[tei-council] policy tested (was "Re: [TEI-L] <measureGrp> and <text>")

[Syd Bauman]

> So on the face of it the obvious correction is to replace <rng:ref
> name="text"> with <rng:text> since that's what I intended: just as
> if I had written "txet" instead of "text".
> 
> However, there are at least three other and arguably better ways of 
> correcting this error:
> (a) one should be consistent with other uses of <rng:text> and  change 
>     the content model to reference macro.xtext
> (b) one should be consistent with other uses of the element name suffix 
>     "Grp" and disallow "text" completely
> (c) one should rename the element to something else and ... macro.xtext
> 
> Given such shifting sands (and I haven't even started on the question of 
> whether the attribute classes are right) I think the "treat it as a 
> typo" solution is probably the safest course, even though it does break 
> the letter of the Birnbaum law about not making changes in the schema.

First, I think Lou's analysis is essentially correct. Second, I think
his conclusion ("treat it as a typo" fix, rather than the better
solutions (b) or (c), is best) is the right procedure to follow. The
reason I included the footnote on the last post was to make it clear
that I think (b) or (c) would be the best solution in a world where
we hadn't already published P5 -- i.e., those solutions result in
better encoding. Doesn't mean I think we should do that now.

However, I have one observation and one consideration. My observation
is that this change does not, prima facie, violate the principles
outlined in TC W 09. "... authorized to break backward compatibility
when Council concludes that the advantages of doing so outweigh the
disadvantages."

The issue that I think needs to be considered is whether 'text' or
'macro.xtext' (i.e. (a)) is the right thing to do, here. My (slightly
convoluted, perhaps) logic in favor of (a) is that if Lou had
correctly entered "<rng:text>" instead of the typo, I or someone else
would have come along at a later stage and corrected it to "<rng:ref
name='macro.xtext'>". (Going through all the specifications and
changing 'text' to 'macro.xtext' where appropriate was in fact a task
at one point. I don't remember which came first, <measureGrp> or the
xtext task, but that's not the issue.)