Errata of the Exclusive Canonicalization Version 1.0 Specification

About the Exclusive Canonicalization Specification

The Exclusive Canonicalization Recommendation has been produced by the IETF/W3C XML Signature Working Group.

This document lists the known errata to the Exclusive Canonicalization specification. Each entry has the following information:

• A unique entry number.
• The date it was added to the errata page.
• Whether the entry is considered:
  • an Error that affects the conformance and/or interoperability of syntax and processing,
  • an Editorial error, such as a typographical mistake,
  • a structural defect in the Document, such as an incorrect fragment identifier,
  • a Clarification with respect to a misstatement or misinterpretation of the specification,
  • a Caveat where subsequent experience has shown that a recommendation of the specification was incorrect or needs further qualification.
• The version and section referred to.
• A description of the problem and correction if applicable.

Please report errors in this document to the editor and cc: the public email list w3c-ietf-xmldsig@w3.org (public archive).

Exclusive XML Canonicalization Version 1.0

E01 2002-10-03 (Editorial)

In section 2.2 General Problems with re-Enveloping, two examples have an incorrect attribute value for the xml:space attribute. xml:space="retain" should be xml:space="preserve".

E02 2002-10-03; updated 2009-08-04 (Error)

In section 4 Use in XML Security, the data type of the PrefixList attribute value is specified as NMTOKENS in both the DTD and Schema. This does not permit "non-zero-length sequences," or the occurrence of the '#default' token in the attribute value because of the "#" character. Consequently, the The type of this attribute value should be CDATA in a DTD and/or list of xsd:string in a XML Schema.

See also: corrected schema document; corrected DTD

E03 2003-07-01 (Editorial)

In section 1.1 Terminology, the term "visible" should be replaced with the term "visibly utilized" yielding "... namespace nodes that are not on theInclusiveNamespaces PrefixList are expressed only in start tags where they are visibly utilized and if they are not in effect from an output ancestor of that tag." A similar replacement in section 1.3 Limitations yields, "... the XML must be modified so that use of the namespace prefix involved is visibly utilized, or ..."

E04 2003-07-02 (Editorial)

In section 3. Specification of Exclusive XML Canonicalization, rule 3 needs to be read to include non-empty default namespace declarations, consequently it should read as,

3. A namespace node N with a prefix that does not appear in InclusiveNamespaces PrefixList (including non-empty default namespaces with a "null" prefix) is rendered if all of the conditions are met:

E05 2006-08-08 (Editorial)

In section 3.1 Constrained Implementation (non-normative), the numbering of bullet points is incorrect.

E06 2006-08-08 (Editorial)

In section 5.1 Target Context, the examples should read <Bar><Foo/></Bar> instead of <Bar/><Foo/></Bar>, and <Baz xmlns="..."><Foo/></Baz> instead of <Baz xmlns="..."/><Foo/></Baz>.

E07 2009-08-04 (Clarification)

In section 1.1, the definition of "visibly utilizes" is imprecise in the discussion of which attribute nodes are used in the determination of prefix utilization on an element.

The definition should read:

"An element E in a document subset visibly utilizes a namespace declaration, i.e. a namespace prefix P and bound value V, if E or an attribute node in the document subset that is also in E's attribute axis has a qualified name in which P is the namespace prefix. A similar definition applies for an element E in a document subset that visibly utilizes the default namespace declaration, which occurs if E has no namespace prefix."

E08 2010-12-15 (Clarification)

In section 3. Specification of Exclusive XML Canonicalization, rule 2 needs to be read to require ignoring prefixes that are never encountered during the processing of the node set, rather than treating them as errors or attempting to output them in some way. It should read:

The Exclusive XML Canonicalization method may receive an additional, possibly null, parameter InclusiveNamespaces PrefixList containing a list of namespace prefixes and/or a token indicating the presence of the default namespace. All namespace nodes whose prefixes appear on this list are handled as provided in Canonical XML [XML-C14N]. If prefixes appear on this list but are not encountered in the course of processing the node set, they are ignored.