RE: Section 23.4 Appendix 4 - XML Namespace in WebDAV

The WebDAV's XML namespace rules only apply to elements used directly to
execute WebDAV XML commands. Therefore it is NOT safe to assume that XML
sent as payload inside a PUT request or a GET response follows the WebDAV
rules. You can only be sure that the WebDAV rules are being used for WebDAV
related command/responses. BTW, webDAV rules do apply to property values,
this was necessary for consistency.

The bottom line is that an XML processor which doesn't use these rules can
safely transport XML across WebDAV without having to worry about their XML
being interpreted using the WebDAV rules. The rules only become an issue if
you are using them inside WebDAV XML command syntax.

I'm not pretending that I like this situation. I wish the W3C had been able
to provide a consistent solution. But they made it absolutely clear to the
WebDAV WG that they had no intention of addressing this issue in the
namespace specification and WebDAV's functionality was impossible without a
resolution rule. Therefore we had no choice but to come up with some rule.
The best we could do was to limit the scope of the rule.

		Yaron

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Stracke [mailto:francis@ecal.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 1999 9:40 AM
> To: w3c-dist-auth@w3.org
> Subject: Re: Section 23.4 Appendix 4 - XML Namespace in WebDAV
> 
> 
> >are we talking about whether the following elements are
> >equivalent or not?
> >
> >     <cars:part xmlns:cars="http://www.cars.com/xml"/>
> >     <cars:mlpart xmlns:cars="http://www.cars.com/x"/>
> >     <cars:xmlpart xmlns:cars="http://www.cars.com/"/>
> >
> >if so, I've once asked James Clark about this, and his answer was
> >that "the XML namespaces spec doesn't make them equivalent",
> >but on the other hand, that an XML system using namespaces
> >can treat them all the same if it wants to.
> 
> Scream, wail, moan.
> 
> If the spec doesn't make them equivalent, a system that treats
> them as equivalent (e.g., a system that implements DAV as
> currently specified) is going to run into trouble when it
> encounters XML generated by somebody that didn't think they
> were equivalent.
> 
> 
> 
> --
> /=============================================================\
> |John Stracke    | My opinions are my own | S/MIME & HTML OK  |
> |francis@ecal.com|============================================|
> |Chief Scientist | NT's lack of reliability is only surpassed |
> |eCal, Inc.      |  by its lack of scalability. -- John Kirch |
> \=============================================================/
> 
> --
>

Received on Friday, 2 April 1999 22:26:09 UTC