\",\"$L18\",null,{\"to\":\"https://vercel.com/marketplace\",\"target\":\"_blank\",\"rel\":\"noopener noreferrer\",\"icon\":\"external\",\"children\":\"Vercel Marketplace\"}],\", now supports \",[\"$\",\"strong\",null,{\"children\":\"database branching for preview environments\"}],\". You can now configure your integration to automatically create a dedicated database branch for each Vercel preview deployment. This lets you preview your application and database changes together without touching your production database or setting up a separate development database. To get started, see \",[\"$\",\"$L18\",null,{\"to\":\"/docs/guides/vercel-native-integration-previews\",\"target\":\"$undefined\",\"rel\":\"$undefined\",\"icon\":null,\"children\":\"Vercel Native Integration Previews\"}],\".\" | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/nonoverse | Nonoverse - Relaxing Nonogram Picture Puzzles for iOS Nonoverse Discover the joy of nonogram puzzles in this beautifully crafted iOS game Your browser does not support the video tag. Your browser does not support the video tag. Beautiful Pixel Art Solve puzzles to reveal charming pixel art images, from simple patterns to intricate designs Learn & Master Progressive difficulty with built-in tutorials to help you master nonogram techniques Dark Mode Enjoy solving puzzles day and night with automatic dark mode Universal App Optimized for both iPhone and iPad, with intuitive touch controls and dark mode support Ready to start your nonogram journey? A Relaxing Puzzle Experience From simple grids to mind-bending challenges, there's something for everyone Experience the joy of nonogram puzzles Discover Nonograms Also known as Picture Crossword or Paint by Numbers, nonograms are addictive logic puzzles that reveal pixel art images through deductive reasoning. Born in 1987 from a creative competition in Tokyo, these puzzles combine the logical challenge of sudoku with the satisfaction of creating art. Each puzzle presents a grid with number clues that guide you to fill in the correct squares and reveal a hidden picture. A Rich History Created by Non Ishida, a Japanese graphics editor, nonograms started as an experiment with skyscraper lights and evolved into a global puzzle phenomenon loved by millions. How to Play Numbers at the edges of the grid indicate how many squares should be filled in each row and column. For example, "3 1" means there's a block of three squares followed by a single square, with at least one empty space between them. Use logic to determine which cells to fill Complete rows and columns based on the clues Watch as your progress reveals a picture Challenge yourself with increasing difficulty © 2025 LAB174.com ; all rights reserved. | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb4-4 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb8-5 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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Version 14 Version 15 Version 16 Videos API Reference Directives use cache use cache: private use cache: remote use client use server Components Font Form Component Image Component Link Component Script Component File-system conventions default.js Dynamic Segments error.js forbidden.js instrumentation.js instrumentation-client.js Intercepting Routes layout.js loading.js mdx-components.js not-found.js page.js Parallel Routes proxy.js public route.js Route Groups Route Segment Config src template.js unauthorized.js Metadata Files favicon, icon, and apple-icon manifest.json opengraph-image and twitter-image robots.txt sitemap.xml Functions after cacheLife cacheTag connection cookies draftMode fetch forbidden generateImageMetadata generateMetadata generateSitemaps generateStaticParams generateViewport headers ImageResponse NextRequest NextResponse notFound permanentRedirect redirect refresh revalidatePath revalidateTag unauthorized unstable_cache unstable_noStore unstable_rethrow updateTag useLinkStatus useParams usePathname useReportWebVitals useRouter useSearchParams useSelectedLayoutSegment useSelectedLayoutSegments userAgent Configuration next.config.js experimental.adapterPath allowedDevOrigins appDir assetPrefix authInterrupts basePath browserDebugInfoInTerminal cacheComponents cacheHandlers cacheLife compress crossOrigin cssChunking devIndicators distDir env expireTime exportPathMap generateBuildId generateEtags headers htmlLimitedBots httpAgentOptions images cacheHandler inlineCss isolatedDevBuild logging mdxRs onDemandEntries optimizePackageImports output pageExtensions poweredByHeader productionBrowserSourceMaps proxyClientMaxBodySize reactCompiler reactMaxHeadersLength reactStrictMode redirects rewrites sassOptions serverActions serverComponentsHmrCache serverExternalPackages staleTimes staticGeneration* taint trailingSlash transpilePackages turbopack turbopackFileSystemCache typedRoutes typescript urlImports useLightningcss viewTransition webpack 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getStaticPaths Forms and Mutations getServerSideProps Client-side Fetching Configuring Error Handling API Reference Components Font Form Head Image Image (Legacy) Link Script File-system conventions instrumentation.js Proxy public src Directory Functions getInitialProps getServerSideProps getStaticPaths getStaticProps NextRequest NextResponse useReportWebVitals useRouter userAgent Configuration next.config.js Options experimental.adapterPath allowedDevOrigins assetPrefix basePath bundlePagesRouterDependencies compress crossOrigin devIndicators distDir env exportPathMap generateBuildId generateEtags headers httpAgentOptions images isolatedDevBuild onDemandEntries optimizePackageImports output pageExtensions poweredByHeader productionBrowserSourceMaps experimental.proxyClientMaxBodySize reactStrictMode redirects rewrites serverExternalPackages trailingSlash transpilePackages turbopack typescript urlImports useLightningcss webpack webVitalsAttribution TypeScript ESLint CLI create-next-app CLI next CLI Edge Runtime Turbopack Architecture Accessibility Fast Refresh Next.js Compiler Supported Browsers Community Contribution Guide Rspack On this page Convention In Client Components Catch-all Segments Optional Catch-all Segments TypeScript Behavior With Cache Components Without generateStaticParams With generateStaticParams Examples With generateStaticParams Dynamic GET Route Handlers with generateStaticParams Next Steps Edit this page on GitHub Scroll to top API Reference File-system conventions Dynamic Segments Copy page Dynamic Route Segments Last updated December 20, 2025 When you don't know the exact route segment names ahead of time and want to create routes from dynamic data, you can use Dynamic Segments that are filled in at request time or prerendered at build time. Convention A Dynamic Segment can be created by wrapping a folder's name in square brackets: [folderName] . For example, a blog could include the following route app/blog/[slug]/page.js where [slug] is the Dynamic Segment for blog posts. app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx TypeScript JavaScript TypeScript export default async function Page ({ params , } : { params : Promise <{ slug : string }> }) { const { slug } = await params return < div >My Post: {slug}</ div > } Dynamic Segments are passed as the params prop to layout , page , route , and generateMetadata functions. Route Example URL params app/blog/[slug]/page.js /blog/a { slug: 'a' } app/blog/[slug]/page.js /blog/b { slug: 'b' } app/blog/[slug]/page.js /blog/c { slug: 'c' } In Client Components In a Client Component page , dynamic segments from props can be accessed using the use hook. app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx TypeScript JavaScript TypeScript 'use client' import { use } from 'react' export default function BlogPostPage ({ params , } : { params : Promise <{ slug : string }> }) { const { slug } = use (params) return ( < div > < p >{slug}</ p > </ div > ) } Alternatively Client Components can use the useParams hook to access the params anywhere in the Client Component tree. Catch-all Segments Dynamic Segments can be extended to catch-all subsequent segments by adding an ellipsis inside the brackets [...folderName] . For example, app/shop/[...slug]/page.js will match /shop/clothes , but also /shop/clothes/tops , /shop/clothes/tops/t-shirts , and so on. Route Example URL params app/shop/[...slug]/page.js /shop/a { slug: ['a'] } app/shop/[...slug]/page.js /shop/a/b { slug: ['a', 'b'] } app/shop/[...slug]/page.js /shop/a/b/c { slug: ['a', 'b', 'c'] } Optional Catch-all Segments Catch-all Segments can be made optional by including the parameter in double square brackets: [[...folderName]] . For example, app/shop/[[...slug]]/page.js will also match /shop , in addition to /shop/clothes , /shop/clothes/tops , /shop/clothes/tops/t-shirts . The difference between catch-all and optional catch-all segments is that with optional, the route without the parameter is also matched ( /shop in the example above). Route Example URL params app/shop/[[...slug]]/page.js /shop { slug: undefined } app/shop/[[...slug]]/page.js /shop/a { slug: ['a'] } app/shop/[[...slug]]/page.js /shop/a/b { slug: ['a', 'b'] } app/shop/[[...slug]]/page.js /shop/a/b/c { slug: ['a', 'b', 'c'] } TypeScript When using TypeScript, you can add types for params depending on your configured route segment — use PageProps<'/route'> , LayoutProps<'/route'> , or RouteContext<'/route'> to type params in page , layout , and route respectively. Route params values are typed as string , string[] , or undefined (for optional catch-all segments), because their values aren't known until runtime. Users can enter any URL into the address bar, and these broad types help ensure that your application code handles all these possible cases. Route params Type Definition app/blog/[slug]/page.js { slug: string } app/shop/[...slug]/page.js { slug: string[] } app/shop/[[...slug]]/page.js { slug?: string[] } app/[categoryId]/[itemId]/page.js { categoryId: string, itemId: string } If you're working on a route where params can only have a fixed number of valid values, such as a [locale] param with a known set of language codes, you can use runtime validation to handle any invalid params a user may enter, and let the rest of your application work with the narrower type from your known set. /app/[locale]/page.tsx import { notFound } from 'next/navigation' import type { Locale } from '@i18n/types' import { isValidLocale } from '@i18n/utils' function assertValidLocale (value : string ) : asserts value is Locale { if ( ! isValidLocale (value)) notFound () } export default async function Page (props : PageProps < '/[locale]' >) { const { locale } = await props .params // locale is typed as string assertValidLocale (locale) // locale is now typed as Locale } Behavior Since the params prop is a promise. You must use async / await or React's use function to access the values. In version 14 and earlier, params was a synchronous prop. To help with backwards compatibility, you can still access it synchronously in Next.js 15, but this behavior will be deprecated in the future. With Cache Components When using Cache Components with dynamic route segments, how you handle params depends on whether you use generateStaticParams . Without generateStaticParams , param values are unknown during prerendering, making params runtime data. You must wrap param access in <Suspense> boundaries to provide fallback UI. With generateStaticParams , you provide sample param values that can be used at build time. The build process validates that dynamic content and other runtime APIs are correctly handled, then generates static HTML files for the samples. Pages rendered with runtime params are saved to disk after a successful first request. The sections below demonstrate both patterns. Without generateStaticParams All params are runtime data. Param access must be wrapped by Suspense fallback UI. Next.js generates a static shell at build time, and content loads on each request. Good to know : You can also use loading.tsx for page-level fallback UI. app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx import { Suspense } from 'react' export default function Page ({ params } : PageProps < '/ blog /[slug]' >) { return ( < div > < h1 >Blog Post</ h1 > < Suspense fallback = {< div >Loading...</ div >}> { params .then (({ slug }) => ( < Content slug = {slug} /> ))} </ Suspense > </ div > ) } async function Content ({ slug } : { slug : string }) { const res = await fetch ( `https://api.vercel.app/ blog / ${ slug } ` ) const post = await res .json () return ( < article > < h2 >{ post .title}</ h2 > < p >{ post .content}</ p > </ article > ) } With generateStaticParams Provide params ahead of time to prerender pages at build time. You can prerender all routes or a subset depending on your needs. During the build process, the route is executed with each sample param to collect the HTML result. If dynamic content or runtime data are accessed incorrectly, the build will fail. app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx import { Suspense } from 'react' export async function generateStaticParams () { return [{ slug : '1' } , { slug : '2' } , { slug : '3' }] } export default async function Page ({ params } : PageProps < '/ blog /[slug]' >) { const { slug } = await params return ( < div > < h1 >Blog Post</ h1 > < Content slug = {slug} /> </ div > ) } async function Content ({ slug } : { slug : string }) { const post = await getPost (slug) return ( < article > < h2 >{ post .title}</ h2 > < p >{ post .content}</ p > </ article > ) } async function getPost (slug : string ) { 'use cache' const res = await fetch ( `https://api.vercel.app/ blog / ${ slug } ` ) return res .json () } Build-time validation only covers code paths that execute with the sample params. If your route has conditional logic that accesses runtime APIs for certain param values not in your samples, those branches won't be validated at build time: app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx import { cookies } from 'next/headers' export async function generateStaticParams () { return [{ slug : 'public-post' } , { slug : 'hello-world' }] } export default async function Page ({ params } : PageProps < '/ blog /[slug]' >) { const { slug } = await params if ( slug .startsWith ( 'private-' )) { // This branch is never executed at build time // Runtime requests for 'private-*' slugs will error return < PrivatePost slug = {slug} /> } return < PublicPost slug = {slug} /> } async function PrivatePost ({ slug } : { slug : string }) { const token = ( await cookies ()) .get ( 'token' ) // ... fetch and render private post using token for auth } For runtime params not returned by generateStaticParams , validation occurs during the first request. In the example above, requests for slugs starting with private- will fail because PrivatePost accesses cookies() without a Suspense boundary. Other runtime params that don't hit the conditional branch will render successfully and be saved to disk for subsequent requests. To fix this, wrap PrivatePost with Suspense: app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx import { Suspense } from 'react' import { cookies } from 'next/headers' export async function generateStaticParams () { return [{ slug : 'public-post' } , { slug : 'hello-world' }] } export default async function Page ({ params } : PageProps < '/ blog /[slug]' >) { const { slug } = await params if ( slug .startsWith ( 'private-' )) { return ( < Suspense fallback = {< div >Loading...