public and system literals

• From: Len Berman <berman@watson.ibm.com>
• Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 08:57:02 -0500 (EST)
• To: xml-editor@w3.org
• Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.10.9911160840310.852-100000@lyon.watson.ibm.com>

I think the specification of the behaviour of an XML processor 
in the case that both a public and system literal are given 
in an external ID could be improved.

The spec states that the processor MAY use the public literal;
however, it does not say anything about whether or not the contents of
the two files must be identical.  If the content of the two files
differ, then the result of using  conforming xml processors on the
document is implementation dependent. 

If the spec said (1) that the processor MUST use the public literal if
it exists, or  (2) that the content of public and system literal files
must be the same in a valid XML document, this implementation
dependency would not be present.

I like the first alternative since would permit the public
literal to be used for files which might be modified for a local
purpose.

--Len

Received on Tuesday, 16 November 1999 12:59:32 UTC