The W3C have published the first Working Draft of XInclude, a
mechanism for inclusion in XML documents.
XInclude started life last year as a W3C
Note published by the XML Linking working group. Since
then it has been taken on by the XML Core group and has now
been published as a Working Draft.
The XInclude syntax
contains one element, include, which is associated
with the namespace
http://www.w3.org/1999/XML/xinclude. The spec also
determines what XInclude
Conformance means, and thus what XML processors will
have to implement to support XInclude.
Of passing interest is the language used in the
(non-normative) examples,
where XML documents are referred to as "serializations of
the infoset". This may raise eyebrows in certain quarters,
who maintain that XML is the serialization. (On a
related note see "It's
the syntax..." from Walter Perry).
Paul Grosso, co-chair of the XML Core group, commented
that they plan to publish a last-call working draft in the
"relatively near future", and so comments ought to be
submitted soon.
Send comments to www-xml-include-comments@w3.org.
They will be archived on
the W3C web site.