Re: [PATCHES] xml2 contrib patch supporting default XML namespaces

On 3/22/07, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
> Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> writes:
> > Peter Eisentraut wrote:
> >> I was hoping that we're deprecating contrib/xml2, so I wouldn't add more
> >> features to it.
>
> > Author states:
>
> >> I understand that XML support is planned and at least partially
> >> implemented for 8.3, but many production instances will be unable (or,
> >> in fact, unwilling) to upgrade to 8.3 for quite some time.  Because
> >> this patch is completely backward compatible it can (theoretically) be
> >> included in future 8.1 and 8.2 releases, and for those of us that need
> >> more full XML support in the short term the upgrade of a contrib
> >> module is probably a very viable option -- it is for me, anyway.
>
> Well, it's not going to be put in future 8.1 or 8.2 releases, so the
> above argument is not a reason to include it now.  What the author
> should do if he wants to offer a new feature for past release branches
> is to put up a project on pgfoundry.
>
>                         regards, tom lane
>

Hmm.. OK.  Well, thank you all for clarifying that.  I thought
(perhaps only hoped?) that the bar was lower for contrib than for core
as far as features go, but it seems that assumption is incorrect.
I'll look at starting a pgfoundry project soon.

A related question, however:  Will the XML features being included in
8.3 support namespace prefix registration?  If not, handling arbitrary
XML via XPath that includes unprefixed (default) namespaces (for me
that is the majority of the XML I deal with, and no, I can't change
that) will have exactly the same problems using the new mechanisms as
with the current xml2 contrib module.  I ask because, based on the
design emails I've seen on -hackers, nothing surrounding explicit
support for said issue jumped out at me.

Thanks again.

--
Mike Rylander
mrylander@gmail.com
GPLS -- PINES Development
Database Developer
http://open-ils.org