[XML-SIG] Anonymous CVS access, and current status

[Andrew M. Kuchling]

Anonymous CVS access to the source tree of the Python/XML package is
now available.  A page with instructions is at
	http://www.python.org/sigs/xml-sig/anon-cvs.html 

Briefly: 
Run the following command to log in (the password is "xmlcvs"):

	cvs -d :pserver:xmlcvs@cvs.python.org:/projects/cvsroot login

To check out the source tree, run:

	cvs -z3 -d :pserver:xmlcvs@cvs.python.org:/projects/cvsroot co xml

That will place everything in a subdirectory named "xml".  To update
the code, run:

	cvs -z3 update -d -P

Comments on all aspects of the package are welcomed.  To propagate
changes back into the source tree, post patches or suggestions on the
SIG mailing list, send them to me privately, or, if you're maintaining
a module, just release a new version and announce it.  

	Other notes on the current status of things:

	* The CVS tree now also contains version 0.11 of Geir Ove
Grønmo's xmlarch module.  It would be imported as "from xml.arch
import xmlarch".  Geir, I've also taken the sample code from your
xmlarch Web page and added it to the XML HOWTO.  Reference
documentation for the classes in xmlarch still has to be written,
though.

	* The demo/ directory has been reorganized, with everything
being split up into separate subdirectories instead of being all
dumped in the same place.  The most interesting new demo is the XBEL
code, in demo/xbel/; this is mostly as it was posted by various
people, and hacked around by me a bit, to make the {msie,ns,adr}_parse
modules read the bookmark file and dump it as XBEL.  xbel_parse.py can
then read an XBEL file and dump it in various formats.  Everything
will need to be updated to use the final DTD.  

	* The critical area, to my eyes, is still the DOM
implementation; I'm partway through an attempt at matching the
Proposed Recommendation, but the code doesn't even run yet, much less
function properly. 

	* Better-placed people in the XML community, please correct me
on this: besides DOM, I don't see any XML-related technologies or
standards that will be finalized any time soon.  The first public XSL
working draft just got released, and there are various XML-Data/DCD,
XSchema, and other things being worked on, but none of those things
will be finished within the next 6 months or so.  Is my perception
correct?

	Therefore, I draw the conclusion that, once the DOM
implementation is updated, there's nothing very significant left to
implement for 1.0 of the Python package, so we need only document
things, have some nice sample code, and then we're done with XML
proper for a while.  Wide string support will remain as a problem, but
that's a String-SIG problem.  That's pretty much the same conclusion
as in my last status update.

-- 
A.M. Kuchling			http://starship.skyport.net/crew/amk/
Not all readers are prepared, at all times, to make independent judgments. But
the failure of modern education to equip them to do so even when they have the
inclination creates a serious gap in modern culture.
    -- Robertson Davies, _A Voice from the Attic_