xml-dev - Re: Question About Namespaces and DTDs

[Ronald Bourret <rpbourret@hotmail.com>]

Winchel 'Todd' Vincent, III wrote:

>I would be very grateful if someone could
>point me to past discussions in the list archive or, even better, a paper
>that more fully describes the conflict. [between namespaces and DTDs]

See section 7, XML Namespaces and DTDs, of the XML Namespaces FAQ [1].

>Based on what St. Laurent wrote, it seems to me, at first blush, that this
>could be solved by requiring unique namespaces prefixes.  Am I missing
>something?

This would work but, as you point out below, you would need a central 
registry of prefixes to make sure there were no conflicts. Since URIs are 
already (essentially) unique identifiers, they offer a more timely and 
practical solution to the problem.

>A further thought . . . to be manageable, it seems to me that this would
>require a registry of prefixes for the particular industry.   Assuming a
>registry were possible, would namespaces and DTDs mix?

Yes, although the registry would need to be global, not industry specific, 
since you can never guarantee that soap manufacturers might suddenly take an 
unexpected interest in the breakfast cereal market.

-- Ron Bourret

[1] 
http://www.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/DVS1/staff/bourret/xml/NamespacesFAQ.htm
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