DocBook architecture: HTML Forms, HTML Tables, EBNF and MathML

["Christian Roth" <roth@infinity-loop.de>]

Hello,

this is mostly a message asking for confirmation of my understanding of
the DocBook DTD architecture:

1. There's the basic DocBook DTD, in several versions.

2. The basic DocBook DTD has the ability to be easily configured to
include HTML Tables alongside CALS tables just by (re-)defining some pre-
defined entities.

3. The basic DocBook DTD has *not* the ability to be easily configured to
include anyone of: HTML Forms, EBNF and MathML.

4. It is not possible to have two or more modules of HTML Forms, EBNF and
MathML at the same time in a DocBook document in an interoperable
fashion, as for each of these, the PUBLIC identifier is different
(namely: "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook HTML Forms Module V1.2b1//EN", "-//OASIS/
/DTD DocBook EBNF Module V1.2b1//EN" and "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook MathML
Module V1.1b1//EN" resp.).

5. It is not possible to use one of those modules with arbitrary versions
of the basic DocBook DTD, since the various versions are hard-linked to
specific versions of the basic DocBook DTD (and only one version of each
is actually a definite release; the others are betas or CRs).

If my understanding is correct, how should a general-purpose tool
generate conforming DocBook output that in one single document may
combine all modules of above, specifically: HTML Forms, MathML and HTML
Forms - preferably in DocBook 4.3 or (better yet due to HTML table
nesting) DocBook 4.4?

How should/must the DOCTYPE declaration be formed for such a document so
that it can be inter-operably be used on different DocBook processing
systems (and will be accepted e.g. by the DocBook XSLs)?

Best regards
Christian Roth