13094 [was: OASIS DITA TC Minutes 1 Nov 2011 uploaded]

["Grosso, Paul" <pgrosso@ptc.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: dita@lists.oasis-open.org [mailto:dita@lists.oasis-open.org] On
> Behalf Of Nancy Harrison
> Sent: Monday, 2011 November 14 15:21
> To: dita@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: [dita] Groups - OASIS DITA TC Minutes 1 Nov 2011 uploaded
> 
> Document Name: OASIS DITA TC Minutes 1 Nov 2011

> 
> Minutes of the OASIS DITA TC
> Tuesday, 1 Nov 2011
> Recorded by Nancy Harrison
> 
> Quorum was present
> Regrets:  Eliot, Paul


> 13094 - Update the DITA XML Schema design pattern
> This is based on conversations between Eric Sirois and JJ Thomasson
> during the DITA 1.2 time frame. Eric was asked to get the DITA schemas
> (.xsd files) set up so that such that each .xsd would be a validatable
> atomic unit; currently there's a lot of  interdependency. so that it's
> hard to convert a schema to Java objects, in order to make it more
> consumable by apps.   Eric and JJ have worked out some possibiities,
> Eric will send these to list. Setting up the design patterns this way
> would require a lot more files in play, a lot mre components. i.e.
> simple components in one file, complex components in others.  Before
> going forward, they want to have other eyes to examine the proposal; if
> we go forward, it's a major rewrite on the XSD side. It would probably
> affect tools vendors, as well as Jarno's DTD specialization generator.
> The TC needs to decide whether it's something we should do, and if so,
> whether it should be done as a 1.3 or 2.0 item.

No only tool vendors, but all the customers that have started with 
the XSDs and customized/specialized them.  And, if I understand 
it correctly, the change isn't to help anyone using DITA doctypes
in the usual manner, it's to help someone who wants to convert
DITA XSDs to Java objects, which I don't remember being a user
requirement for DITA 1.*.

> Don suggested that the item may be to provide a study of design
> patterns rather than merely a proposal for new one.
> He recommended to defer this for a couple of weeks so interested
> parties can
> Eric noted that it's currently very easy to convert the DITA DTD to
> XSD, so output that comes out is fairly consistent. With new design
> patterns, that would no longer be true; we'd need brand new tools built
> from scratch. Eric will ask JJ if he's willing to talk to TC about what
> he's trying to get.
> Eric committed to post the proposal by COB on 1 Nov. (today) to give
> folks time to look at it.  Any tool vendor or schema designer who plans
> to work with DITA schemas need to see it, and it will take a fair
> amount of effort to evaluate.
> In order to give all interested parties a chance to investigate the
> current state of work, this is deferred to the first TC mtg in Dec., on
> 6 Dec.

As suggested above, this isn't something I've had time to evaluate,
and I'm not sure when/if I will, but I'm not sure I could vote for
having such a change in 1.3.  It would be like an incompatible change 
in that it could invalidate user's 1.2 implementations, so perhaps it 
would be better to hold this off until 2.0.

paul