[Dev] Proposal: simplify parcel XML namespaces

[Phillip J. Eby]

At 06:07 PM 6/24/2005 -0700, Katie Capps Parlante wrote:
>Parcel xml is only a local file format, read only by the parcel loader. 
>Any pretentions to other uses have fallen by the wayside. :) The 
>"http://osafoundation.org/parcels" part of the namespace is currently just 
>there to satisfy the parser, and creates more confusion. It is not used to 
>uniquely identify anything.

In addition, Brendan's comments also highlight the fact that people 
unfamiliar with XML namespace conventions are likely to want to go to the 
http: URLs, looking for documentation or something like that.  A "parcel:" 
specifier looks like what it is: a reference to another parcel.  It won't 
lead people down a blind alley.


>The python package (and repository path, which is basically the same) 
>uniquely identifies the parcel, and should be sufficient for 3rd parties. 
>This is why we created the "osaf" package under "chandler/parcels".
>
>+1 to the proposal (or a similar variant) if we can make it work with the 
>parser.

It works fine with the parser in my current checkout.  (Note: I don't have 
a complete implementation of the feature yet, I just told the parcel 
manager to create 'parcel:' URI aliases for all parcels in its internal 
cache, and changed some URIs in parcel.xml files to see if they would still 
work.)