</ div >}> < PrivatePost slug = {slug} /> </ Suspense > ) } return < PublicPost slug = {slug} /> } async function PrivatePost ({ slug } : { slug : string }) { const token = ( await cookies ()) .get ( 'token' ) // ... fetch and render private post using token for auth } Examples With generateStaticParams The generateStaticParams function can be used to statically generate routes at build time instead of on-demand at request time. app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx TypeScript JavaScript TypeScript export async function generateStaticParams () { const posts = await fetch ( 'https://.../posts' ) .then ((res) => res .json ()) return posts .map ((post) => ({ slug : post .slug , })) } When using fetch inside the generateStaticParams function, the requests are automatically deduplicated . This avoids multiple network calls for the same data Layouts, Pages, and other generateStaticParams functions, speeding up build time. Dynamic GET Route Handlers with generateStaticParams generateStaticParams also works with dynamic Route Handlers to statically generate API responses at build time: app/api/posts/[id]/route.ts TypeScript JavaScript TypeScript export async function generateStaticParams () { const posts : { id : number }[] = await fetch ( 'https:// api .vercel.app/blog' ) .then ((res) => res .json ()) return posts .map ((post) => ({ id : ` ${ post .id } ` , })) } export async function GET ( request : Request , { params } : RouteContext < '/ api /posts/[id]' > ) { const { id } = await params const res = await fetch ( `https:// api .vercel.app/blog/ ${ id } ` ) if ( ! res .ok) { return Response .json ({ error : 'Post not found' } , { status : 404 }) } const post = await res .json () return Response .json (post) } In this example, route handlers for all blog post IDs returned by generateStaticParams will be statically generated at build time. Requests to other IDs will be handled dynamically at request time. Next Steps For more information on what to do next, we recommend the following sections generateStaticParams API reference for the generateStaticParams function. Previous default.js Next error.js Was this helpful? supported. Send Resources Docs Support Policy Learn Showcase Blog Team Analytics Next.js Conf Previews Evals More Next.js Commerce Contact Sales Community GitHub Releases Telemetry Governance About Vercel Next.js + Vercel Open Source Software GitHub Bluesky X Legal Privacy Policy Cookie Preferences Subscribe to our newsletter Stay updated on new releases and features, guides, and case studies. 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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb7-3 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/net-framework-june-2021-security-and-quality-rollup-updates/ | .NET Framework June 2021 Security and Quality Rollup Updates - .NET Blog Skip to main content Microsoft Dev Blogs Dev Blogs Dev Blogs Home Developer Microsoft for Developers Visual Studio Visual Studio Code Develop from the cloud All things Azure Xcode DevOps Windows Developer ISE Developer Azure SDK Command Line Aspire Technology DirectX Semantic Kernel Languages C++ C# F# TypeScript PowerShell Team Python Java Java Blog in Chinese Go .NET All .NET posts .NET Aspire .NET MAUI AI ASP.NET Core Blazor Entity Framework NuGet Servicing .NET Blog in Chinese Platform Development #ifdef Windows Microsoft Foundry Azure Government Azure VM Runtime Team Bing Dev Center Microsoft Edge Dev Microsoft Azure Microsoft 365 Developer Microsoft Entra Identity Developer Old New Thing Power Platform Data Development Azure Cosmos DB Azure Data Studio Azure SQL OData Revolutions R Unified Data Model (IDEAs) Microsoft Entra PowerShell More Search Search No results Cancel Dev Blogs .NET Blog .NET Framework June 2021 Security and Quality Rollup Updates .NET 10 is here! .NET 10 is now available: the most productive, modern, secure, intelligent, and performant release of .NET yet. Learn More Download Now June 8th, 2021 1 reaction .NET Framework June 2021 Security and Quality Rollup Updates Tara Overfield Senior Software Engineer Show more Today, we are releasing the June 2021 Security and Quality Rollup Updates for .NET Framework. Security The June Security and Quality Rollup Update does not contain any new security fixes. See February 2021 Security and Quality Rollup for the latest security updates. Quality and Reliability This release contains the following quality and reliability improvements. CLR 1 Addresses a performance issue caused by incorrect configuration in the GC. Addresses an issue where a background GC could pause the runtime for a long period of time if a large managed heap is filled with long lived objects with a deep chain of references. Addresses an issue where crashes could occur if security stackwalks were generated during ThreadAbortException handling. NCL 2 .NET Framework 4.8 will now allow to negotiate TLS 1.3 if underlying OS supports it. WPF 3 Addresses an issue when rapid typing using an IME can crash via FailFast. Addresses an issue where Thaana characters displayed in left-to-right order. Addresses a crash when WebBrowser receives a completion event for a navigation it tried to cancel. 1 Common Language Runtime (CLR) 2 Network Class Library (NCL) 3 Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Getting the Update The Security and Quality Rollup is available via Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services, and Microsoft Update Catalog. Microsoft Update Catalog You can get the update via the Microsoft Update Catalog. **Note**: Customers that rely on Windows Update and Windows Server Update Services will automatically receive the .NET Framework version-specific updates. Advanced system administrators can also take use of the below direct Microsoft Update Catalog download links to .NET Framework-specific updates. Before applying these updates, please ensure that you carefully review the .NET Framework version applicability, to ensure that you only install updates on systems where they apply. The following table is for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016+ versions. Product Version Cumulative Update Windows 10 version 21H1 .NET Framework 3.5, 4.8 Catalog 5003254 Windows 10, version 20H2 and Windows Server, version 20H2 .NET Framework 3.5, 4.8 Catalog 5003254 Windows 10 version 2004 and Windows Server, version 2004 .NET Framework 3.5, 4.8 Catalog 5003254 Windows 10 version 1909 .NET Framework 3.5, 4.8 Catalog 5003256 Windows 10 version 1809 (October 2018 Update) and Windows Server 2019 5003778 .NET Framework 3.5, 4.7.2 Catalog 5003258 .NET Framework 3.5, 4.8 Catalog 5003255 Windows 10 version 1607 (Anniversary Update) and Windows Server 2016 .NET Framework 3.5, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2 Catalog 5003638 .NET Framework 4.8 Catalog 5003542 The following table is for earlier Windows and Windows Server versions. Product Version Security and Quality Rollup Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 5003781 .NET Framework 3.5 Catalog 4578953 .NET Framework 4.5.2 Catalog 4578956 .NET Framework 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2 Catalog 5003549 .NET Framework 4.8 Catalog 5003545 Windows Server 2012 5003780 .NET Framework 3.5 Catalog 4578950 .NET Framework 4.5.2 Catalog 4578954 .NET Framework 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2 Catalog 5003548 .NET Framework 4.8 Catalog 5003544 Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 5003779 .NET Framework 3.5.1 Catalog 4578952 .NET Framework 4.5.2 Catalog 4578955 .NET Framework 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2 Catalog 5003547 .NET Framework 4.8 Catalog 5003543 Windows Server 2008 5003782 .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0 Catalog 4578951 .NET Framework 4.5.2 Catalog 4578955 .NET Framework 4.6 Catalog 5003547 Previous Monthly Rollups The last few .NET Framework Monthly updates are listed below for your convenience: .NET Framework May 2021 Cumulative Update Preview .NET Framework May 2021 Security and Quality Rollup Updates .NET Framework February 2021 Cumulative Update Preview for Windows 10 2004, Windows Server, version 2004, Windows 10, version 20H2 and Windows Server, version 20H2 .NET Framework February 2021 Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework. 1 13 0 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on Linkedin Copy Link --> Category .NET Framework WPF Share Author Tara Overfield Senior Software Engineer Tara is a Software Engineer on the .NET team. She works on releasing .NET Framework updates. 13 comments Discussion is closed. Login to edit/delete existing comments. Code of Conduct Sort by : Newest Newest Popular Oldest Felipe Pessoto --> Felipe Pessoto --> June 12, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Tara, how can I know if I’m affected by this issues: “Addresses an issue where a background GC could pause the runtime for a long period of time if a large managed heap is filled with long lived objects with a deep chain of references.”? Thanks Tara Overfield --> Tara Overfield Author --> June 18, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> When this uncommon issue is experienced you may use a profiler (e.g. PerfView) to determine whether or not you are affected by the underlying issue. In particular, you should see: 1) A long GC pause, 2) That long GC pause is associated with a background GC and 3) observe some ETW events of this type (Microsoft-Windows-DotNETRuntimePrivate/GC/BGCOverflow) emitted from the runtime. Felipe Pessoto --> Felipe Pessoto --> June 25, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Thanks Tara! Ian Yates --> Ian Yates --> June 16, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Agree. Good question. Is there any information about these circumstances so we can determine if this change may help? Even if not, such details are always good to read. Would you be able to point us to a blog post, or a similar fix that may have landed in .net core? Also, do we need to opt in to tls 1.3 at all? What setting might govern the opt-in, or opt-out of this change? I just had to set an enum flags value earlier this week to opt-in to tls 1.2 to get a particular web service working so I'm very... Read more Agree. Good question. Is there any information about these circumstances so we can determine if this change may help? Even if not, such details are always good to read. Would you be able to point us to a blog post, or a similar fix that may have landed in .net core? Also, do we need to opt in to tls 1.3 at all? What setting might govern the opt-in, or opt-out of this change? I just had to set an enum flags value earlier this week to opt-in to tls 1.2 to get a particular web service working so I’m very curious to know if I could extend this enum flags further, or if I don’t need to touch it. Thanks Read less Flux --> Flux --> June 12, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Why does this update not appear on the .NET Update History page? Tara Overfield --> Tara Overfield Author --> June 15, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Thanks for reporting this, the issue has been fixed on the .NET Update History page. Alfred Ardito --> Alfred Ardito --> June 10, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Does this update supersede KB4601051 (February update)? I noticed after installing this months update, that in the registry and cbs.log, the February update is marked as superseded. But when looking at the catalog online it doesn’t mention that. Tara Overfield --> Tara Overfield Author --> June 15, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Installing the June Security and Quality rollup from Windows Update will supersede previous releases, including the February Security and Quality rollup. If you install updates from WSUS or Catalog the June Security and Quality rollup will not supersede the February Security and Quality rollup. This supersedence strategy allows Windows Update to offer only the latest update and allows WSUS and Catalog customers to choose the latest security release or the latest release when there is no new security improvements. logie loge --> logie loge --> July 1, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Hi Tara, Historically, my organisation has deployed packages containing multiple .NET security updates that have been downloaded from the update catalog, including the latest rollup at the time. However, my understanding is that the latest rollup is cumulative and includes all previous security fixes therefore, if I have a fresh install of .NET, I shouldn’t need to install any .NET security updates besides the most recent rollup. As things stand currently, this would be the June security rollup which contains all previous security updates (the latest being from Feb ‘21). I’d like to confirm that I have got this correct. I did ask... Read more Hi Tara, Historically, my organisation has deployed packages containing multiple .NET security updates that have been downloaded from the update catalog, including the latest rollup at the time. However, my understanding is that the latest rollup is cumulative and includes all previous security fixes therefore, if I have a fresh install of .NET, I shouldn’t need to install any .NET security updates besides the most recent rollup. As things stand currently, this would be the June security rollup which contains all previous security updates (the latest being from Feb ‘21). I’d like to confirm that I have got this correct. I did ask a question on the Microsoft Help forum to confirm whether my understanding is correct but I didn’t get a definite response and there were suggestions of installing earlier updates as well as the latest roll up. Please could you advise if I am correct in my understanding? For info, my Help forum post is here . Many thanks. Read less Tara Overfield --> Tara Overfield Author --> July 1, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Hi Logie, You are correct in your understanding. The latest rollup is cumulative and includes all previous security fixes. If you have a fresh install of .NET, then install the latest rollup update you will be up-to-date. Currently, the latest update is the June Security and Quality Rollup (which does contain the latest security fixes from Feb ’21). logie loge --> logie loge --> July 2, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Thanks for the reply, Tara. Much appreciated. Kalle Niemitalo --> Kalle Niemitalo --> June 9, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> The “Security” section says: “The February Security and Quality Rollup Update does not contain any new security fixes. See February 2021 Security and Quality Rollup for the latest security updates.” Should it instead say the following? “The June Security and Quality Rollup Update does not contain any new security fixes. See February 2021 Security and Quality Rollup for the latest security updates.” Tara Overfield --> Tara Overfield Author --> June 9, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Thanks for catching that typo Kalle! I have corrected the issue and re-published the post. Read next June 10, 2021 ML.NET Survey: Model Explainability Jessie Houghton June 10, 2021 Show dotnet: Running my .NET nanoFramework for 8 years on a battery Laurent Ellerbach Stay informed Get notified when new posts are published. Email * Country/Region * Select... 