[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: text/xml vs. application/xml
MURATA Makoto writes: > >1) Are you certain that ignoring the encoding declaration is > > conforming behaviour? > > Yes, I am certain that ignoring the encoding declaration for text/xml > is conforming behaviour. This is to allow transcoding. Thank you again for your posting and for your work on the MIME types. I do not have access to any clarifications that may have been posted in the SIG, so I necessarily rely only on the text of the PR. The following appears in the (normative) section 4.3.3, "Character Encoding in Entities": It is an 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 encoding declaration to occur other than at the beginning of an external entity. On the other hand, the following appears in appendix F, "Autodetection of Character Encodings (Non-Normative)": The second possible case occurs when the XML entity is accompanied by encoding information, as in some file systems and some network protocols. When multiple sources of information are available, their relative priority and the preferred method of handling conflict should be specified as part of the higher-level protocol used to deliver XML. Rules for the relative priority of the internal label and the MIME-type label in an external header, for example, should be part of the RFC document defining the text/xml and application/xml MIME types. If "internal label" means the encoding declaration, then this note supports your statement; unfortunately, the note is non-normative, while the excerpt that I quoted first is normative, so the first must take precedence (unless I've missed something elsewhere in the PR). If the paragraph in the non-normative appendix expresses the WG's true intention, then the PR will need to be revised to support it. I think, however, that it would be unfortunate if the charset parameter were used. Consider, for example, the following document, encoded in ASCII (despite the incorrect claim in the encoding declaration): <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-10646-UCS-2"?> <doc>This is a sample XML document.</doc> Let's say, now, that I place this document in a directory that is accessible through both HTTP and anonymous FTP, and also put a copy on my local machine. Here's what will happen: 1) java EventDemo http://www.myhost.org/texts/sample.xml ==> receives charset="ISO-8859-1" as the default, ignores the encoding declaration, produces correct output (accidentally), and reports no error. 2) java EventDemo ftp://ftp.myhost.org/pub/texts/sample.xml ==> reads the encoding declaration, realises that the document is _not_ in UCS-2, and reports an error (or worse, puts out garbage without reporting an error). 3) java EventDemo sample.xml ==> same as (2). It is counter-intuitive that well-formedness depends on the transmission protocol. > Rick Jelliffe proposed that only application/xml should be used in the > XML SIG. I will follow the consensus in the XML SIG or WG. Please feel free to repost this message to the SIG, if you think that it will be helpful there. I strongly support Rick's suggestion for application/xml, partly because it will avoid the requirement to make several last-minute changes to the PR, and partly because it will save XML from being trapped by some of the same constraints as HTML. If typical (private) users cannot post XML documents in their web space in languages other than English, then the whole effort will be at least a partial failure. All the best, David -- David Megginson ak117@f... Microstar Software Ltd. dmeggins@m... http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/dmeggins/ xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; (un)subscribe xml-dev To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; subscribe xml-dev-digest List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)
|
PURCHASE STYLUS STUDIO ONLINE TODAY!Purchasing Stylus Studio from our online shop is Easy, Secure and Value Priced! Download The World's Best XML IDE!Accelerate XML development with our award-winning XML IDE - Download a free trial today! Subscribe in XML format
|