On Friday, 01/19/2007 at 05:58 GMT, Mark Goodhand <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Where is the "absolute URI reference" requirement? Is it an XML > Namespaces constraint or a Schema constraint?
XML Namespaces errata, after an extended and very painful debate over how namespaces should be tested for identity and what possible semantics a relative namespace could have. (Long story, but absolute URI reference compared as literal string was in fact the original intent of the Namespace spec's authors and the alternatives all turn out to have ugly fuzziness associated with them. Tim B-L did insist that support for relative namespace names be "deprecated" rather than 100% forbidden, as he hoped that eventually the Semantic Web folks will find a way to do something meaningful with them. Having been involved in the discussion I think he was overoptimistic. But in any case, until and unless the deprecation is lifted, relative namespace names are officially not namespace-well-formed, and any malfunctions that they cause now or in the future are Entirely Your Own Fault. It will hurt when you do that -- maybe not immediately, but it will. Don't do that.