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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb7-2 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. 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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb11-1 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://buf.build/events/getting-started-with-protobuf-apis-feb26 | Getting Started with Protobuf APIs Schema Registry Overview Pricing Schema Registry Overview Schema Registry Pricing Bufstream CLI Connect RPC Protovalidate Open Source Connect RPC Protovalidate Docs Blog 10.5k Login Sign up Contact Us Workshop Getting Started with Protobuf APIs Feb 19th, 2026 Building APIs seems straightforward. That is, until you need to ensure they're safe to evolve, consistent across teams, and work seamlessly across multiple languages. Without the right toolchain, teams struggle with breaking changes, inconsistent validation, and fragmented tooling that can make API evolution both risky and time-consuming. Learn best practices for Protobuf APIs in our 1-hour, interactive online workshop. Our engineering team will show you why working with Protobuf is easier than you might think, share battle-tested API design patterns, and demonstrate how Protobuf extends beyond HTTP/gRPC APIs to streaming platforms, data pipelines, and anywhere else that requires data shapes with consistent types and data quality guarantees. We'll stop to answer your questions throughout this interactive session. You’ll learn: How Protobuf makes API development safer and simpler API design best practices for real-world systems Beyond network APIs: Event streaming, data pipelines and more Q&A throughout Presenters: Joe Rinehart Developer Relations Engineer, Buf Sam Small Engineering Manager Register now Book a meeting Access on demand Product Bufstream Schema Registry BSR Pricing Buf CLI GitHub Docs Company Blog Events Careers Community Slack Contact Us © Buf Technologies, Inc. 2025 / Privacy policy , Terms of use , & Consent preferences | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://cursor.com/#main | Cursor Skip to content Cursor Features Enterprise Pricing Resources ↓ Changelog Blog Docs ↗ Community Learn ↗ Workshops Forum ↗ Careers Features Enterprise Pricing Resources → Sign in Download Built to make you extraordinarily productive, Cursor is the best way to code with AI. Download for macOS ⤓ Try mobile agent → This element contains an interactive demo for sighted users showing multiple Cursor interfaces: the IDE with AI-powered coding assistance, the CLI with command-line assistance. The interfaces are displayed over a scenic painted landscape wallpaper, giving the demo an artistic backdrop. Cursor Get Cursor In Progress 4 Enterprise Order Management System Generating Analyze Tab vs Agent Usage Patterns Generating PyTorch MNIST Experiments Generating Fix PR Comments Fetching Issue Generating Ready for Review 2 Set up Cursor Rules for Dashboard + 37 - 0 · Set up Cursor Rules for Dashboard Bioinformatics Tools + 135 - 21 · Bioinformatics Tools train_model.py run_experiment.py config.yaml import torch import torch . nn as nn from torch . utils . data import DataLoader from torchvision import datasets def get_dataloaders ( batch_size = 64 ): transform = transforms . Compose ([ transforms . ToTensor ()]) train = datasets . MNIST ( root = "data" , train = True , download = True , transform = transform ) test = datasets . MNIST ( root = "data" , train = False , download = True , transform = transform ) return DataLoader ( train , batch_size = batch_size , shuffle = True ), DataLoader ( test , batch_size = batch_size ) class MLP ( nn . Module ): def __init__ ( self , hidden = 128 ): super (). __init__ () self . net = nn . Sequential ( nn . Flatten (), nn . Linear ( 28 * 28 , hidden ), nn . ReLU (), nn . Linear ( hidden , 10 ), ) def forward ( self , x ): return self . net ( x ) def train_model ( epochs = 1 , lr = 1e-3 , device = None): device = device or ( "cuda" if torch . cuda . is_available () else "cpu" ) model = MLP (). to ( device ) opt = torch . optim . Adam ( model . parameters (), lr = lr ) loss_fn = nn . CrossEntropyLoss () train_loader , _ = get_dataloaders () + # Seed for reproducibility + torch . manual_seed ( 42 ) + if device == "cuda" : + torch . cuda . manual_seed_all ( 42 ) + # AMP + Scheduler + scaler = torch . cuda . amp . GradScaler ( enabled =( device == "cuda" )) + scheduler = torch . optim . lr_scheduler . CosineAnnealingLR ( opt , T_max = epochs ) model . train () for epoch in range ( epochs ) : total , correct = 0 , 0 for x , y in tqdm ( train_loader , desc = f "epoch { epoch + 1 } " ) : x , y = x . to ( device ), y . to ( device ) opt . zero_grad ( set_to_none = True ) logits = model ( x ) loss = loss_fn ( logits , y ) loss . backward () opt . step () scaler . scale ( loss ). backward () scaler . unscale_ ( opt ) + torch . nn . utils . clip_grad_norm_ ( model . parameters (), max_norm = 1.0 ) scaler . step ( opt ) scaler . update () + preds = logits . argmax ( dim = 1 ) + total += y . size ( 0 ) + correct += ( preds == y ). sum (). item () + acc = correct / max ( 1 , total ) scheduler . step () + print ( f "epoch { epoch + 1 } : acc= { acc :.3f } " ) return model `, import torch import torch.nn as nn from torch.utils.data import DataLoader from torchvision import datasets def get_dataloaders ( batch_size = 64 ): transform = transforms. Compose ([transforms. ToTensor ()]) train = datasets. MNIST (root= " data " , train= True , download= True , transform=transform) test = datasets. MNIST (root= " data " , train= False , download= True , transform=transform) return DataLoader (train, batch_size=batch_size, shuffle= True ), DataLoader (test, batch_size=batch_size) class MLP (nn.Module): def __init__ ( self , hidden = 128 ): super (). __init__ () self .net = nn. Sequential ( nn. Flatten (), nn. Linear ( 28 * 28 , hidden), nn. ReLU (), nn. Linear (hidden, 10 ), ) def forward ( self , x ): return self . net (x) def train_model ( epochs = 1 , lr = 1e-3 , device = None ): device = device or ( " cuda " if torch.cuda. is_available () else " cpu " ) model = MLP (). to (device) opt = torch.optim. Adam (model. parameters (), lr=lr) loss_fn = nn. CrossEntropyLoss () train_loader, _ = get_dataloaders () + # Seed for reproducibility + torch. manual_seed ( 42 ) + if device == " cuda " : + torch.cuda. manual_seed_all ( 42 ) + # AMP + Scheduler + scaler = torch.cuda.amp. GradScaler (enabled=(device == " cuda " )) + scheduler = torch.optim.lr_scheduler. CosineAnnealingLR (opt, T_max=epochs) model. train () for epoch in range (epochs): total, correct = 0 , 0 for x, y in tqdm (train_loader, desc= f "epoch { epoch+ 1 } " ): x, y = x. to (device), y. to (device) opt. zero_grad (set_to_none= True ) logits = model (x) loss = loss_fn (logits, y) loss. backward () opt. step () scaler. scale (loss). backward () scaler. unscale_ (opt) + torch.nn.utils. clip_grad_norm_ (model. parameters (), max_norm= 1.0 ) scaler. step (opt) scaler. update () + preds = logits. argmax (dim= 1 ) + total += y. size ( 0 ) + correct += (preds == y). sum (). item () + acc = correct / max ( 1 , total) scheduler. step () + print ( f "epoch { epoch+ 1 } : acc= { acc :.3f } " ) return model ` , PyTorch MNIST Experiments Add mixed precision training, learning rate scheduling, and proper validation. Also create an experiment config system so I can easily run different hyperparameter settings. Agent GPT-5 agent Get CLI Cursor Agent ~/Repos/ml-research-notebook PyTorch MNIST Experiments Add mixed precision training, learning rate scheduling, and proper validation. Also create an experiment config system so I can easily run different hyperparameter settings. → GPT-5.2 / for commands · @ for files Trusted every day by millions of professional developers. Agent turns ideas into code A human-AI programmer, orders of magnitude more effective than any developer alone. Learn about Agent → This element contains an interactive demo for sighted users. It's a demonstration of Cursor's IDE showing AI-powered coding assistance features. The interface is displayed over a scenic painted landscape wallpaper, giving the demo an artistic backdrop. Cursor Get Cursor In Progress 4 Enterprise Order Management System Generating Analyze Tab vs Agent Usage Patterns Generating PyTorch MNIST Experiments Generating Fix PR Comments Fetching Issue Generating Ready for Review 2 Set up Cursor Rules for Dashboard + 37 - 0 · Set up Cursor Rules for Dashboard Bioinformatics Tools + 135 - 21 · Bioinformatics Tools Analyze Tab vs Agent Usage Patterns Help me understand how teams split their focus between the tab view and the agents panel across our workspaces. Agent GPT-5 Magically accurate autocomplete Our custom Tab model predicts your next action with striking speed and precision. Learn about Tab → This element contains an interactive demo for sighted users. It's a demonstration of Cursor's IDE showing AI-powered coding assistance features. The interface is displayed over a scenic painted landscape wallpaper, giving the demo an artistic backdrop. Cursor Get Cursor Dashboard.tsx SupportChat.tsx "use client" ; import React , { useState } from "react" ; import Navigation from "./Navigation" ; import SupportChat from "./SupportChat" ; export default function Dashboard () { return ( < div className = "flex h-[600px] border rounded-lg overflow-hidden" > < div className = "w-64 border-r" > </ div > < div className = "w-80 border-l" > < SupportChat /> </ div > </ div > ); } " use client " ; import React, { useState } from " react " ; import Navigation from " ./Navigation " ; import SupportChat from " ./SupportChat " ; export default function Dashboard() { return ( < div className = " flex h-[600px] border rounded-lg overflow-hidden " > < div className = " w-64 border-r " > </ div > < div className = " w-80 border-l " > < SupportChat /> </ div > </ div > ); } Everywhere software gets built Cursor is in GitHub reviewing your PRs, a teammate in Slack, and anywhere else you work. Learn about Cursor's ecosystem → This element contains an interactive demo for sighted users showing multiple Cursor interfaces: Slack integration for team communication, GitHub integration for code review and debugging. The interfaces are displayed over a scenic painted landscape wallpaper, giving the demo an artistic backdrop. Slack Get Cursor for Slack #ask-cursor 8 members dylan small thing but would be really good to have anchor links on the website for releases 4 replies dylan wanna be able to go to cursor.com/changelog#1.0 to see 1.0 changelog eric checks out @cursor can you take a stab? Cursor APP I implemented direct linking for changelog entries and updated Node.js version constraints across the project to improve compatibility and maintainability. View PR Open in Cursor Open in Web dylan Nice @eric can you take a look? GitHub Pull Request Get BugBot Review cursor bot reviewed 1m ago src/vs/workbench/composer/browser/components/ComposerUnifiedDropdown.tsx 3292 - {selectedMode().keybinding} 3293 + {composerOpenModeToggleKeybinding} cursor bot 1m ago Bug: Function Returns Object Instead of String (Logic bug) The composerOpenModeToggleKeybinding is a function that needs to be called to get its value. Using it directly causes the keybinding display condition to always be truthy. Fix in Cursor Fix in Web The new way to build software. It was night and day from one batch to another, adoption went from single digits to over 80%. It just spread like wildfire, all the best builders were using Cursor. Diana Hu General Partner , Y Combinator The most useful AI tool that I currently pay for, hands down, is Cursor. It's fast, autocompletes when and where you need it to, handles brackets properly, sensible keyboard shortcuts, bring-your-own-model... everything is well put together. shadcn Creator of shadcn/ui The best LLM applications have an autonomy slider: you control how much independence to give the AI. In Cursor, you can do Tab completion, Cmd+K for targeted edits, or you can let it rip with the full autonomy agentic version. Andrej Karpathy CEO , Eureka Labs Cursor quickly grew from hundreds to thousands of extremely enthusiastic Stripe employees. We spend more on R&D and software creation than any other undertaking, and there's significant economic outcomes when making that process more efficient and productive. Patrick Collison Co‑Founder & CEO , Stripe It's official. I hate vibe coding. I love Cursor tab coding. It's wild. ThePrimeagen @ThePrimeagen It's definitely becoming more fun to be a programmer. It's less about digging through pages and more about what you want to happen. We are at the 1% of what's possible, and it's in interactive experiences like Cursor where models like GPT-5 shine brightest. Greg Brockman President , OpenAI Stay on the frontier Access the best models Choose between every cutting-edge model from OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and xAI. Explore models ↗ Auto Suggested Composer 1 GPT-5 High Fast Claude Sonnet 4.5 ✓ Claude Opus 4.5 Gemini 3 Pro Grok Code Complete codebase understanding Cursor learns how your codebase works, no matter the scale or complexity. Learn about codebase indexing ↗ Where are these menu