Changing the official W3C XML Schema for the xml: namespace

The W3C's XML Core WG is considering a change to the XML Schema for the
http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace namespace (i.e. the xml: namespace).
The schema itself is available at http://www.w3.org/2001/xml.xsd .

Currently, that schema says that the default value of xml:space is
"preserve".  This is inconsistent with the description of xml:space in
Section 2.10 of the XML 1.0 and XML 1.1 Recommendations, which say:

	The root element of any document is considered to have
	signaled no intentions as regards application space
	handling, unless it provides a value for this attribute
	or the attribute is declared with a default value.

In particular, XSLT behaves differently when xml:space is present in a
document with the value "preserve" (either explicitly or by inheritance
from a schema), and WXS-aware implementations of XSLT are now becoming
available.  Forcing xml:space to be in effect present with a value of
"preserve", except where explicitly specified otherwise, would break
existing expectations.

Therefore, the XML Core WG would like to remove the default value
of xml:space from the XML Schema.

Please send comments to xml-editor@w3.org, which is copied on this
message.

This discharges my action to the WG.

-- 
"Your worships will perhaps be thinking         John Cowan
that it is an easy thing to blow up a dog?      http:/www.reutershealth.com
[Or] to write a book?"                          http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
    --Don Quixote, Introduction                 jcowan@reutershealth.com