Namespace of xmlns: prefix

This just came up again, on Apache's xerces-c-dev mailing
list. It was really a SAX question, but since the DOM dealt
with similar issues I offered to crosscheck...

As you know, the DOM decided to bind namespace declaration
attributes -- including assigning a default namespace -- to
a specific namespace, in order to facilitate namespace-aware
processing of namespaces. I believe we checked that approach
with you folks and you were reasonably happy with it, and I
seem to remember that you were actually considering adopting
it for future versions of the NS spec if and when those are
published.

But the NS spec still says "The prefix xmlns is used only
for namespace bindings and is not itself bound to any
namespace name," and there's no erratum for that statement.

Might be worth adding an entry in your errata which at least
says "Some tools, such as the DOM, bind a namespace to xmlns
declarations"... or, if you really are considering going in
this direction, stating that.

Received on Tuesday, 3 April 2001 11:51:12 UTC