label colors defined? Develop enduring software Trusted by over half of the Fortune 500 to accelerate development, securely and at scale. Explore enterprise → Changelog CLI Jan 8, 2026 New CLI Features and Improved CLI Performance 2.3 Dec 22, 2025 Layout Customization and Stability Improvements Dec 18, 2025 Enterprise Insights, Billing Groups, Service Accounts, and Improved Security Controls 2.2 Dec 10, 2025 Debug Mode, Plan Mode Improvements, Multi-Agent Judging, and Pinned Chats See what's new in Cursor → Cursor is an applied team focused on building the future of coding. Join us → Recent highlights Introducing Cursor 2.0 and Composer A new interface and our first coding model, both purpose-built for working with agents. Product · Oct 29, 2025 Improving Cursor Tab with online RL Our new Tab model makes 21% fewer suggestions while having 28% higher accept rate. Research · Sep 12, 2025 1.5x faster MoE training with custom MXFP8 kernels Achieving a 3.5x MoE layer speedup with a complete rebuild for Blackwell GPUs. Research · Aug 29, 2025 View more posts → Try Cursor now. Download for macOS ⤓ Try mobile agent → Product Features Enterprise Web Agents Bugbot CLI Pricing Resources Download Changelog Docs ↗ Learn ↗ Forum ↗ Status ↗ Company Careers Blog Community Workshops Students Brand Legal Terms of Service Privacy Policy Data Use Security Connect X ↗ LinkedIn ↗ YouTube ↗ © 2026 Cursor 🛡 SOC 2 Certified 🌐 English ↓ English ✓ 简体中文 日本語 繁體中文 Skip to content Cursor Features Enterprise Pricing Resources ↓ Changelog Blog Docs ↗ Community Learn ↗ Workshops Forum ↗ Careers Features Enterprise Pricing Resources → Sign in Download Built to make you extraordinarily productive, Cursor is the best way to code with AI. Download for macOS ⤓ Try mobile agent → This element contains an interactive demo for sighted users showing multiple Cursor interfaces: the IDE with AI-powered coding assistance, the CLI with command-line assistance. The interfaces are displayed over a scenic painted landscape wallpaper, giving the demo an artistic backdrop. Cursor Get Cursor In Progress 4 Enterprise Order Management System Generating Analyze Tab vs Agent Usage Patterns Generating PyTorch MNIST Experiments Generating Fix PR Comments Fetching Issue Generating Ready for Review 2 Set up Cursor Rules for Dashboard + 37 - 0 · Set up Cursor Rules for Dashboard Bioinformatics Tools + 135 - 21 · Bioinformatics Tools train_model.py run_experiment.py config.yaml import torch import torch . nn as nn from torch . utils . data import DataLoader from torchvision import datasets def get_dataloaders ( batch_size = 64 ): transform = transforms . Compose ([ transforms . ToTensor ()]) train = datasets . MNIST ( root = "data" , train = True , download = True , transform = transform ) test = datasets . MNIST ( root = "data" , train = False , download = True , transform = transform ) return DataLoader ( train , batch_size = batch_size , shuffle = True ), DataLoader ( test , batch_size = batch_size ) class MLP ( nn . Module ): def __init__ ( self , hidden = 128 ): super (). __init__ () self . net = nn . Sequential ( nn . Flatten (), nn . Linear ( 28 * 28 , hidden ), nn . ReLU (), nn . Linear ( hidden , 10 ), ) def forward ( self , x ): return self . net ( x ) def train_model ( epochs = 1 , lr = 1e-3 , device = None): device = device or ( "cuda" if torch . cuda . is_available () else "cpu" ) model = MLP (). to ( device ) opt = torch . optim . Adam ( model . parameters (), lr = lr ) loss_fn = nn . CrossEntropyLoss () train_loader , _ = get_dataloaders () + # Seed for reproducibility + torch . manual_seed ( 42 ) + if device == "cuda" : + torch . cuda . manual_seed_all ( 42 ) + # AMP + Scheduler + scaler = torch . cuda . amp . GradScaler ( enabled =( device == "cuda" )) + scheduler = torch . optim . lr_scheduler . CosineAnnealingLR ( opt , T_max = epochs ) model . train () for epoch in range ( epochs ) : total , correct = 0 , 0 for x , y in tqdm ( train_loader , desc = f "epoch { epoch + 1 } " ) : x , y = x . to ( device ), y . to ( device ) opt . zero_grad ( set_to_none = True ) logits = model ( x ) loss = loss_fn ( logits , y ) loss . backward () opt . step () scaler . scale ( loss ). backward () scaler . unscale_ ( opt ) + torch . nn . utils . clip_grad_norm_ ( model . parameters (), max_norm = 1.0 ) scaler . step ( opt ) scaler . update () + preds = logits . argmax ( dim = 1 ) + total += y . size ( 0 ) + correct += ( preds == y ). sum (). item () + acc = correct / max ( 1 , total ) scheduler . step () + print ( f "epoch { epoch + 1 } : acc= { acc :.3f } " ) return model `, import torch import torch.nn as nn from torch.utils.data import DataLoader from torchvision import datasets def get_dataloaders ( batch_size = 64 ): transform = transforms. Compose ([transforms. ToTensor ()]) train = datasets. MNIST (root= " data " , train= True , download= True , transform=transform) test = datasets. MNIST (root= " data " , train= False , download= True , transform=transform) return DataLoader (train, batch_size=batch_size, shuffle= True ), DataLoader (test, batch_size=batch_size) class MLP (nn.Module): def __init__ ( self , hidden = 128 ): super (). __init__ () self .net = nn. Sequential ( nn. Flatten (), nn. Linear ( 28 * 28 , hidden), nn. ReLU (), nn. Linear (hidden, 10 ), ) def forward ( self , x ): return self . net (x) def train_model ( epochs = 1 , lr = 1e-3 , device = None ): device = device or ( " cuda " if torch.cuda. is_available () else " cpu " ) model = MLP (). to (device) opt = torch.optim. Adam (model. parameters (), lr=lr) loss_fn = nn. CrossEntropyLoss () train_loader, _ = get_dataloaders () + # Seed for reproducibility + torch. manual_seed ( 42 ) + if device == " cuda " : + torch.cuda. manual_seed_all ( 42 ) + # AMP + Scheduler + scaler = torch.cuda.amp. GradScaler (enabled=(device == " cuda " )) + scheduler = torch.optim.lr_scheduler. CosineAnnealingLR (opt, T_max=epochs) model. train () for epoch in range (epochs): total, correct = 0 , 0 for x, y in tqdm (train_loader, desc= f "epoch { epoch+ 1 } " ): x, y = x. to (device), y. to (device) opt. zero_grad (set_to_none= True ) logits = model (x) loss = loss_fn (logits, y) loss. backward () opt. step () scaler. scale (loss). backward () scaler. unscale_ (opt) + torch.nn.utils. clip_grad_norm_ (model. parameters (), max_norm= 1.0 ) scaler. step (opt) scaler. update () + preds = logits. argmax (dim= 1 ) + total += y. size ( 0 ) + correct += (preds == y). sum (). item () + acc = correct / max ( 1 , total) scheduler. step () + print ( f "epoch { epoch+ 1 } : acc= { acc :.3f } " ) return model ` , PyTorch MNIST Experiments Add mixed precision training, learning rate scheduling, and proper validation. Also create an experiment config system so I can easily run different hyperparameter settings. Agent GPT-5 agent Get CLI Cursor Agent ~/Repos/ml-research-notebook PyTorch MNIST Experiments Add mixed precision training, learning rate scheduling, and proper validation. Also create an experiment config system so I can easily run different hyperparameter settings. → GPT-5.2 / for commands · @ for files Trusted every day by millions of professional developers. Agent turns ideas into code A human-AI programmer, orders of magnitude more effective than any developer alone. Learn about Agent → This element contains an interactive demo for sighted users. It's a demonstration of Cursor's IDE showing AI-powered coding assistance features. The interface is displayed over a scenic painted landscape wallpaper, giving the demo an artistic backdrop. Cursor Get Cursor In Progress 4 Enterprise Order Management System Generating Analyze Tab vs Agent Usage Patterns Generating PyTorch MNIST Experiments Generating Fix PR Comments Fetching Issue Generating Ready for Review 2 Set up Cursor Rules for Dashboard + 37 - 0 · Set up Cursor Rules for Dashboard Bioinformatics Tools + 135 - 21 · Bioinformatics Tools Analyze Tab vs Agent Usage Patterns Help me understand how teams split their focus between the tab view and the agents panel across our workspaces. Agent GPT-5 Magically accurate autocomplete Our custom Tab model predicts your next action with striking speed and precision. Learn about Tab → This element contains an interactive demo for sighted users. It's a demonstration of Cursor's IDE showing AI-powered coding assistance features. The interface is displayed over a scenic painted landscape wallpaper, giving the demo an artistic backdrop. Cursor Get Cursor Dashboard.tsx SupportChat.tsx "use client" ; import React , { useState } from "react" ; import Navigation from "./Navigation" ; import SupportChat from "./SupportChat" ; export default function Dashboard () { return ( < div className = "flex h-[600px] border rounded-lg overflow-hidden" > < div className = "w-64 border-r" > </ div > < div className = "w-80 border-l" > < SupportChat /> </ div > </ div > ); } " use client " ; import React, { useState } from " react " ; import Navigation from " ./Navigation " ; import SupportChat from " ./SupportChat " ; export default function Dashboard() { return ( < div className = " flex h-[600px] border rounded-lg overflow-hidden " > < div className = " w-64 border-r " > </ div > < div className = " w-80 border-l " > < SupportChat /> </ div > </ div > ); } Everywhere software gets built Cursor is in GitHub reviewing your PRs, a teammate in Slack, and anywhere else you work. Learn about Cursor's ecosystem → This element contains an interactive demo for sighted users showing multiple Cursor interfaces: Slack integration for team communication, GitHub integration for code review and debugging. The interfaces are displayed over a scenic painted landscape wallpaper, giving the demo an artistic backdrop. Slack Get Cursor for Slack #ask-cursor 8 members dylan small thing but would be really good to have anchor links on the website for releases 4 replies dylan wanna be able to go to cursor.com/changelog#1.0 to see 1.0 changelog eric checks out @cursor can you take a stab? Cursor APP I implemented direct linking for changelog entries and updated Node.js version constraints across the project to improve compatibility and maintainability. View PR Open in Cursor Open in Web dylan Nice @eric can you take a look? GitHub Pull Request Get BugBot Review cursor bot reviewed 1m ago src/vs/workbench/composer/browser/components/ComposerUnifiedDropdown.tsx 3292 - {selectedMode().keybinding} 3293 + {composerOpenModeToggleKeybinding} cursor bot 1m ago Bug: Function Returns Object Instead of String (Logic bug) The composerOpenModeToggleKeybinding is a function that needs to be called to get its value. Using it directly causes the keybinding display condition to always be truthy. Fix in Cursor Fix in Web The new way to build software. It was night and day from one batch to another, adoption went from single digits to over 80%. It just spread like wildfire, all the best builders were using Cursor. Diana Hu General Partner , Y Combinator The most useful AI tool that I currently pay for, hands down, is Cursor. It's fast, autocompletes when and where you need it to, handles brackets properly, sensible keyboard shortcuts, bring-your-own-model... everything is well put together. shadcn Creator of shadcn/ui The best LLM applications have an autonomy slider: you control how much independence to give the AI. In Cursor, you can do Tab completion, Cmd+K for targeted edits, or you can let it rip with the full autonomy agentic version. Andrej Karpathy CEO , Eureka Labs Cursor quickly grew from hundreds to thousands of extremely enthusiastic Stripe employees. We spend more on R&D and software creation than any other undertaking, and there's significant economic outcomes when making that process more efficient and productive. Patrick Collison Co‑Founder & CEO , Stripe It's official. I hate vibe coding. I love Cursor tab coding. It's wild. ThePrimeagen @ThePrimeagen It's definitely becoming more fun to be a programmer. It's less about digging through pages and more about what you want to happen. We are at the 1% of what's possible, and it's in interactive experiences like Cursor where models like GPT-5 shine brightest. Greg Brockman President , OpenAI Stay on the frontier Access the best models Choose between every cutting-edge model from OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and xAI. Explore models ↗ Auto Suggested Composer 1 GPT-5 High Fast Claude Sonnet 4.5 ✓ Claude Opus 4.5 Gemini 3 Pro Grok Code Complete codebase understanding Cursor learns how your codebase works, no matter the scale or complexity. Learn about codebase indexing ↗ Where are these menu label colors defined? Develop enduring software Trusted by over half of the Fortune 500 to accelerate development, securely and at scale. Explore enterprise → Changelog CLI Jan 8, 2026 New CLI Features and Improved CLI Performance 2.3 Dec 22, 2025 Layout Customization and Stability Improvements Dec 18, 2025 Enterprise Insights, Billing Groups, Service Accounts, and Improved Security Controls 2.2 Dec 10, 2025 Debug Mode, Plan Mode Improvements, Multi-Agent Judging, and Pinned Chats See what's new in Cursor → Cursor is an applied team focused on building the future of coding. Join us → Recent highlights Introducing Cursor 2.0 and Composer A new interface and our first coding model, both purpose-built for working with agents. Product · Oct 29, 2025 Improving Cursor Tab with online RL Our new Tab model makes 21% fewer suggestions while having 28% higher accept rate. Research · Sep 12, 2025 1.5x faster MoE training with custom MXFP8 kernels Achieving a 3.5x MoE layer speedup with a complete rebuild for Blackwell GPUs. Research · Aug 29, 2025 View more posts → Try Cursor now. Download for macOS ⤓ Try mobile agent → Product Features Enterprise Web Agents Bugbot CLI Pricing Resources Download Changelog Docs ↗ Learn ↗ Forum ↗ Status ↗ Company Careers Blog Community Workshops Students Brand Legal Terms of Service Privacy Policy Data Use Security Connect X ↗ LinkedIn ↗ YouTube ↗ © 2026 Cursor 🛡 SOC 2 Certified 🌐 English ↓ English ✓ 简体中文 日本語 繁體中文 | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/announcing-entity-framework-core-6-0-preview-5-compiled-models/ | Announcing Entity Framework Core 6.0 Preview 5: Compiled Models - .NET Blog Skip to main content Microsoft Dev Blogs Dev Blogs Dev Blogs Home Developer Microsoft for Developers Visual Studio Visual Studio Code Develop from the cloud All things Azure Xcode DevOps Windows Developer ISE Developer Azure SDK Command Line Aspire Technology DirectX Semantic Kernel Languages C++ C# F# TypeScript PowerShell Team Python Java Java Blog in Chinese Go .NET All .NET posts .NET Aspire .NET MAUI AI ASP.NET Core Blazor Entity Framework NuGet Servicing .NET Blog in Chinese Platform Development #ifdef Windows