Proposed change to W3C XML Schema for XML namespace

[ht@inf.ed.ac.uk (Henry S. Thompson)]

The W3C's XML Core WG is considering a change to the W3C XML Schema
for the http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace namespace (i.e. the xml:
namespace).  The current schema document is available at
http://www.w3.org/2001/xml.xsd.

Currently, that schema says that the default value of xml:space is
"preserve".  This is inconsistent with the description of xml:space in
Section 2.10 of the XML 1.0 and XML 1.1 Recommendations, which say:

	The root element of any document is considered to have
	signaled no intentions as regards application space
	handling, unless it provides a value for this attribute
	or the attribute is declared with a default value.

In particular, XSLT behaves differently when xml:space is present in a
document with the value "preserve" (either explicitly or by inheritance
from a schema), and WXS-aware implementations of XSLT are now becoming
available.  Forcing xml:space to be in effect present with a value of
"preserve", except where explicitly specified otherwise, would break
existing expectations.

Therefore, the XML Core WG propose to remove the default value
of xml:space from the XML Schema.

Please send comments to xml-editor@w3.org, which is copied on this
message.

ht, for the XML Core WG
-- 
 Henry S. Thompson, HCRC Language Technology Group, University of Edinburgh
                     Half-time member of W3C Team
    2 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LW, SCOTLAND -- (44) 131 650-4440
            Fax: (44) 131 650-4587, e-mail: ht@inf.ed.ac.uk
                   URL: http://www.ltg.ed.ac.uk/~ht/
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