PUBLIC identifiers in XML?

Simon North (north@synopsys.com)
Thu, 26 Jun 1997 09:29:30 +0000

This is mostly likely a RTFM question, but the XML FAQ says:

"No public identifiers in entity and notation declarations"

While the XML-lang says (page 22 in the dead tree version or see
http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/WD-xml-lang#secA. for the
borrowed electrons version):

"No public identifiers in ENTITY, DOCTYPE, and NOTATION
declarations".

but at the same time, XML-lang explicitly includes PUBLIC in the
production rule (Section 4.3.2, page 18 or see
http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/WD-xml-lang#sec4.3.2) AND
has an example of an external entity declaration that *does* use a
public identifier.

I've also seen public identifiers used in DOCTYPE declarations for
XML, and I had understood that this was OK but should still be
supported by a SYSTEM identifier.

I had also heard/read somewhere that a resolution mechanism for
public identifiers was being worked on and that the restriction might
then go away.

Could someone please enlighten me on this?

Thanks.

Simon North - COSSAP Technical Writer, Synopsys
Synopsys GmbH, Kaiserstr. 100, 52134 Herzogenrath
Germany. +49 2407 955873 -- north@synopsys.com
Voice mail: +1 415 694 4141 55055