<filename>tind_commons/xmlutils.py
def deep_equal(a_element, b_element):
    """Computes whether two different elements are deep equal.

    Two elements are considered deep equal if:
     1. Their tag names are equal
     2. Their attributes are equal
     3. Their text contents (including the tail contents) are equal
     3. Their children are pairwise deep equal
    """
    if a_element.tag != b_element.tag:
        return False

    if len(a_element.items()) != len(b_element.items()):
        return False

    for key in a_element.keys():
        if a_element.get(key) != b_element.get(key):
            return False

    if a_element.tail != b_element.tail:
        return False

    if a_element.text != b_element.text:
        return False

    if len(a_element) != len(b_element):
        return False

    for pair in zip(a_element, b_element):
        if not deep_equal(*pair):
            return False

    return True
