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Re: [docbook] Ruminations on the future of DocBook


Jirka Kosek wrote:

> Tobias Reif wrote:
>
>> I mean that no feature of DocBook should rely on any feature from any
>> specific schema lang, and that no single specific schema lang should
>> be normatively referenced in any DocBook spec.
>
> Relax NG is only tool which can be used to formally and precisely
> describe syntax of DocBookNG.

Yes.

> Of course you can describe document type and all its content models in
> prose, in human readable text. But this will be very verbose and very
> hard to use description.

I think you misunderstood me. Sure there must be at least one normative schema in addition to the human lang spec. The XHTML 2 working group for example plans to supply the schema in three versions, DTD, RNG, WXS (XSD), all of them will be normative (AFAIK).

> As Relax NG doesn't have features like attribute defaulting its usage
> has no sideeffects

I know, that's one of it's design goals.
(I was talking about general aspects, not just RNG.)

> and you don't need process RelaxNG grammar in order
> to process DocBook

Yes, that is actually one symptom of my suggested goal.

> (however this is not true for DTD).

And it could be false for yet another schema language. Any such dependence should be avoided.

> But there
> definitively should be formal description of DocBookNG grammar, this
> formal description should be normative

Yes.

> and Relax NG is the most
> suitable tool for this task at these days.

It will satisfy most of the requirements, yes.
(Note that Norm lists one shortcoming:
http://norman.walsh.name/2003/05/21/docbook
"A future version of RELAX NG might give us back our exclusions.")

None of your points contradicts anything I said.

Let me repeat: IMHO, no feature of DocBook should rely on any feature from any specific schema lang, and no single specific schema lang should be normatively referenced in any DocBook spec [added for clarification:] as required for a conforming implementation.

> P.S. I notices that I'm using DocBookNG instead Norm's DocBook V.next
> label. But I mean the same.

I also thought that "DocBook NG" would be a good name, but what will the next version set (major backwards-incompatible refactoring) after that be called then?

Tobi

--
http://www.pinkjuice.com/


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