[dsdl-discuss] Re: Is SGML in scope for DSDL?

When "G. Ken Holman" <gkholman@CraneSoftwrights.com> wrote

> I think this means that SGML is out of scope, other than to say we are
> limiting ourselves to that application profile of SGML that is XML.

Rick responded

>I support
 1) DSDL languages be formally defined using the XML 1.n profile only
 2) DSDL schemas may also be marked up using some other SGML, but that is
  on the user's head (and to allow us to upgrade to future versions of XML
without pain)
 3) DSDL functions should operate on properties that could be in the XML
infoset only
   ignoring others that an SGML ESIS may have
 4) DSDL validation may take place on any parsed SGML documents
 5) We should be careful to use XML 1.n when the specific restriction to XML
1.n is
   required but SGML otherwise.

I (Martin) have the following points to make on the above:

a) We are required by our charter from SC34 to come up with a mechanism that
will allow the validation of SGML documents as well as XML documents
b) Restricting ourself to XML 1.n features is not feasible as we have
already identitifed features DSDL needs that XML 1.n will not define. In
addition, we will need to be able to conform to XML 2.n, 3.n, etc, so
writing a restriction to conform to XML 1.n into the spec will be a serious
inhibition to the long term use of DSDL
c) Restricting ourselves to the XML Infoset is also irrational when we are
going to provide information that is not currently included in the Infoset
(e.g. characters subset info). Certainly we should ensure that all of the
Infoset if covered, but to restrict ourselves to this minimalist approach is
just not acceptable
d) We have agreed that we need to be able to make the extensions such as
datatypes and cardinality available to those using DTDs in preference to
schemas (the vast majority of current users). If we extend DTDs then the
extensions should be designed to work with SGML DTDs as well as with the
subset of SGML DTDs adopted for XML 1.0

Martin Bryan

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