[Bug 5476] xsi:schemaLocation should be a hint, should be MAY not SHOULD

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=5476


Noah Mendelsohn <noah_mendelsohn@us.ibm.com> changed:

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--- Comment #2 from Noah Mendelsohn <noah_mendelsohn@us.ibm.com>  2008-09-23 21:29:42 ---
The original bug report (from MSM, I think) reads:

> We have long accepted the principle that the choice
> of schema for validation should lie with the entity
> requesting the validation, not with the author (when
> the two are distinct).  This wording tends to
> undercut that principle and should be changed.

I tend to agree.

> For SHOULD, read MAY.  

I would prefer that.

> Indeed, so cumbersome have I found this convention in
> practice that I'm tempted to say SHOULD NOT.

My vote is: probably a step too far, but I wouldn't spend time objecting if
consensus is to go this way.  I think we want to proceed in the spirit of the
first comment quoted above, which suggests we should be neutral.

Michael Kay writes:

> If directed to do so, for example by the invoking
> application or by command line option, processors
> should attempt to dereference each schema document
> location URI in the ·actual value· of such
> xsi:schemaLocation and xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation
> [attributes]

I've never liked the "if directed to do so formulation", which I recall
accepting reluctantly as a compromise in the run up to Schema 1.0.  I would
prefer to just say that "schemaLocaion is a hint provided by the document
author to suggest  where a suitable schema document might be found.  Processors
MAY but need not attempt to retrieve and use such schema documents and MAY but
need not fail if such a retrieval attempt fails.  The choice of whether to use
such documents would typically determined according to the needs of the
particular system or application.", or words to that effect.

Noah


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Received on Tuesday, 23 September 2008 21:30:16 UTC