xmlhack: XML Infoset becomes W3C Recommendation

The W3C has published XML Information Set as a recommendation, providing "a set of definitions for use in other specifications that need to refer to the information in an XML document."

The XML Infoset doesn't define any new processing or any new vocabularies. It only defines a list of parts for XML documents and provides a system by which developers using XML can describe which parts of XML they work with. Well-formed XML documents conforming to "Namespaces in XML 1.0" have an information set, regardless of whether they are valid. XML documents which are not well-formed or not conforming to "Namespaces in XML 1.0" are considered to have no information set.

"An XML document's information set consists of a number of information items; the information set for any well-formed XML document will contain at least a document information item and several others. An information item is an abstract description of some part of an XML document: each information item has a set of associated named properties."

The Infoset is also a common topic of discussion in W3C XML Schema circles, where the Post-Schema Validation Infoset (PSVI) provides additional information beyond that defined in this document.