XML spec error -- Reference to IANA

Jane Hunter has pointed out the following problem in the XML specification:

Section 2.12, Language Identification, contains:

   The Langcode may be any of the following:

   -  ...

   -  a language identifier registered with the Internet Assigned Numbers 
      Authority [IANA] ...

   -  ...

The string "[IANA]" links to:

   http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml#IANA

which contains text related to character sets, not language codes:

   IANA
      (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) Official Names for Character 
      Sets, ed. Keld Simonsen et al.  See 
      ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/character-sets.

Misha

[This mail was written using voice recognition software]

-----

> Thanks Misha,
> 
> One reason why this is so confusing is that the link in the XML Spec to IANA 
> language identifiers takes you to IANA character sets:
> 
> http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml#NT-LanguageID
> http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml#IANA
> 
> jane
> 
> > >But when I read through the XML spec it appears that you can have either the 
> > >2-letter language code or the IANA character set code - not both. Can you 
> > >confirm this and if its correct, why have they done this?
> > 
> > You are confusing two quite different things:
> > 
> > 1.  Language.  Each sentence, or word, or even character, of an XML 
> >     document may have a different language, indicated using an xml:lang 
> >     attribute, see:
> >        http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml#sec-lang-tag
> > 
> > 2.  Character set encoding.  An entire XML document must be encoded the 
> >     same way.  This is indicated using an encoding declaration, see:
> >        http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml.html#NT-EncodingDecl
> >     If the XML document is encoded using UTF-8 or UTF-16 then the 
> >     encoding declaration may be omitted.
> > 
> > >Is it possible to 
> > >define all three attributes using xml:lang 
> > 
> > No.  See above.
> > 
> > > or do we need to define a new 
> > >structure?
> > 
> > No.  See above.
> > 
> > If you want more information, you may do any of the following:
> > 
> > -  Mail the W3C's public Internationalisation mailing list 
> >    (www-international@w3.org).
> > 
> > -  If you are employed by a member of the W3C, join the W3C's 
> >    Internationalisation Interest Group by mailing the W3C I18N IG 
> >    Chair, Martin Dürst (duerst@w3.org).
> > 
> > -  If you are employed by a member of the W3C, join the W3C's 
> >    Internationalisation Working Group by getting your W3C Advisory 
> >    Committee representative to mail the W3C I18N WG Chair, 
> >    Misha Wolf (misha.wolf@reuters.com).
> > 
> > Misha
> > 
> > [This mail was written using voice recognition software]
> > 
> > 
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------
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> > the views of Reuters Ltd.
> > 
> 

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Received on Thursday, 11 November 1999 13:33:58 UTC