Re: <xsl:output doctype-*="x"/>

At 13:32 6-07-2001, Philip King wrote:
>Question:
>
>If the ExternalID (either Public or System) is optional in a DOCTYPE
>declaration:
>
>(Quoted from http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml)
>[28]  doctypedecl ::= '<!DOCTYPE' S Name (S ExternalID)? S? ('['
>         (markupdecl | DeclSep)* ']' S?)? '>'
>
>[75]  ExternalID ::= 'SYSTEM' S SystemLiteral
>         'PUBLIC' S PubidLiteral S SystemLiteral
>
>Then, why isn't the SYSTEM or PUBLIC specifier optional in XSLT?  (Only
>doctype-public or doctype-system exist.)
>
>(The only way I know to output a DOCTYPE without a SYSTEM or PUBLIC is
>to:
><xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes">&lt;!DOCTYPE X&gt;</xsl:text>
>
>Keep in mind, I mention this only to see if I could hear the sound of
>skin crawling.  And possibly to motivate a change in the spec.)

Unofficial response:

Having <!DOCTYPE X> is redundant with a document whose root element is of 
type X.  No additional information is provided by the empty doctype 
declaration.  Only with a system identifier (and optional public 
identifier) does the declaration communicate any additional information.

-Chris, not speaking for the XSL WG
-- 
Christopher R. Maden, XML Consultant
DTDs/schemas - conversion - ebooks - publishing - Web - B2B - training
<URL: http://crism.maden.org/consulting/ >
PGP Fingerprint: BBA6 4085 DED0 E176 D6D4  5DFC AC52 F825 AFEC 58DA

Received on Sunday, 8 July 2001 08:16:43 UTC