Static validation of Lua String Patterns?

[steve donovan <steve.j.donovan@...>]

Hi all,

I have a use case where it's important to guarantee that a lua string
pattern is valid up front.
(The use case is providing a Rust binding to the Lua pattern code -
like Go, panicking in library code is considered very bad form, and
passing on errors complicates the whole API.)

Generally we only know when the pattern is actually used, but has
there been any prior work on static validation?  Before I start
hacking, that is ;)

steve d.