Microsoft Foundry Azure Government Azure VM Runtime Team Bing Dev Center Microsoft Edge Dev Microsoft Azure Microsoft 365 Developer Microsoft Entra Identity Developer Old New Thing Power Platform Data Development Azure Cosmos DB Azure Data Studio Azure SQL OData Revolutions R Unified Data Model (IDEAs) Microsoft Entra PowerShell More Search Search No results Cancel Dev Blogs .NET Blog Announcing Entity Framework Core 6.0 Preview 5: Compiled Models .NET 10 is here! .NET 10 is now available: the most productive, modern, secure, intelligent, and performant release of .NET yet. Learn More Download Now June 17th, 2021 0 reactions Announcing Entity Framework Core 6.0 Preview 5: Compiled Models Jeremy Likness Principal Program Manager - .NET AI experience Show more Today, the Entity Framework Core team announces the fifth preview release of EF Core 6.0. This release includes the first iteration of compiled models. If startup time for your application is important and your EF Core model contains hundreds or thousands of entities, properties, and relationships, this is one release you don’t want to ignore. TL;DR; Compiled models dramatically reduce startup time for your application. The models are generated (similar to how migrations are) so they should be refreshed whenever your model changes. Some features are not currently supported by compiled models, so be aware of the limitations when you try them out. Background How does 10x performance sound to you? Our team created a sample project with a DbContext that contains 449 entity types, 6,390 properties and 720 relationships . I wrote a console app that loops several times, creates a new instance of a DbContext and loads a set of entities with no filters or ordering. The start-up time for the first run consistently takes around two seconds on my laptop, with subsequent cached instances weighing in at about 1.5 seconds. Here’s the output from a run: $ dotnet run -c Release Model has: 449 entity types 6390 properties 720 relationships Instantiating context... It took 00:00:02.1603163. Instantiating context... It took 00:00:01.6268628. Instantiating context... It took 00:00:01.7144346. Instantiating context... It took 00:00:01.6090380. Instantiating context... It took 00:00:01.7049987. After testing the baseline application, I used the new EF Core tools Command Line Interface (CLI) feature to optimize the DbContext : dotnet ef dbcontext optimize -output-dir MyCompiledModels --namespace MyCompiledModels The tool gave me instructions to add a single line of code to my DbContext configuration: options.UseModel(MyCompiledModels.BlogsContextModel.Instance); I made the update and re-ran the code to receive a 10x performance gain with the initial model taking 257ms to complete. The cached model reduced additional calls to just 10ms . $ dotnet run -c Release Model has: 449 entity types 6390 properties 720 relationships Instantiating context... It took 00:00:00.2573627. Instantiating context... It took 00:00:00.0132345. Instantiating context... It took 00:00:00.0119556. Instantiating context... It took 00:00:00.0101717. Instantiating context... It took 00:00:00.0139057. A peek at the query pipeline EF Core performs quite a bit of work to get from your application to returning the first result of the first query your application processes. Let’s break down the following two statements and go “behind the scenes” to see what happens. using var myContext = new MyContext(); var results = myContext.MyWidgets.ToList(); DbContext instantiation The first step is creating an instance of the context. The first time a DbContext is created, EF Core will create and compile delegates to set the table properties you expose by using DbSet<Entity> . This simply creates the delegates to set the properties so you can query them right away. Performance tip: you can avoid the overhead of DbSet initialization by using an alternate approach such as the context.Set<Entity>() API call. DbContext (lazy) initialization After the DbContext is created, EF Core “goes to sleep” until you use it. The first time you use a context by accessing one of its APIs (such as navigating an entity and returning results), the context is initialized. This will run the OnConfiguring method to establish the proper provider and database connections as well as other settings. For example, this is the perfect place to use the simple logging feature by calling the new LogTo extension on the options builder . Service provider EF Core uses a service-based architecture and has an internal dependency injection framework. This provider is built internally but is designed to work with external DI solutions such as the service provider in ASP.NET Core . Performance tip: much of the overhead described so far can be mitigated by using context pooling . This enables a pool of reusable context instances that are already initialized. Model building To understand how a domain object (C# class) relates to the tables and relationships in the database, EF Core builds an internal model that represents all the types, properties, constraints, and relationships that it finds in your DbContext . This is a metadata model and includes the call to OnModelCreating that can be overridden to provide fluent configuration of the model. Query compilation A major reason why developers use EF Core is its ability to parse Language Integrated Queries (LINQ) into the database dialect. This is an advanced stage because it involves traversing a potentially complex expression tree and translating it into SQL. Something trivial like a projection: var projection = myQuery.Select(obj => new { id = obj.EntityId, name = obj.Identifier }); Seems easy enough to translate: SELECT EntityId, Identifier FROM ... But what about something more complicated, like this? var pairs = (from a1 in context.Attendees from a2 in context.Attendees where a1.Id != a2.Id select new { a1 = a1.Id, a1LastName = a1.LastName, a1FirstName = a1.FirstName, a2 = a2.Id, a2LastName = a2.LastName, a2FirstName = a2.FirstName, sessionCount = a1.Sessions.Select(s => s.Id) .Intersect(a2.Sessions.Select(s => s.Id)).Count() }).OrderByDescending(shared => shared.sessionCount) .Take(5); This is ultimately parsed into native SQL, intersection and all. The first time that EF Core encounters a query, it parses the query to determine which parts are dynamic. It then compiles the static parts of the query and parameterizes the dynamic aspects to expedite translation into SQL by using a SQL template. Run the query Finally! The query is now run. To avoid the overhead of performing these steps every time, EF Core caches the delegates for DbSet properties, the internal service provider, the constructed model, and the compiled query. This results in much faster performance after the queries are successfully run the first time. You can visualize these steps using the following diagram (note the cache boxes have strike-through to show they are disabled for our benchmark tests): Although most of the pipeline is already streamlined, model compilation was an area we knew could improve. A note on source generators. The approach the team chose is to provide a command that generates the source code files that you can then incorporate into your project to build the compiled model. We are often asked why we didn’t choose source generators . The answer is that source generators run as user code inside the Visual Studio process. EF Core must build and run the context to obtain information about the model. If an exception is thrown as part of the process, this could potentially force Visual Studio to hang or crash. As with most technology, compiled models do have trade-offs. Let’s look at the pros and cons. Pros and cons The pros should be clear. As your model grows larger, your startup time remains fast. Here is a comparison of startup time between compiled and non-compiled models based on the size of the model. Here are some cons to consider: Global query filters are not supported. Lazy loading proxies are not supported. Change tracking proxies are not supported. Custom IModelCacheKeyFactory implementations are not supported. The model must be manually synchronized by regenerating it any time the model definition or configuration change. Tip: if supporting any of these features is critical to your success, please find the issue and upvote it or add your comments and thoughts, or file a new issue to let us know. Now you’ve learned the background. How do you get started? In conclusion To start using compiled models today, reap the performance benefits and have the opportunity to provide us with feedback before we release the final EF Core 6.0 version, start by grabbing the latest preview (instructions are below) and installing the latest EF Core CLI . The new tool command looks like this (all parameters are optional): dotnet ef dbcontext optimize -c MyContext -o MyFolder -n My.Namespace Inside the NuGet package manager console you can use this: Optimize-DbContext -Context MyContext -OutputDir MyFolder -Namespace My.Namespace The tool will instruct you to add a line like this to your options configuration: opts.UseModel(My.Namespace.MyContextModel.Instance); We hope you benefit from this new feature and can provide us with early feedback. Check out the EF Core 6.0 plan . In addition to other work, the team has prioritized a number of Azure Cosmos DB provider features . Please upvote the features that are important to you and share any feedback you may have! Other features in the preview 5 release will be posted in EF Core 6.0 What’s New . How to get EF Core 6.0 previews EF Core is distributed exclusively as a set of NuGet packages. For example, to add the SQL Server provider to your project, you can use the following command using the dotnet tool: dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer --version 6.0.0-preview.5.21301.9 This following table links to the preview 5 versions of the EF Core packages and describes what they are used for. Package Purpose Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore The main EF Core package that is independent of specific database providers Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer Database provider for Microsoft SQL Server and SQL Azure Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NetTopologySuite SQL Server support for spatial types Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Sqlite Database provider for SQLite that includes the native binary for the database engine Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Sqlite.Core Database provider for SQLite without a packaged native binary Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Sqlite.NetTopologySuite SQLite support for spatial types Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Cosmos Database provider for Azure Cosmos DB Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.InMemory The in-memory database provider Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools EF Core PowerShell commands for the Visual Studio Package Manager Console; use this to integrate tools like scaffolding and migrations with Visual Studio Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design Shared design-time components for EF Core tools Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Proxies Lazy-loading and change-tracking proxies Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Abstractions Decoupled EF Core abstractions; use this for features like extended data annotations defined by EF Core Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Relational Shared EF Core components for relational database providers Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Analyzers C# analyzers for EF Core We also published the 6.0 preview 5 release of the Microsoft.Data.Sqlite.Core provider for ADO.NET . Thank you from the team A big thank you from the EF team to everyone who has used EF over the years! Arthur Vickers Andriy Svyryd Brice Lambson Jeremy Likness Maurycy Markowski Shay Rojansky Smit Patel Thank you to our contributors! We are grateful to our amazing community of contributors. Our success is founded upon the shoulders of your efforts and feedback. If you are interested in contributing but not sure how or would like help, please reach out to us! We want to help you succeed. We would like to publicly acknowledge and thank these contributors for investing in the success of EF Core 6.0. AkinSabriCam alexernest alexpotter10 Ali-YousefiTelori #1 #1 #1 #1 , #2 alireza-rezaee andrejs86 AndrewKitu ardalis #1 #1 #1 #1 CaringDev carlreid carlreinke cgrevil #1 , #2 #1 , #2 #1 , #2 #1 cgrimes01 cincuranet dan-giddins dannyjacosta #1 #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 #1 #1 , #2 dennisseders DickBaker ErikEJ fagnercarvalho #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 , #5 , #6 #1 #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 , #5 , #6 , #7 , #8 , #9 , #10 , #11 , #12 #1 , #2 FarshanAhamed filipnavara garyng Geoff1900 #1 #1 , #2 #1 , #2 , #3 #1 gfoidl Giorgi GitHubPang gurustron #1 , #2 #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 #1 #1 hez2010 HSchwichtenberg jaliyaudagedara jantlee #1 , #2 #1 #1 , #2 #1 jeremycook jing8956 joakimriedel joaopgrassi #1 #1 #1 , #2 #1 , #2 josemiltonsampaio KaloyanIT khalidabuhakmeh khellang #1 #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 #1 , #2 #1 koenbeuk kotpal larsholm lauxjpn #1 #1 #1 , #2 #1 , #2 leonardoporro lexkazakov mariuz marodev #1 #1 #1 #1 , #2 MartinWestminster Marusyk MattKomorcec MaxG117 #1 #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 , #5 , #6 , #7 , #8 , #9 , #10 , #11 , #12 , #13 , #14 , #15 , #16 #1 , #2 #1 mefateah meggima mguinness michalczerwinski #1 #1 , #2 #1 #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 , #5 , #6 mrlife msawczyn MSDN-WhiteKnight natashanikolic #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 #1 #1 #1 nmichels nschonni OKTAYKIR OOberoi #1 , #2 #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 #1 #1 Oxyrus pkellner ptupitsyn ralmsdeveloper #1 #1 #1 #1 , #2 RaymondHuy riscie SergerGood Shirasho #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 , #5 , #6 , #7 , #8 #1 , #2 #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 , #5 , #6 , #7 , #8 , #9 , #10 #1 SimonCropp stevendarby Strepto teo-tsirpanis #1 , #2 #1 , #2 #1 , #2 #1 the-wazz tkp1n Tomkaa umitkavala #1 , #2 #1 , #2 #1 , #2 #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 uncheckederror Varorbc vincent1405 vonzshik #1 #1 #1 , #2 #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 vytotas wdesgardin wmeints yesmey #1 #1 , #2 #1 , #2 #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 , #5 , #6 0 15 0 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on Linkedin Copy Link --> Category .NET .NET Core ASP.NET Entity Framework Topics .NET Core announcement Entity Framework Entity Framework Core Share Author Jeremy Likness Principal Program Manager - .NET AI experience Jeremy is a Principal Product Manager at Microsoft, responsible for the AI experience in .NET. He's also managed minimal APIs, ASP.NET's authentication/authorization capabilities and .NET data products including Entity Framework. 