new_contents: """
  A script for timing/profiling the Markdown conversion of an artifact discussion thread.
  
  Example usage:
  
  (env-allura)root@h1v1024:/var/local/allura/Allura(master)$ time paster script production.ini allura/scripts/md_perf.py -- --converter=forge
        Conversion Time (s)  Text Size Post._id
     1 0.021863937377929688         20 7d3ce86bb2c3afaee21f28547ed542d0c8c483b8
     2 0.002238035202026367         12 96b1283c6db619cd66ee092551758dc1ad5b958f
     3 0.001832962036132812          9 42c44cd72815d29069378353745bef953bdb2b98
     4 0.011796951293945312        901 cadbea52291c58bb190597c1df94527369b405fa
     5 0.143218040466308594      11018 362bee7ef1ba4e062712bda22cb96ae9fe459b95
     6 0.029596090316772461       1481 46b78785b849f55d24cf32ee1f4e4c916cb7a6fe
     7 0.045151948928833008       4144 4e2f62188080baba9b88c045ba1f7c26903bfcf9
     8 0.637056827545166016      14553 51c87f2b1d55c08147bb2353e20361236232b432
     9 4.510329008102416992      23016 f298ad88584f3dc9b5c37ffde61391bf03d5bae6
    10 3.614714860916137695      23016 8775a230b19c231daa1608bb4cea1e17aab54550
    11 0.393079042434692383      19386 ed79e0d2f89366043a007e0837e98945453508c9
    12 0.000739097595214844      43659 56ac2437ec1bd886a03d23e45aa1c947729760ec
    13 0.258469104766845703       8520 57152cefe0424b7fc9dff7ab4d21a6ef6e90bf82
    14 0.264052867889404297       8518 6788b13c90c9719ba46196a0a773f4c228df9f2a
    15 0.995774984359741211      14553 3f5cce06d2400bcd56d7b90d12c569935f0099a4
  Total time: 10.930670023
  
  real    0m14.256s
  user    0m12.749s
  sys     0m1.112s
  
  """
  
  import argparse
  import cProfile
  import re
  import sys
  import time
  
  from mock import patch
  
  try:
      import re2
      re2.set_fallback_notification(re2.FALLBACK_WARNING)
      RE2_INSTALLED = True
  except ImportError:
      RE2_INSTALLED = False
  
  from pylons import app_globals as g
  
  MAX_OUTPUT = 99999
  DUMMYTEXT = None
  
  
  def get_artifact():
      from forgeblog import model as BM
      return BM.BlogPost.query.get(
              slug='2013/09/watch-breaking-bad-season-5-episode-16-felina-live-streaming')
  
  
  def main(opts):
      import markdown
      if opts.re2 and RE2_INSTALLED:
          markdown.inlinepatterns.re = re2
      converters = {
          'markdown': lambda: markdown.Markdown(),
          'markdown_safe': lambda: markdown.Markdown(safe_mode=True),
          'markdown_escape': lambda: markdown.Markdown(safe_mode='escape'),
          'forge': lambda: g.markdown,
          }
      md = converters[opts.converter]()
      artifact = get_artifact()
      return render(artifact, md, opts)
  
  
  def render(artifact, md, opts):
      start = begin = time.time()
      print "%4s %20s %10s %s" % ('', 'Conversion Time (s)', 'Text Size', 'Post._id')
      for i, p in enumerate(artifact.discussion_thread.posts):
          text = DUMMYTEXT or p.text
          if opts.n and i + 1 not in opts.n:
              print 'Skipping post %s' % str(i + 1)
              continue
          if opts.profile:
              print 'Profiling post %s' % str(i + 1)
              cProfile.runctx('output = md.convert(text)', globals(), locals())
          else:
              output = md.convert(text)
          elapsed = time.time() - start
          print "%4s %1.18f %10s %s" % (i + 1, elapsed, len(text), p._id)
          if opts.output:
              print 'Input:', text[:min(300, len(text))]
              print 'Output:', output[:min(MAX_OUTPUT, len(output))]
          start = time.time()
      print "Total time:", start - begin
      return output
  
  
  def parse_options():
      parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      parser.add_argument('--converter', default='markdown')
      parser.add_argument('--profile', action='store_true', help='Run profiler and output timings')
      parser.add_argument('--output', action='store_true', help='Print result of markdown conversion')
      parser.add_argument('--re2', action='store_true', help='Run with re2 instead of re')
      parser.add_argument('--compare', action='store_true', help='Run with re and re2, and compare results')
      parser.add_argument('-n', '--n', nargs='+', type=int, help='Only convert nth post(s) in thread')
      return parser.parse_args()
  
  
  if __name__ == '__main__':
      opts = parse_options()
      out1 = main(opts)
      if opts.compare:
          opts.re2 = not opts.re2
          out2 = main(opts)
          print 're/re2 outputs match: ', out1 == out2
  
subject: Add script for timing/profiling discussion-thread rendering