[Bug 27126] New: [XSLT30] allow fn:root in patterns to match parentless nodes

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=27126

            Bug ID: 27126
           Summary: [XSLT30] allow fn:root in patterns to match parentless
                    nodes
           Product: XPath / XQuery / XSLT
           Version: Last Call drafts
          Hardware: PC
                OS: Windows NT
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: XSLT 3.0
          Assignee: mike@saxonica.com
          Reporter: abel.braaksma@xs4all.nl
        QA Contact: public-qt-comments@w3.org

This bug report is to track the resolution of
https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/w3c-xsl-wg/2014Oct/0018.html (member
only).

This mail was discussed at the telcon of 16 October 2014. Summary of that
discussion and the mail discussion:

Rationale:
* parentless¹ nodes are everywhere (xsl:variable with as="element()" for
instance)
* we (now) have the ability to start stylesheet invocation with any kind of
item, including parentless¹ nodes
* using a leading "/" in patterns won't match as it *must* match a document
node, this often confuses users that consider it to match any root
* matching the root of parentless¹ nodes is tricky and very non-trivial, using
patterns like "foo[not(..)]"
* using fn:root() would make such patterns clearer
* the relevant changes to the spec appear to be minimal

Points against:
* late in the game (2nd LCWD status)
* there is a workaround, "people should read tutorials"

The recorded DECISION at the telcon was to leave the decision of whether or not
to include this change up to the editor.

¹ the term "parentless" here means any nodes without a parent, except for
document-nodes.

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are the QA Contact for the bug.

Received on Wednesday, 22 October 2014 15:12:49 UTC