Re: [Sax-devel] SAX and xmlns attributes

Richard Tobin wrote:
> The XML Core WG has considered your comments on the assignment
> of the namespace name http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/ to the xmlns
> prefix.
> 
> This assignment was made in Febraury 2000 following representations
> from the DOM WG.  It was reflected in the XML Infoset Spec published
> in October 2001.  So it is not a new decision, and its incorporation
> as an erratum in the Namespaces spec is just a recognition of a
> long-standing decision.

Albeit one that wasn't publicised until well after February 2000,
leaving it almost completely unrecognized until the next year  ...
so that this backwards-incompatible revision to the specification
was never subject to the defined W3C review processes.

I can understand that the W3C doesn't want to reopen such issues,
acknowledging cases where it hasn't followed its procedures.

- David Brownell


> We appreciate that this is not consistent with the way SAX identifies
> namespace attributes, and that SAX's behaviour is consistent with the
> unamended spec.  However we do not believe that reversing a decision
> made in February 2000 would achieve anything except further confusion.
> 
> We note that the Namespaces spec does not impose any conformance
> constraints on processors, and therefore this erratum should not be
> taken as implying in any way that SAX is not conformant.
> 
> -- Richard Tobin, on behalf of the XML Core WG
> 

Received on Monday, 22 July 2002 12:11:13 UTC