[XML-SIG] Using PyExpat.py

Uche Ogbuji uche.ogbuji@fourthought.com
Mon, 19 Feb 2001 16:43:24 -0700


> This discussion highlights  why I've said several times that you should use
> file:/// if you mean a file on your local machine.

Agreed.  That's why I was saying I sometimes had a mind to banish regular file 
names.  People can always use "file:" if they need to.  Sometimes I think the 
extra typing is worth the minimized confusion.

> I've used a few
> commandline tools where you actually had to write that (I forget which ones).
> I was annoyed at first, but soon got used to it.

That was another point I was trying to make: PyXML is hardly unique in this.  
URI is the native form for most compliant XML processors.

> As soon as you do insist on
> using file:///, distinctions about local files go away, and it becomes the
> responsibility of the url handler code to figure out where to go to get that
> particular resource.  Also, you can get files on network file systems with no
> extra work, as in file://yourcomputer/...

Yes.

> It's a convenience to let the code try to figure it out from a bare filename.
> But all that code should do is to translate a bare absolute local file
> reference to the file:/// scheme, then hand it off.

Agreed.  I still think the algorithm you posted, and your follow-up, make most 
sense.

It's just a matter of implementing it.


-- 
Uche Ogbuji                               Principal Consultant
uche.ogbuji@fourthought.com               +1 303 583 9900 x 101
Fourthought, Inc.                         http://Fourthought.com 
4735 East Walnut St, Ste. C, Boulder, CO 80301-2537, USA
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