Having said that, Xalan is normally pretty good at that kind of
optimisation. (Perhaps you're using an old version? Check which
version you're using with system-property('xsl:version').) Seeing a
slowdown after only three recursive calls sounds quite severe.
Here is a link to the xslt file
http://www10.brinkster.com/cpoppe/misc/MCTFbit.xsl
And a link to a sample xml file
http://www10.brinkster.com/cpoppe/misc/coastlittle.xml
I tested your files with Xalan 2.5.1 and the transformation works fine. I
think that, as Jeni suggested, you are using an older version, see [1] for
determining what version of Xalan you are using. Also see [2] for details
about how to override the Xalan packaged with the JDK 1.4.
[1] http://xml.apache.org/xalan-j/faq.html#faq-N1005D
[2] http://xml.apache.org/xalan-j/faq.html#faq-N100CC
Hope that helps,
George
-------------------------------------------------------
George Cristian Bina mailto:george(_at_)oxygenxml(_dot_)com
<oXygen/> XML Editor - http://www.oxygenxml.com/