Re: XML namespaces on the Web

Krzysztof Maczyński wrote:
>> This would have the unfortunate side effect of causing existing XML 1.0
>> parsers encountering<?xml parse="lax"?>  to throw a well-formedness
>> error, thus losing all the benefits of backwards compatibility that the
>> original XML5 proposal has.
>
> (<?xml parse="lax"?>  doesn't include the mandatory version
> pseudo-attribute.)

I'm aware of that, I omitted it for brevity only.

> Indeed, this seems to be a good reason for the other mechanism I
> suggested - namely a MIME type parameter. This is the only reasonable
> way that comes to my mind of retrofitting the mechanism into XML 1.0
> and 1.1 while keeping current XML stacks conformant (and for that
> reason also remove the initial word from:

The XML5 proposal would not make the current XML 1.x parsers 
non-conforming.  Aborting on fatal errors will still remain a conforming 
option for applications.  All XML5 does is fill in the gap where it's 
missing from XML 1.x.  Namely, what to do if the application chooses not 
to abort by defining clear recovery procedures.

Thus, any kind of flag from the author is completely unnecessary and 
only serves to create backwards compatibility problems where there need 
not be any.

-- 
Lachlan Hunt - Opera Software
http://lachy.id.au/
http://www.opera.com/

Received on Tuesday, 17 November 2009 19:34:52 UTC