15 comments Discussion is closed. Login to edit/delete existing comments. Code of Conduct Sort by : Newest Newest Popular Oldest Mike-E --> Mike-E --> August 13, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Is there a way to find out how many properties/relationships there are in a model? I was super excited to get this working after my net6.0 /EFCore6 upgrade which occurred today, but after implementing it my startup time isn’t impacted all that much. Super bummed and wondering if I have overlooked something. I double-checked the directions twice. Thrice, even. 😛 Facundo La Rocca --> Facundo La Rocca --> August 3, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Jeremy, thanks for such an amazing article. This request is totally out of the scope, but I would love to have a good deep reading about why Compiled Models is necessary. I mean, I d love to “fully and really” understand it! Thanks! George Handlin --> George Handlin --> June 29, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Minor issue, but in the complex LINQ query, there is this typo: a1FirstName = a2.FirstName, Obviously, it should be a1.FirstName Jeremy Likness --> Jeremy Likness Author --> July 2, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Great catch! Updated. Greg Gacura --> Greg Gacura --> June 23, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> By change tracking proxies is that the ability to pull down an entity change it and have it automatically save it when you call SaveChanges on the context or something else? This seems very promising for performance. Jeremy Likness --> Jeremy Likness Author --> June 23, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Not exactly. Here is the documentation for change tracking proxies . In essence it enables you to create a POCO and generate a proxy that implements INotifyPropertyChanged for data-binding purposes. Jamie Saunders --> Jamie Saunders --> June 22, 2021 · Edited 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Would you be able to change the colours for the lines in the line graph please? They’re very difficult to tell apart. Jeremy Likness --> Jeremy Likness Author --> June 24, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> I replaced with a higher contrast image. Please let me know if that works for you. Jeremy Likness --> Jeremy Likness Author --> June 23, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Thanks for this feedback. I’ll work on getting a high contrast version posted. Ian Marteens --> Ian Marteens --> June 22, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> I had to deal recently with an EF Core 5 project, for a web application. I was called into action because the project took about 26 hours to load some CSV files (yes, some of them were humungous). I ended up rewriting all those insertions and search with stored procedures. The whole 26 hours shrinked into 6 minutes. The problem: no support at all for dealing with stored procedures in EF. I had to write them manually, create parameters manually and bind it to objects manually. And, of course, I just used good old ADO.NET DBCommands and the like. One problem solved,... Read more I had to deal recently with an EF Core 5 project, for a web application. I was called into action because the project took about 26 hours to load some CSV files (yes, some of them were humungous). I ended up rewriting all those insertions and search with stored procedures. The whole 26 hours shrinked into 6 minutes. The problem: no support at all for dealing with stored procedures in EF. I had to write them manually, create parameters manually and bind it to objects manually. And, of course, I just used good old ADO.NET DBCommands and the like. One problem solved, and then another showed its ugly face. Querying all those rows and composing a very simple metric was another nightmare in terms of speed. So, I’m honestly asking the team: what is EF Core good for? Insertions are not its thing. Dapper is faster, even after all the tweeking. When you need a stored procedure, you’re a voice calling in the wilderness. Right now, my opinion is that EF Core is just a toy for OOP and DDD talibans, for floral games and the like. But it’s not useful for real life tough and mean projects. Am I wrong, please? Read less Jeremy Likness --> Jeremy Likness Author --> June 23, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Ian, Thank you for your feedback. What does your ideal support for stored procedures look like? We welcome you to upvote any existing request or submit a new one for consideration so that we can improve that experience. For your query issue, where did you find the speed bottleneck? Was it translation to the SQL from LINQ, was the resulting query not materialized the way that you expected, or was it something else? If you are able to file details in an issue we can see if there is a way to address your scenario. Regards, Jeremy Read more Ian, Thank you for your feedback. What does your ideal support for stored procedures look like? We welcome you to upvote any existing request or submit a new one for consideration so that we can improve that experience. For your query issue, where did you find the speed bottleneck? Was it translation to the SQL from LINQ, was the resulting query not materialized the way that you expected, or was it something else? If you are able to file details in an issue we can see if there is a way to address your scenario. Regards, Jeremy Read less Ian Marteens --> Ian Marteens --> June 25, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> It would be perfect if we could replace CRUD operations with stored procedure calls. But I could even do better with some tooling for dealing with store procs. I wrote a procedure with 125 parameters, and I had to create and bind manually all those parameters. Erik Ejlskov Jensen --> Erik Ejlskov Jensen --> July 4, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> EF Core Power Tools can map stored procedures for you! Marcel Bradea --> Marcel Bradea --> June 18, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> In terms of trying out the Preview 5 implementation of this in our codebases – and since this will persist compiled models that we commit to our repos – can we count on the persistence format being stable / backwards-compatible once the full EFC 6 is released? Or could we potentially be generating compiled models which would not be usable by future RTM releases? Jeremy Likness --> Jeremy Likness Author --> June 21, 2021 0 --> Collapse this comment --> Copy link --> --> --> --> Hi, Like other generated code, the expectation is that you would have to regenerate the model at a minimum each minor release. There is an extensibility point being made so that you can customize the model without having to rewrite the code every time the compiled model changes. The extensibility API is expected to be backwards compatible through future releases. Jeremy Read next June 22, 2021 ML.NET June Updates Bri Achtman June 22, 2021 Package Validation Anirudh Agnihotry Stay informed Get notified when new posts are published. Email * Country/Region * Select... 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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#fn1 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb10-17 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://ruul.io/blog/life-hacking-tips-every-freelancer-needs-to-know#$%7Bid%7D | 10 life hacking tips every freelancer needs to know - Ruul Product Payment Requests Get paid anywhere. Sell Services Make your services buyable Sell Products Create once sell forever Subscriptions Get paid on repeat Ruul Space Your personel storefront. One link for everything you offer. Learn more Pricing Resources Partner Programs Referral Program Get 1% for life. Seriously. Affiliate Program Bring users, get paid Partners Let’s grow together. More Blog About us Support Brand Kit For Customers Log in Sign up For Businesses Login Sign up grow 10 life hacking tips every freelancer needs to know Discover tips on freelancing, including researching clients, creating contracts, and mastering time management. Improve your job management skills now! Canan Başer 5 min read RUUL FOR INDEPENDENCE You chose independence.We make sure you keep it. Sell your time, your talent, whatever you create or build always on your terms. Get started See Example This is also a heading This is a heading Key Points Whether you are an experienced freelancer that has been in the game for years or just getting started, it’s always good to consider ways to improve yourself. It’s no secret that freelancing can be demanding. There are so many moving parts and issues that you have to be on top of, that it’s easy to feel lost.That’s why we’ve made this list of tips that you can use to make things easier. These tips on freelancing will cover various topics that can help make your job easier to manage. With that said, let’s dive straight in. Research your client Firstly, you should be looking into: What the budget and payment rates of your client is Whether they are known to be demanding or flexible What their method of managing their contractors are There are also more industry-specific aspects to look out for during your research. For example, if you are a graphic designer, you might want to know if this client has an established style preference that they use frequently.It's generally easy to find the information you need through a quick Googling session if you’re working with a multinational, well-known company; you can also turn to freelancer communities for tips to get to know that client better and hear the experience of peers who have worked with them before.It’s trickier if you’re going to work with a smaller company. In that case, your research might require an open line of communication with the client directly which will allow you to get the info you need. Create neat contracts Creating a good contract is a beneficial skill to develop, and will save you from lots of potential headaches down the line. Simply, a contract is a document that details the working relationship between you and your client . While this is the gist of it, you should do your best to make your contracts as comprehensive as possible. Your contract should serve as a guide that irons out all possible details and questions that could arise throughout the freelance project.It should balance both you and your client’s needs, while detailing fundamental issues like payment terms , scheduling and deadlines, and any other arrangements that might need to be made. Creating quality contracts is one of the best tips on freelancing successfully, as it might help any disagreements to get resolved quickly. You can use agreement templates by third-parties like Ruul to easily prepare legally binding and compliant contracts . Master time management Learn time zones and use time scheduling apps The adage “time is money” refers to the importance of managing your time in the smartest way. Being a freelancer, you have the opportunity to work with clients from different time zones , as opposed to a regular office worker. However, you should assess how this might affect you. If you are working with a client who is overseas, where there is a seven-hour difference, you should beware that this will change your work schedule.One way to help figure this out is to use time-scheduling apps, which can come in handy when organizing your schedule. Time management and tracking apps can help you track how you spend your time and make you more efficient. They can facilitate increasing your productivity. Set a daily work schedule In the same vein as creating a to-do list, you should strive to create a daily work schedule to help you stay on top of tasks. Creating daily tasks is a great way to break down the things you need to do into bite-sized bits that are easier to handle . Make sure the goals you put on your schedule are concrete objectives that you can achieve, instead of writing down vague goals. You will feel productive and accomplished when you tick them off one by one. Perfect the Pomodoro technique The Pomodoro technique is a time management technique which you can use to balance your working and resting periods . This technique breaks up your time into periods of work and rest to focus wholly on one or the other. According to the Pomodoro technique, you spend 25 minutes working , take a 5-minute break , and repeat this cycle four times. After the fourth cycle, you take an extended break of around 25 minutes . During these periods of either work or rest, you are to focus exclusively on either one or the other, which means you don’t browse social media apps when working or don’t check emails while resting. Read job descriptions closely Growing up, my mother would always tell me, “look before you leap” . While it was great practical advice for a small child that loved running and jumping everywhere, it might also be useful for you as a freelancer. Always pay attention to the details in the job description. These might include: The payment amount The project deadline The additional responsibilities Potential third parties that could be involved Paying close attention to job descriptions is among the great freelancing tips for beginners because you’ll be selecting jobs that work best for you. Be sure to find whatever information you can about the job/project that you are considering taking on before contacting the client. Switch up your to-do list The to-do list is a tried and true method used by millions of people to get things done. So, you might be wondering why you should switch anything up. The answer is that you can make your to-do list a more effective tool . For example, for some people, to-do lists quickly become a never-ending checklist of things that never get done.Some freelance productivity-boosting tips could include: Limiting yourself to 3-5 daily tasks Deciding on due dates or schedule times to complete tasks Making more than one list to separate personal tasks from professional ones Doing tasks that are easy to complete first to gain momentum Socialize frequently Socializing isn’t just an excellent way to have fun and connect with friends or make new ones. It gives you a chance to network and develop professional relationships . The benefits of