[XML-SIG] Python 1.6 and XML

[Paul Prescod]

Did I miss a discussion of how much of saxlib we want to put
into Python 1.6 alpha 2, and under what packaging structure?

I think we all agree that "import pyexpat" is only marginally better
than "import xmllib" in terms of portability and longevity. I don't
think we have the option of waiting for SAX 2 so we either need to use
SAX 1 or a SAX 2 pre-release. We're no worse off here than the Java
people, or the Apache people, etc. Version control is a bitch...

We should be able to support SAX on PyExpat with no runtime cost because
SAX "handlers" map basically one-to-one to Expat handlers, I think. If
there are any that are slightly different then we can work out the
mapping in the pyexpat DLL instead of in Python code.

Although I would love to see something like EasySAX or "eventdom" in
Python core, right now it depends on PyXPath which depends on PyBison
and the whole thing is too large and too slow. We'll have to put that
off for Python 1.7.

If someone had the bandwidth then it *would* be nice for the PyExpat
module to have a mode where it generates DOM-ish Python objects. It's
not a lot of code or difficulty, it just needs a C programmer to step up
to the plate. If you choose to do so, let's discuss it here first
because I've thought about what properties are most vital for my
(Python-implemented) "minidom".

Opinions? Have I missed some discussion on this during my heads-down
phase?

-- 
 Paul Prescod  - ISOGEN Consulting Engineer speaking for himself
"I and my companions suffer from a disease of the heart that can only
be cured with gold", Hernan Cortes