[w3c sml] sml:ref and interoperability

I've looked at http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=5541 and, after considering comment #6, bullets 1 and 2, I have serious reservations.



As you all know, I believe that interoperability is a very important part of SML and, to some degree, its "raison d'être". Leaving it up to each SML validator whether or not to recognize SML references based on XML infoset or PSVI destroys interoperability. I am ok with the interoperability issues as detailed in section 4.5 (http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/~checkout~/2007/xml/sml/build/sml-if.html?content-type=text/html;%20charset=utf-8#Interoperability) because those issues are under the control of the SML-IF producer. However, this new twist means that interoperability is now a crapshoot and there is no alternative available to the SML-IF producer to guarantee interoperability.



I would appreciate hearing any thoughts on why this (allowing either/or) is a good idea. I understand the issue of allowing sml:ref to be specified in the schema - that is a valid issue and I think my preference is to allow that option. However, interoperability is key and I don't think we gave that sufficient consideration.



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ginny