networking could include: Staying up-to-date with your industry and related news Making valuable connections that can prove beneficial for your career Expanding your potential client pool Gaining recommendations from your colleagues Learning tools and tricks of the trade Socializing then becomes a way to both have a good time and leverage possible advantages for your solo career. Design your workspace If you’re going to be spending significant time at your desk or workstation, you might consider designing it to fit your specific needs . Your workstation doesn’t need to be just a bastion of productivity. It should be a place where you feel comfortable mentally and physically. It should match your interests, needs, and habits. For example, if you’re into fitness or concerned about back pain , you can look into a standing desk. Minimize multitasking Do you want to know a secret? No one is really good at multitasking. Some people reading this are probably vehemently disagreeing, but it’s true. By all accounts, our brains aren’t designed to work on two or more tasks simultaneously. This might actually lead to worse comprehension, lack of concentration, and decreased productivity.When you have multiple tasks that you need to handle, it’s best to focus on one at a time and do what you can to prevent one task from “bleeding over” into the other. While this might be difficult at times for interrelated tasks, do your best to complete one task at a time to avoid losing focus altogether. Limit your social media usage All good things come in moderation , which can also be said for social media. Even if we were to ignore many of the potentially harmful effects of social media addiction, there are other reasons to limit the time you spend on social media. The biggest reason is your productivity . It’s hard to get work done when you’re distracted by memes your friend sends you on Instagram. So, know when and how to use social media and be careful it doesn’t distract you from your work.Don’t have the willpower to keep off social media on your own? You can get help from a focus tool such as Forest which is available as an app and a browser extension. The gamified timer does not allow you to use certain apps or websites as it’s running and keeps you focused. At the end of each “focus session,” you grow a tree which allows you to track your productivity in a fun gamified way . Learn how to stop procrastinating I have a bit of a confession to make here. I am a serial procrastinator, guilty of everything you can think of when it comes to avoiding work. I’ve asked myself, “why do I procrastinate” and then procrastinate about solving the issue. Still, it begs us to ask how to stop procrastinating.It’s hard to give a single definition of procrastination. Still, if we have to, it could be explained as the habit of constantly delaying completing tasks by wasting time doing irrelevant stuff . There are many ways to combat procrastination that you can try, according to your characteristics and needs. Find the combination that works for you and make it into a habit , because procrastination is something that you’ll have to deal with continuously. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Canan Başer Developing and implementing creative growth strategies. 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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb8-3 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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See all formats and editions These and many more controversial tactics will change the way you look at your career and how you manage projects, people, and priorities. Apply the 10 principles in Stealing the Corner Office and watch your career take off! Stealing the Corner Office is mandatory reading for smart, hardworking managers who always wonder why their seemingly incompetent superiors are so successful. It is a unique collection of controversial but highly effective tactics for middle managers and aspiring executives who want to learn the real secrets for moving up the corporate ladder. Unlike virtually all other business books--which are based on the assumption that corporations are logical and fair-- Stealing the Corner Office explores the unconventional tactics people less competent than you use to get ahead and stay ahead. It is your proven playbook to thrive and win in an imperfect corporate world. Stealing the Corner Office will teach you: How incompetent people so often get ahead, and what you can learn from them. How to make universally flawed corporate policies work in your favor. Why showing too much passion for your ideas can be career suicide. Why delivering results should never be your highest priority. Read more Report an issue with this product or seller Previous slide of product details Print length 224 pages Language English Publisher Career Press Publication date May 19, 2014 Dimensions 5.2 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches ISBN-10 1601633203 ISBN-13 978-1601633200 Next slide of product details See all details The Amazon Book Review Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations › View or edit your browsing history After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. 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https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb10-12 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://www.linkedin.com/school/interview-kickstart/posts/?feedView=all | LinkedIn Login, Sign in | LinkedIn Sign in Sign in with Apple Sign in with a passkey By clicking Continue, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement , Privacy Policy , and Cookie Policy . or Email or phone Password Show Forgot password? Keep me logged in Sign in We’ve emailed a one-time link to your primary email address Click on the link to sign in instantly to your LinkedIn account. If you don’t see the email in your inbox, check your spam folder. Resend email Back New to LinkedIn? Join now Agree & Join LinkedIn By clicking Continue, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement , Privacy Policy , and Cookie Policy . LinkedIn © 2026 User Agreement Privacy Policy Community Guidelines Cookie Policy Copyright Policy Send Feedback Language العربية (Arabic) বাংলা (Bangla) Čeština (Czech) Dansk (Danish) Deutsch (German) Ελληνικά (Greek) English (English) Español (Spanish) فارسی (Persian) Suomi (Finnish) Français (French) हिंदी (Hindi) Magyar (Hungarian) Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) Italiano (Italian) עברית (Hebrew) 日本語 (Japanese) 한국어 (Korean) मराठी (Marathi) Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) Nederlands (Dutch) Norsk (Norwegian) ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Punjabi) Polski (Polish) Português (Portuguese) Română (Romanian) Русский (Russian) Svenska (Swedish) తెలుగు (Telugu) ภาษาไทย (Thai) Tagalog (Tagalog) Türkçe (Turkish) Українська (Ukrainian) Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese) 简体中文 (Chinese (Simplified)) 正體中文 (Chinese (Traditional)) | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://www.bellard.org/ts_sms | ts_sms: Short Message Compression using Large Language Models ts_sms: Short Message Compression using Large Language Models Compression example: ./ts_sms c "Lossless compression reduces bits by identifying and eliminating statistical redundancy. No information is lost in lossless compression." 뮭䅰㼦覞㻪紹陠聚牊 Decompression example: ./ts_sms d 뮭䅰㼦覞㻪紹陠聚牊 Lossless compression reduces bits by identifying and eliminating statistical redundancy. No information is lost in lossless compression. Comparison with brotli which embeds a dictionary to optimize the compression of small messages: ./ts_sms c "Lossless compression reduces bits by identifying and eliminating statistical redundancy. No information is lost in lossless compression." -F base64 9mY1wFk1VUFdUjvxC0wQfA== echo -n "Lossless compression reduces bits by identifying and eliminating statistical redundancy. No information is lost in lossless compression." | brotli | base64 H4cAYEVPlqqQnpIJ3RBsRngCqhywb5ksOXr9JgfAu42tLx5BpYJuPXKKY9U0Rn1dxoVKWgFFY8Bz 0zceYpcspm/ft+EqAA== Download Linux version: ts_sms-2024-12-26.tar.gz . Windows version: ts_sms-2024-12-26-win64.zip . Technical information ts_sms works similarly to ts_zip . It uses a specific padding system compatible with arithmetic coding so that the message length does not need to be explicitly encoded. Fabrice Bellard - https://bellard.org/ | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
https://lab174.com/blog/202601-yaml-norway/#cb10-8 | YAML? That’s Norway problem < Back to LAB174.com YAML? That’s Norway problem 2026-01-12 Abstract A deep dive into YAML’s Norway problem: why the country code NO gets parsed as false, its history from YAML v1.0 to v1.2, and why popular libraries still exhibit this behavior in 2026. What is yaml Yaml is a well-known data serialization language designed for human readability. It’s a popular choice for configuration files and metadata. Here’s a simple example: # project.yaml title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse countries : - DE - FR - PL - RO Let’s verify that the above example parses correctly. We’ll use Python 1 with Py Yaml 2 version 6.0.3 (the latest version as of this writing). First, let’s install it: python3 -m pip install pyyaml==6.0.3 Now let’s write a simple script to parse the yaml file: # python-pyyaml.py import json import yaml with open ( "project.yaml" , "r" , encoding = "utf-8" ) as f: data = yaml.safe_load(f) print (json.dumps(data, indent = 2 )) Running python3 python-pyyaml.py produces this output: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "PL" , "RO" ] } So far everything behaves as expected. As of January 2026 Python is the world’s 4th most popular programming language according to a 2025 Stack Overflow Survey ( archive ) ↩︎ Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and a top 20 Python library overall in the last month according to PyPI Stats ( archive ). It is also an “official” yaml library in the sense that its source code is hosted in a Github repository owned by the yaml Github account; see: Canonical source repository for Py Yaml . ↩︎ The Norway problem in yaml When we change the original yaml file and add Norway’s two letter iso country code to the existing list: countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO Using the same parsing method, the file now yields this result: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , false , "PL" , "RO" ] } Note that NO has been replaced with false . This is unexpected. Nothing about the context suggests a boolean should appear here. The NO literal sits in a list of country codes like FR or PL and appears similar in form. The problem, of course, is that “no” is also an English word with a negative meaning. This feature was originally added to allow writing booleans in a more human readable way, e.g.: platforms : iPhone : yes iPad : yes AppleWatch : no This gets parsed as: { "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false } } The idea was that configuration files should read like natural language. In practice this behavior proved problematic, becoming the notorious Norway problem in yaml . One workaround is to escape the string, like this: countries : - DE - FR - "NO" - PL - RO With quotes, the file parses as expected: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } Many articles about yaml ’s Norway problem stop here, presenting quoting as the canonical fix. There is more. Yaml ’s history To understand today’s state of the Norway problem we’ll first look at how yaml evolved. May 2001 – Yaml first pass specification At this time, yaml was more of a concept than a finished language. It looked a bit different, though somewhat recognizable. Below is a partial example from the original specification; there are more in the full document, sadly none with boolean values. buyer : % address : % city : Royal Oak line one : 458 Wittigen's Way line two : Suite 292 postal : 48046 state : MI family name : Dumars given name : Chris The document makes no mention of parsing no to false . The “Serilization Format / bnf ” section even contains a typo and a “to do” note 3 : This section contains the bnf 4 productions for the yaml syntax. Much to do… Full first pass specification – archived link ↩︎ Bnf stands for “Backus–Naur form”, a notation system for syntax definition ( Wikipedia ). ↩︎ January 2004 – Yaml v1.0 final draft This version describes various ways of presenting scalars 5 , including both quoted scalars and plain scalars with implicit typing. This is what we’re after. Version 1.0 defined only sequence , map , and string as mandatory types 6 . The rest were optional, but a reference specification existed. That reference specification for the optional boolean type included English word format. Supported words were: true/false , on/off , and also yes/no 7 . This allows the Norway problem to appear – even if following that part of reference is described as optional. – Bonus: implicit typing can be overridden with explicit tags – we’ll talk about this later. – Bonus: single sign characters, i.e. + and - should also be treated as true and false ; even more so, as they are described as the canonical form 8 ! A scalar data type, or just scalar, is any non-composite value. Generally, all basic primitive data types are considered scalar source: Wikipedia ↩︎ Following is a description of the three mandatory core tags. Yaml requires support for the seq, map and str tags. source: Yaml v1.0 specification, tag repository ↩︎ English word format: implicit english ~= true|True|TRUE |false|False|FALSE |yes|Yes|YES |no|No|NO |on|On|ON |off|Off|OFF source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ Single sign character format: implicit canonical ~= +|- source: Yaml v1.0 boolean type specification – archived link ↩︎ January 2005 – Yaml v1.1 final draft Version 1.1 maintained the same implicit typing behavior as v1.0. However, the types listed in the spec – including boolean – while still not mandatory, were now strongly recommended 9 . – Bonus: single sign characters are no longer included and the canonical form is now y/n 10 . these tags represent types that are useful across a wide range of applications and it is strongly recommended they be used whenever appropriate to promote interoperability. source: Yaml v1.1 specification, tag repository ( archive ) ↩︎ Yaml v1.1 boolean type specification , ( archive ) ↩︎ July 2009 – Yaml Revision 1.2.0 Its goal was to make yaml compliant with json , going as far as allowing json to be a subset of yaml 11 . Implicit typing rules have been removed, including the boolean English word format. – Bonus: explicit typing rules are still present. On paper, the Norway problem shouldn’t exist anymore, at least not since this yaml revision. So why are we still seeing it in 2026? The primary objective of this revision is to bring Yaml into compliance with json as an official subset. source: Yaml revision v1.2.0 ↩︎ Yaml spec version history until v1.2.0 Yaml spec version Date Type of no : Value of no first pass specification May 2001 unspecified unspecified v1.0 January 2004 boolean false v1.1 January 2005 boolean false v1.2.0 July 2009 string "no" Table 1: Summary of yaml spec changes. Note that “Type of no ” and “Value of no ” labels refer to the literal without quotes. Yaml in practice To understand why the Norway problem persists, we need to examine the scope of work involved in implementing yaml spec changes. Some clues are present in earlier text already, we see that yaml supports implicit typing, explicit typing, and various presenting formats. Also, the time between different yaml spec version releases is measured in years. What hides between the lines is that yaml and its specification are very, hugely, extremely complex. