Comment on Canonical XML draft of 2000-06-01, clause A.2

Requiring that Canonical XML documents preserve all whitespace outside
the document element precludes implementing canonicalization over either
SAX or DOM.  SAX unilaterally discards all such whitespace.  DOM cannot
represent it, since a Text node is not permitted to be the child of
a Document element.

This provides a significant practical impediment to implementation,
essentially requiring a specialized parser interface which has not
been standardized either by W3C or de facto.

I urge the DSig WG to reconsider the inclusion of whitespace outside
the document element.


-- 

Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,  || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau,           || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.            -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)

Received on Thursday, 1 June 2000 11:46:25 UTC