Proposed resolution to SOAP 1.2 Rec Issue #15

Proposed resolution to SOAP 1.2 Rec Issue #15
(http://www.w3.org/2000/xp/Group/xmlp-rec-issues.html#x15), for
consideration by the XMLP WG.

I support the submitter proposed change to the import declaration 
in the SOAP envelope schema [1] from: 

<xs:import namespace="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace">

to:

<xs:import namespace="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace"
    schemaLocation="http://www.w3.org/2001/xml.xsd">

Rationale:

To provide for the xml:lang attribute for faultstring, the SOAP 
envelope schema [1] was amended to import the namespace 
http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace according to this proposal [2]. 
However, the import declaration does not define the optional 
schemaLocation attribute that supplies a validating parser a mechanism 
to reference the schema that defines this imported namespace. The 
processing behavior for the xml:lang attributed element (faultstring) 
should conform to 'lax' processing semantics and thus should validate 
iff an element declaration is provided. 

As a schema layman, it seems that validating parsers should have special 
knowledge of this namespace which defines some core xml attributes: 
xml:base, xml:lang, and xml:space. However, for maximal generality and 
tool interoperability, it seems that the SOAP envelope should support 
this schemaLocation hint. However, I would like to hear the counterpoint 
from those more schema experienced before closing this issue.

Regards,
Mike Mahan
Nokia


[1] http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope/
[2] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/xml-dist-app/2002Apr/0152.html