On Thu, 16 Mar 2000, Martin J. Duerst wrote:
RFC 2396 currently even strongly recommends it, so changing that
to disallowing it doesn't work so easily.
I personally don't like having a charset parameter on application/xml.
But if people want it, then the issue becomes "how can we have
a charset parameter and still maintain the end-to-end, inband
encoding signalling which is the reason for application/xml to
exist?"
That is why I think if the charset parameter and the encoding
attribute disagree in an application/xml document, it is an
error. And, if we accept that step, it means there is less
reason for the end-to-end/inbanders to be concerned if the
charset parameter is allowed or even made mandatory.
The worst thing would be to make the charset parameter required
and superior to the encoding attribute. I agree with Chris
there.
Rick Jelliffe