"Non-Normative"

The term "non-normative" is used frequently in XML 1.0 and in related
specs. What a document means when it purports to be normative is clear to
me, but when a section is labled "non-normative", I know what it is not,
but not necessarily what it is.

Can someone offer paraphrase what the specs mean when they use this term?

// Gregory Murphy <>