Re: [xml-dev] My report on experiments with unused namespaces

["Pete Cordell" <petexmldev@codalogic.com>]

Original Message From: "David Carlisle"

> It is well formed. (and parsed as such by any xml parser I've tried).

But as said earlier, what does "(and parsed as such by any xml parser I've 
tried)." prove!

I do find that the paragraph about reserved names sits uncomfortably in the 
spec.  Maybe it should just be a note similar to that about colons in names, 
and rather than use the word "reserved" suggest to the reader that they 
might want to avoid such names.  But as it sits in the main body of the text 
and explicitly uses the word "reserved" I take it as a constraint on what a 
valid Name can be and therefore has impact on the well-formedness or 
otherwise of a document.

But I do concede that however it is written, the _intent_ may have been not 
to allow the reserved nature of names starting with "xml" to have any impact 
on the well-formedness of a document.

Even so, I think as a minimum they wanted write "please, please, please 
don't use non-W3C names starting with 'xml', but sadly we don't have the 
authority to stop you doing it in this spec."

At the end of the day though, I would say the pragmatic BCP approach is to 
not use names starting with xml other than those defined by W3C, and then 
only as intended.  But, as Michael Kay said, the W3C does not make laws, so 
you're free to do what you want.

Pete Cordell
Codalogic Ltd
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