Re: ERB decisions on A.17, B.9, and other questions

> Date:         Sat, 19 Oct 96 12:33:48 CDT
> From: Michael Sperberg-McQueen <U35395@UICVM.UIC.EDU>

> 
> On question B.9, the ERB decided:
> 
>   * In version 1.0, XML will not have public identifiers, only
>     system identifiers.
>   * In version 1.0, system identifiers will be URLs.
>   * In version 1.0, URLs need not carry the FSI-style <url> label.
> 
> Whether system identifiers in XML 1.0 will be *allowed* to carry the
> <url> label remains an open question.
> 
> Addition of public identifiers and extension of system identifiers
> to other formats will be taken up in preparation of future versions
> of XML.
> 
> The rationale for these decisions was that URLs are well understood
> and well established, and can handle both remote and local addresses.
> Restricting external identifiers to URLs helps keep the specification
> simple. 


Pardon my ignorance about the details of URLs.  What I'm wondering is,
as defined above, does XML allow the use of simple local file names as
external identifiers?  Can I have declarations such as:

	<!ENTITY chap1 SYSTEM "chapter1.sgm">
	<!ENTITY logo SYSTEM "c:\graphics\logo2.tif" NDATA tif>

given the ERB's decision on external identifiers?  If not, and without
public identifiers either, how would I make references to files on my
local file system as typified by the above?  (I realize if we decide
not to have external text entities in XML, then the first example above
would have to be an NDATA, but that's irrelevant to my question.)

Received on Sunday, 20 October 1996 16:50:54 UTC