Re: [xml-dev] xml prefix

["Thomas B. Passin" <tpassin@comcast.net>]

[Simon St.Laurent]

> My second concern is with this case:
>
> <myDoc xmlns:foo="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace";
>        foo:base="http://example.com";
>        foo:space="preserve"
>        foo:lang="en"  />
>
> Does anyone know if that can be treated as equivalent to:
>
> <myDoc
>        xml:base="http://example.com";
>        xml:space="preserve"
>        xml:lang="en"  />
>
> The 'foo' version is definitely not specified, but I see no prohibitions
> on this form in:
> http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names/
> http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlbase-20010627/
> http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xml-20001006
>

I think the xml:base Rec is fairly clear, actually -

"The attribute xml:base may be inserted in XML documents to specify a base
URI other than the base URI of the document or external entity"

Nowhere does it say that the xml:base is an arbitrary prefix bound to its
corresponding namespace by means of a namespace declaration.  On the
contrary, it says that specifically the "xml" prefix is the one that is
bound to http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace  (so it is bound __by
definition__, not be declaration).

Neither does the Rec say that any other prefix can be used to mean the same
thing.

I read this to mean that only the exact string "xml:base" must have the
desired magic properties, and that "xml" does not have to be declared at all
as a namespace prefix.

Will some processor interpret foo:base the same way if "foo" is bound to the
right namespace?  The Rec is silent on that.

Cheers,

Tom P

> On the other hand, the namespace errata state:
> "The xml namespace could work like any other, were it not that the
> xml:space and xml:lang attributes are required to use that prefix, but
> it was considered too confusing to allow anything more than declaring it
> normally." - http://www.w3.org/XML/xml-names-19990114-errata , NE05
>
> This feels like a stronger statement to me than anything in XML 1.0
> itself, and I'm not sure it applies to XML Base in any case.