The proto2cpp.py regex for replacing . with :: can clobber natural punctuation in comments

[szmoore]

Describe the bug

All full stops (periods) '.' occurring in comments are replaced with :: even when they don't result in a reference.

Describe how to reproduce the bug

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Write the following documentation string:

/**
 * This documentation is quite long.
 *
 * It needs more than once sentence to describe what is happening.
 * 
 * FullyStopped.value is a reference, but FullyStopped.
 *                                  value is not.
 */
message  FullyStopped {
    required uint32 value = 1;
};

2. Generate documentation:

<detaileddescription>
  <para>This documentation is quite long::</para>
  <para>It needs more than once sentence to describe what is happening::</para>
  <para>
    <ref refid="structFullyStopped_1a8defeb7fb78806a0c55bfec7b89e6500" kindref="member">FullyStopped::value</ref> 
       is a reference, but <ref refid="structFullyStopped" kindref="compound">FullyStopped</ref>:: value is not:: </para>    </detaileddescription>

Converted to markdown for readability:

This documentation is quite long::

It needs more than once sentence to describe what is happening::

FullyStopped::value is a reference, but FullyStopped:: value is not

Describe the expected behavior

'.' characters should not be replaced if they are not followed by a set of non-whitespace characters

This documentation is quite long.

It needs more than once sentence to describe what is happening.

FullyStopped::value is a reference, but FullyStopped. value is not

Show some screenshots

Not Applicable

Describe the OS you are using

• OS: Debian 10
• Language: Protobuf, Doxygen, and English
• Version: proto2cpp.py@3e30b94615d64cf02713b23060f985f953751bb8 (v0.8-beta)

Additional context

A patch:

The (\S+) group requires the . to be followed by at least one (1) non whitespace character.

Any whitespace following a :: would be invalid syntax in C++ anyway, so I don't think this would break that many intentional references. Considering a sentence not followed by white space, like this one.I believe that would be invalid syntax in English.

diff --git a/proto2cpp.py b/proto2cpp.py
index a355aaa..6f0d80a 100644
--- a/proto2cpp.py
+++ b/proto2cpp.py
@@ -183,7 +183,8 @@ class proto2cpp:
         isMultilineComment = False
 
       # line = line.replace(".", "::") but not in quoted strings (Necessary for import statement)
-      line = re.sub(r'\.(?=(?:[^"]*"[^"]*")*[^"]*$)',r'::',line)
+      # also not if the "." was the final character in the line or was followed by whitespace (natural punctuation)
+      line = re.sub(r'\.(?=(?:[^"]*"[^"]*")*[^"]*$)(\S+)',r'::\1',line)
 
       # Search for " option ...;", remove it
       line = re.sub(r'\boption\b[^;]+;', r'', line)