XML 1.0 Specification Errata

I am writing to you to draw your attention to a few passages of the
XML 1.0 specification which seem to need some clarification.


1. Both §4.1 and §4.6 of the XML spec. use the term "for
interoperability" when referring to predefined entities, which means a
non-binding recommendation.  However, if one is following this
non-binding recommendation one _must_ also follow the normative
advice: "If the entities in question are declared, they must be
declared as internal entities whose replacement text is the single
character being escaped or a character reference to that character, as
shown below." (§4.6).  So what happens, if a DTD contains a
declaration like <!ENTITY lt "xyz">?  Is this valid (one does not
follow the recommendation at all, see §4.1) or invalid (one does
follow the recommendation, but in a wrong way, see §4.6)?


2. In the XML 1.0 spec §4.1 the "Well-Formedness Constraint: Entity
Declared" states: "the declaration of a general entity must precede
any reference to it which appears in a default value in an
attribute-list declaration".  It is not clear to me, whether that 
only refers to literal appearance or includes recursive appearance 
as well.  E.g. is the following valid or invalid?:

<!ENTITY foo "&bar;">
<!ATTLIST list
          type    (bullets|ordered|glossary)  "&foo;">
<!ENTITY bar "ordered">


3. An erratum in the errata page itself:  The last sentence in the
second paragraph should read "Early errata (1999-02-17 and before) are
neither classified nor dated."


Since I am currently encoding an XML parser any answer, if your time
permits, would be very welcome.


Regards,

Dieter Köhler

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Received on Wednesday, 31 May 2000 11:03:53 UTC