Re: [xml-dev] [Summary] Why is Encoding Metadata (e.g. encoding="UTF-8")

[David Carlisle <davidc@nag.co.uk>]

> If the BOM is missing and the encoding not specified, the encoding is 
> either UTF-16xx (I don't remember which one is the default :) ) or
> UTF-8

this is true of general text streams, but not of XML, which explictly
defines things such that if there is no encoding specified in external
headers or encoding declaration, and no BOM, then the encoding is to be
taken as utf8.

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml/#charencoding

> In the absence of information provided by an external transport
> protocol (e.g. HTTP or MIME), it is a fatal error for an entity
> including an encoding declaration to be presented to the XML processor
> in an encoding other than that named in the declaration, or for an
> entity which begins with neither a Byte Order Mark nor an encoding
> declaration to use an encoding other than UTF-8. 


David

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