W3C XML Information Set Errata

Version $Id: xml-infoset-errata.html,v 1.12 2006/06/28 13:25:13 ht Exp $


This document lists known errors in the W3C XML Information Set Recommendation, as of 31 October 2003.

Errata E01-E03 have been incorporated in the second edition.


E01: Typographical error in section 2.4

In section 2.4, point 5 [parent], change "document type definition information item" to "document type declaration information item".

E02: Inconsistencies resulting from invalidity

In section 1, add a sub-section:

Inconsistencies Resulting from Invalidity

As noted above, an XML document need not be valid to have an information set. However, certain kinds of invalidity affect the values assigned to some properties. Entities, notations, elements and attributes may be undeclared. Notations and elements may be multiply declared (multiple declarations are valid for entities and attributes). An ID may be undefined or multiply defined. Such cases are noted where relevant in the Information Item definitions below.

In section 2.1, point 3 [notations], add a sentence "If any notation is multiply declared, this property has no value".

In section 2.3, point 6 [attribute type], add a sentence "The value of this property is not affected by the validity of the attribute value".

In section 2.3, point 7 [attribute type], add "or if the type is NOTATION and there are multiple declarations for the notation," before "then this property has no value".

In section 2.4, point 4 [notation], add "or there are multiple declarations," before "this property has no value".

In section 2.6, point 2 [element content whitespace], add "or there are multiple declarations," before "this property has no value for white space characters".

In section 2.9, point 6 [notation], add "or there are multiple declarations," before "this property has no value".

E03: XML 1.1 and Namespaces 1.1

These changes update the Infoset to cover XML 1.1 and Namespaces 1.1

In section 1, add a sub-section:

XML Versions

Different versions of the XML specification may specify different parsing rules. The information set of an XML document is defined to be the one obtained by parsing it according to the rules of the specification whose version corresponds to that of the document. A document which does not specify a version number is considered to have version 1.0. If an XML processor accepts a document with a version number that it does not understand, it will not necessarily be able to produce the correct information set.

In section 2.2, point 6 [namespace attributes], replace the sentence beginning "A declaration of the form ..." with:

Declarations of the form xmlns="" and xmlns:name="", which undeclare the default namespace and prefixes respectively, count as namespace declarations. Prefix undeclaration was added in Namespaces in XML 1.1.

In section 2.2, point 7 [in-scope namespaces], replace the sentence beginning "The set will include ..." with:

The set will include namespace items corresponding to all of the members of [namespace attributes], except for any representing declarations of the form xmlns="" or xmlns:name="", which do not declare a namespace but rather undeclare the default namespace and prefixes.

Replace "XML 1.0" with "XML" where specific reference to that version is not intended: in the first line of the Namespaces sub-section of section 1, in section 2.6 point 2 [element content whitespace], and throughout appendix B.

Add references to the 1.1 specifications.