

Re: re ERB discussion of public identifiers

From: Peter Flynn <pflynn@curia.ucc.ie>
Date: 15 Dec 1996 20:37:51 +0000 (GMT)
To: w3c-sgml-wg@w3.org
Message-id: <199612152037.UAA25318@curia.ucc.ie>
Terry Allen writes:

   And I meant to reply to your point, but forgot.  

    - why is order significant to correct resolution?

Not so much the order, as bothering to see if the other reference is
given. The problem arises when you carefully provide a SYSTEM
identifier so that if the user's host cannot provide PUBLIC
resolution, the SYSTEM one can be used...and the app just looks at the
PUBLIC one, says "I can't do this" and gives up, never looking to see
if there was a SYSTEM identifier that might be usable. [And by the
same token, apps which grab the SYSTEM identifier first, find it
doesn't work (or they can't make it work) and then don't bother trying
the carefully-provided PUBLIC identifier.]

    - why does the XML spec need to specify the order rather than
       the user's configuration file?

If the user has a config file that specifies it, sure, use it, no problem.

    - why shouldn't the user have the option of trying both, and
       doing something further if the two results don't match?

They should. But it may be the app that won't let them do this.

Received on Sunday, 15 December 1996 15:40:43 EST
