"VariableReference for variable given out of context "

I'm using lotusxsl-j-2_0_0 and JDK 1.2.

When I use transformer.transform(), XSLT resolves my global variables fine.
But when I compile and run a StylesheetRoot, I get a slew of messages like:
VariableReference for variable given out of context or without definition!
Name=step

I eliminated forward references (I defined each variable before using it).
Didn't help.
I defined templates inline to avoid scope quirks.
Didn't help.

All my variables are top-level, plain-vanilla variables that work fine with
transform(), but not with ssr.process(xml, html);


The Java looks like:
import com.lotus.xsl.XSLProcessor;
import com.lotus.xsl.XSLTInputSource;
import com.lotus.xsl.XSLTResultTarget;
import com.lotus.xsl.StylesheetRoot;
...
XSLProcessor p = new XSLProcessor();
StylesheetRoot ssr = p.processStylesheet(xsl);
p.setStylesheet(ssr);
ssr.process(xml, html);



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