Clarification of conref and cascading attributes

[Robert D Anderson <robander@us.ibm.com>]

I'm trying to clarify the proper way to evaluate a conref when the target
of a conref may be subject to inherited attributes. Relevant specification
sections are the topic on how attributes cascade in a map [1] (specifically
the section Rules for cascading in the map), and the topic on conref [2].

Question 1:
Assume I have this map (showing only relevant attributes):
<map>
  <topicref conref="#sample"/>
  <topicref audience="all" translate="no" linking="none">
    <topicref id="sample"/>
  </topicref>
  <topicref conref="#sample"/>
</map>

Based on [1], @conref must be evaluated before attributes are inherited.
So, I believe that the resolved conref will not pull in the @audience /
@translate / @linking values, because conref is evaluated before we try to
inherit any attributes. The conref rules on pulling attributes from a
target ([2]) also refer only to "specified" attributes (not cascaded), with
an exception carved out for @xml:lang.

Question 2:
The conref at the end must be evaluated the same way, correct? Because if
we went strictly in document order, you could say that the first one is
evaluated, then id="sample" is evaluated (attributes cascaded), then the
last is evaluated based on the fully-resolved target. I think any solution
that gives different results for the 2 conref's is illogical / wrong / evil
-- just wanted to clarify that whatever the results, they will match.

Question 3:
The specification really only talks about cascading in maps, but I believe
the same rules should apply in topics. That is, we should not have one rule
for how @audience cascades in maps, and a different rule for how it
cascades in topics. Specifically, this means the attribute cascade should
work the same in the first sample as in the following sample.
<p conref="#topic/p"/>
<section audience="all" translate="no">
  <p id="p">sample</p>
</section>
<p conref="#topic/p"/>

Thanks -

[1]
http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.2/os/spec/archSpec/cascading-in-a-ditamap.html
[2] http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.2/os/spec/archSpec/conref.html

Robert D Anderson
IBM Authoring Tools Development
Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit (http://dita-ot.sourceforge.net/)