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate this. Since v1.0 yaml ’s goal was to build upon xml 12 and a number of other technologies, as listed in the final draft 13 : Yaml integrates and builds upon concepts described by C, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, rfc0822 ( mail ), rfc1866 ( html ), rfc2045 ( mime ), rfc2396 ( uri ), xml , sax and soap Yaml supports attachments, custom tags, references – the list goes on. There was even yaxml , an xml binding for yaml 14 . There are 9 ways of writing multiline strings – and some claim the number is actually 63 15 . Characters like ? , ! , !! in some cases have special meanings, with the latter allowing arbitrary code execution. Given this complexity, the Norway problem wasn’t the only language quirk in yaml v1.1. Revision v1.2 simplified boolean behavior and more (e.g. handling of null and numerical values), while other language features remained unchanged. How did libraries react to changes in such a complex specification? In fact yaml was originally intended to be a markup language and its name stood for “Yet Another Markup Language”. Six months after the first pass specification, in January 2002, it was renamed to “ Yaml Ain’t Markup Language”. ↩︎ Yaml v1.0 specification, prior art ↩︎ a subset of xml which has yaml ’s information model, but xml ’s syntax (…) a xslt Stylesheet is provided, along with the canonical invoice example in xml using this schema source: Yaxml , the (draft) xml Binding for yaml – archived link ↩︎ There are 5 6 NINE (or 63, depending how you count) different ways to write multi-line strings in yaml . (…) 2 block styles, each with 2 possible block chomping indicators (or none), and with 9 possible indentation indicators (or none), 1 plain style and 2 quoted styles: 2 x (2 + 1) x (9 + 1) + 1 + 2 = 63 source: Stack Overflow answer ( archived ) ↩︎ Yaml libraries As of January 2026 popular yaml libraries still haven’t moved from v1.1 to v1.2, and they still exhibit the Norway problem. Smaller alternative projects have appeared, but their usage hasn’t surpassed the existing v1.1 libraries. Some users have built their own alternative parsers, mixing v1.1 and v1.2 features, or focusing on a subset of yaml suited to their needs. Below are some examples. Py Yaml As mentioned before, Py Yaml is Python’s most popular yaml library and one of the most popular Python libraries overall. Py Yaml never added v1.2 support. There is an open issue from 2017 in Py Yaml ’s Github project about introducing support for v1.2 16 . There are at least two more related open issues, plus several closed ones. An unofficial library 17 exists that can be used on top of Py Yaml to provide partial v1.2 support (its documentation notes that not all v1.2 features are implemented). Another Python library, ruamel.yaml 18 , supports v1.2 by default. Py Yaml Github Issue #116 ↩︎ yamlcore PyPI project page ↩︎ ruamel.yaml PyPI project page ↩︎ Lib Yaml Lib Yaml is the long-standing C library for yaml , it is used widely as a dependency by other tools and bindings. Like Py Yaml , it’s an “official” implementation – in the sense that its canonical repository is hosted on Github and owned by the official ‘yaml’ Github account. Lib Yaml also never added v1.2 support. An open issue from 2016 in Lib Yaml ’s github project requests adding v1.2 support 19 . As mentioned earlier, Lib Yaml sits deep in dependency trees; changing its behavior is especially risky and slow. A less popular library, libfyaml 20 , supports v1.2 by default. Lib Yaml Github Issue #20 ↩︎ libfyaml Github project page ↩︎ Golang’s gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Currently unmaintained 21 , historically the most popular and still holds more Github stars then other Golang yaml libraries. It’s especially interesting because it declares support for a mix of v1.1 and 1.2 22 . The Golang’s most popular actively maintained library 23 defaults to v1.2 behavior. “This project is unmaintained” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ “The yaml package supports most of yaml 1.2, but preserves some behavior from 1.1 for backwards compatibility.” , source: gopkg.in/yaml.v3 Github project page ↩︎ goccy/go-yaml Github project page ↩︎ Kyaml Kyaml is a yaml dialect built for the Kubernetes project, launched in June 2025. Its goal is to provide a safer and less ambiguous tool; it is also designed specifically for Kubernetes, trading generality for predictability. The announcement blog post references the Norway problem directly 24 . Yaml ’s significant whitespace requires careful attention to indentation and nesting, while its optional string-quoting can lead to unexpected type coercion (for example: “The Norway Bug”). source: Kubernetes v1.34 Sneak Peek ↩︎ Is the Norway problem solved? Yaml ’s ecosystem is not just libraries, it’s also the community of users. Including: strong and conflicting opinions about yaml in general and the Norway problem in particular. In some part this outcome could be expected; after all yaml is very popular, deceptively complex, and is used in different kinds of scenarios, from small personal config files to critical infrastructure setups. Many texts don’t distinguish between yaml spec versions at all 25 . Even when spec version numbers are used, they’re frequently mistyped. It’s not difficult to find documentation claiming that implicit boolean typing is a trait of yaml specification version 1.2 26 (the correct version is v1.1); mistakes get spotted 27 and eventually updated, but that takes more time and effort than making the original typo. On the other hand we see users who declare the Norway problem as solved because it doesn’t exist in the latest spec version, or because they haven’t experienced it themselves, or for other reasons 28 . To be fair, that language feature was removed over a decade ago, and it’s unexpected that popular libraries still support the older spec version. Technically, the issue is solved in the spec – but in practice, most widely adopted implementations still support implicit boolean typing, as we’ve seen. Finally, there are end users who are so unhappy with yaml that they prefer almost anything else 29 . We end up with countless use cases (hobby, pro, critical infrastructure, …), roles (spec author, library maintainer, end user debugging a failed deployment at 11pm, …), and just as many points of views. The yaml specification defines many strings that are automatically interpreted as boolean values, which often conflicts with developer expectations. When you write country: NO , the yaml parser interprets NO as the boolean false , not the string "NO" source: What is the Norway Bug? ↩︎ The most tragic aspect of this bug , however, is that it is intended behavior according to the yaml 1.2 specification. source: The Norway Problem – why Strict Yaml refuses to do implicit typing and so should you ↩︎ In this case a Github issue has been created: It was intended according to the yaml 1.1 specification, but in yaml 1.2, the only recognized booleans are true , True , TRUE , false , False , FALSE . source: strictyaml Github issue #186 ↩︎ I don’t want to link to individual messages on social platforms to err on the side of users’ privacy; I’ll paraphrase some of them below, for illustration purposes. Norway problem has been solved for 16 years. Using 1.1 at this point is just forehead palming foolishness. The Norway issue is a bit blown out of proportion. I have been using YAML for 5+ years and have never had it. We stopped having this problem over ten years ago. Just quote your strings. Another solution is to change the country name. ↩︎ Same as earlier, I’ll paraphrase a few messages below, meant for illustration. Stop using YAML YAML - just say Norway. You should stop even tolerating YAML, refuse on sight. YAML made sense before JSON became a thing. YAML made me look at XML wistfully. Why people persist with YAML in new projects is baffling to me. People from Norway couldn't sign up. Took us a while to figure out. ↩︎ What next? In yaml final draft v1.0, the document specified that, along with yes and no , + and - should also be parsed as booleans. This was removed v1.1. There was an idea to keep that functionality when plus or minus signs were preceded with a dot ( .+ and .- ), but it didn’t catch on. Despite its well known and lesser known quirks, yaml remains popular and widely used. At this scale small quirks cascade into unexpected issues. And changes – or fixes – are introduced at a glacial pace. Then again, yaml ’s charm has its place, as evidenced by its popularity. While spec change adoption is very slow, it is still ongoing. New projects will likely adopt newer libraries, where the Norway problem no longer exists. If there is a single takeaway from this article, it’s this: yaml ecosystem is fragmented; on the whole it is moving towards a slightly stricter version. Implicit boolean typing is getting removed, it’s no longer in the official specification and most new libraries adhere to that. As of January 2026 however, the older libraries are stuck on the older version of the spec, they are still more popular and updating or phasing them out may take a while. Frequently Asked Questions Why not just use json in place of yaml ? A common reply is “no comments” – because json doesn’t support comments 30 ; many other yaml features aren’t supported either. This makes json a simpler and stricter alternative. Wheter that’s a better fit for your project, that depends on the project. As always, personal preference plays a role too. Note: json has its own flavors, like jsonc 31 . It was a conscious decision; there is an explanation from Douglas Crockford, as well as a suggestion about using json for configuration files: I removed comments from json because I saw people were using them to hold parsing directives, a practice which would have destroyed interoperability. I know that the lack of comments makes some people sad, but it shouldn’t. Suppose you are using json to keep configuration files, which you would like to annotate. Go ahead and insert all the comments you like. Then pipe it through JSMin before handing it to your json parser. source: Google Plus post by Douglas Crockford – archived link ↩︎ Json with Comments – project’s homepage ↩︎ Is yaml a superset of json ? After writing this article, I’m still not entirely sure. Even though the goal of yaml revision v1.2.0 was to make that happen and revisions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 claimed it explicitly 32 : Yaml can therefore be viewed as a natural superset of json , offering improved human readability and a more complete information model. That text has been removed from the latest yaml revision 1.2.2. A popular article 33 claims to prove that yaml is not a superset of json , but that article uses a v1.1 parser – and as we know v1.1 never claimed json compatibility. So that won’t help us. The actual reason might be that yaml requires maps to have unique keys 34 , while json only recommends it 35 . So perhaps most json (i.e. json where objects have unique keys) is a subset of yaml . Some ambiguity remains. See e.g.: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.1 ↩︎ Json treats the value 1e2 a number, of course, because it’s not in quote marks. Yaml fails to parse it as a number so silently falls back to treating it as a string. source: YAML IS NOT A SUPERSET OF JSON ↩︎ The content of a mapping node is an unordered set of key/value node pairs, with the restriction that each of the keys is unique source: Yaml Version 1.2 Revision 1.2.2 ↩︎ The names within an object SHOULD be unique. source: The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation ( json ) ↩︎ What went wrong? This question is out of scope for this article – here the goal is to prioritize facts over “what if?”. If i had to answer, I’d say that nothing went wrong. When a complex technology with a stable ecosystem introduces a breaking change, sometimes the process can take ages. The main surprise here is how complicated yaml really is. Also, as we’ve seen, with yaml and related tools being free software, anyone could contribute to improving the v1.2 adoption rate – or move to a tool that suits them better, or even create one. What about toml , sexagesimal numbers, schemas, human genes, Ruby, or Perl? These topics are only loosely related to the Norway problem, and this text is already quite long. If you enjoyed reading it, leave positive feedback somewhere and a Part 2 might happen. In the meantime, visit my homepage 36 and check out my other projects – maybe you’ll find something else you’ll enjoy. LAB174 homepage ↩︎ Epilogue Implicit boolean typing has been removed, but explicit boolean typing still remains. If a uniform yaml 1.2 future actually arrives, you can still bring a little bit of nostalgia to your code by writing: title : Nonoverse description : Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms. link : https://lab174.com/nonoverse platforms : iPhone : !!bool yes iPad : !!bool yes # Note the explicit typing here and above. AppleWatch : !!bool no countries : - DE - FR - NO - PL - RO When parsed with yq , a tool that supports yaml revision 1.2 by default: yq eval -o=json project.yaml It returns: { "title" : "Nonoverse" , "description" : "Beautiful puzzle game about nonograms." , "link" : " https://lab174.com/nonoverse " , "platforms" : { "iPhone" : true , "iPad" : true , "AppleWatch" : false }, "countries" : [ "DE" , "FR" , "NO" , "PL" , "RO" ] } < Back to LAB174.com | 2026-01-13T08:48:06 |
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