Fwd: [office] OpenDocument v1.1/v1.2 compatibility

[Bruce D'Arcus <bruce.darcus@OpenDocument.us>]

Since we're going to discuss this Monday, do we have any position on it?

My question was prompted by the question of what to do with the 
existing metadata support. My proposed RDF profile schema is very close 
to the existing metadata support, but does have some differences (some 
of which could be further smoothed, some not). I guess our choice will 
be whether to store enhanced metadata in a separate file, or a single, 
where the latter introduces some minor compatibility issues.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Michael Brauer <Michael.Brauer@Sun.COM>
> Date: October 26, 2006 8:14:28 AM EDT
> To: OpenDocument <office@lists.oasis-open.org>
> Subject: [office] OpenDocument v1.1/v1.2 compatibility
>
> Dear TC members,
>
> in the last work call I have been asked to clarify my proposal 
> regarding the compatibility between OpenDocument 1.1 and 1.2. The 
> general intention is that we keep the impact of a transition from 
> OpenDocument 1.1 to 1.2 for implementors and users as small as 
> possible, while we at the same time restrict the set of enhancements 
> we make from 1.1 to 1.2 also as little as possible.
>
> Based on the existing OpenDocument conformance definition, I propose 
> that we use the following formal rules regarding the compatibility 
> between OpenDocument v1.0 and v1.1:
>
> Documents that conform to the the OpenDocument v1.1 specification 
> shall also conform to the OpenDocument v1.2 specification. Vice versa, 
> documents that conform to the OpenDocument v1.2 specification shall 
> also conform to the OpenDocument v1.1 specification, if they don't use 
> any of the OpenDocument v1.2 features that are not contained in 
> OpenDocument v1.1.
>
> Exceptions from this general rules are possible, if, and only if, this 
> is considered to be of great advantage for users of the OpenDocument 
> specification, and conforming implementations.
>
>
> Based on OpenDocument implementations, I propose the following:
>
> OpenDocument v1.2 implementations shall be able to process 
> OpenDocument v1.1 documents without requiring additional 
> implementations for that purpose. Vice versa, OpenDocument v1.1 
> implementations shall be able to process OpenDocument v1.2 documents 
> without requiring additional implementations for that purpose, if the 
> documents contains none of the OpenDocument v1.2 features that are not 
> contained in OpenDocument v1.1.
>
> Exceptions from this general rules are possible, if, and only if, this 
> is considered to be of great advantage for users of the OpenDocument 
> specification, and conforming implementations.
>
> From the proposals we have for OpenDocument v1.2 right now, I believe 
> that the formulas are a feature that requires and justifies an 
> exception. For other proposal I think we should tend to except them if 
> they do not require an exception from the above general rules, and we 
> should carefully weight the pros and cons for those that require an 
> exception.
>
>
> Best regards
>
> Michael
>
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