Re: using namespaces to version

[Tony Coates <Tony.Coates@reuters.com>]

On 02/05/2001 23:29:50 Warren Hedley wrote:

>I'm wondering if anyone on the list has any strong opinions about
>the use of namespaces for versioning. In particular, am I likely
>to run into any problems if I base my namespaces on the Dublin Core
>format shown below?

I have a strong opinion that namespace URIs should be explicitly versioned.  I'm
not against also having the version in an attribute value on the top-level
element, but I see that as a complement, not a replacement.  The problem with
"canonical namespace URIs" that point to the most recent version of a spec is
that existing applications don't automatically rewrite themselves to fit the new
version of the spec.  An application needs to be able to detect quickly whether
a document uses a version of a schema that it can deal with.  If not, it then
needs to reject it, or pass it on to a different application, or get it
converted to a version that it can deal with.  It is (needlessly) harder to get
this to work properly if the one namespace URI applies to all versions of a
schema.

     Cheers,
          Tony.
========
Anthony B. Coates
Leader of XML Architecture & Design
Chief Technology Office
Reuters Plc, London.
tony.coates@reuters.com
========


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