Standalone document VC and WFC inconsistency

Recent changes to the XML Conformance Tests have highlighted an
inconsistency in the XML rec regarding standalone documents and external
entity declarations.

The conformance test changes have re-classified 3 test files from validity
error to not-wf.  These files contain a standalone="yes" declaration, yet
reference entities which are declared in the external DTD subset.

Karl Waclawek has pointed out that this condition represents a
well-formedness error because it falls foul of WFC: Entity Declared.

I agree with Karl's interpretation, but the rec also makes this a validity
error.  The second item in the bullet list in VC: Standalone Document
Declaration states that a document should not reference an
externally-declared entity from within a standalone document.

I presume that the WFC should take precedence over the VC and, for clarity,
the VC should therefore be removed.  Do you agree?

Regards
Rob Lugt
ElCel Technology

Received on Tuesday, 18 June 2002 17:56:36 UTC