Re: the return of the Public Identifier Question

Paul writes:
[discussion of preference order for PUBLIC vs. SYSTEM in catalogs...]
> Yes, one can add something like the OVERRIDE entry to the catalog.
> This is one way to implement my choice (g) which says to require 
> that there is some way for the user to specify which to try first
> (so that the user can specific that PUBLIC should be tried first).
> 
> But I'm not going to be the one to suggest we complicate the XML catalog.

Nor I.

I was under the impression that after the previous extended discussion of
this issue, it was determined that because of the variant processing needs
of differing applications, it should be left up to the application designer
to determine preference order and error handling. In this recent
reintroduction of the topic I see no new information that would lead me to
believe any change to this would be warranted.

It seems well beyond the scope of an XML specification to determine *for
the application designer* the best method for handling resource requests
and their failure. There are simply too many possible uses of XML to 
believe that one behaviour could suit all needs. We should opt not to be
overly restrictive here unless we want to create a whole subclass of 
pseudo-conforming XML applications that do what the designer needs, but
use a variant catalog behaviour.

Murray

...........................................................................
Murray Altheim, SGML Grease Monkey                    <altheim@eng.sun.com>
Tools Development & Online Production
Sun Microsystems, 2550 Garcia Ave., MS UMPK17-102, Menlo Park, CA 94043 USA
         "Give a monkey the tools and he'll build a typewriter."

Received on Wednesday, 19 March 1997 20:01:40 UTC