[libxml-devel] Libxml directory structure

[Sean Chittenden]

>> But since you went ahead with swapping XML => LibXML, that probably
>> best anyway. I wonder about one thing though, is backward
>> compatibility best preserved with:
>>  XML = LibXML
>> or as you have it:
>>  module XML
>>    include LibXML
>>  end

Use an environment variable at require time and the module assigns.

# XX untested
if ['0','false','no','off',false,nil,'hell god damn "no!" me  
harder'].include? (ENV['RUBY_LIBXML_SHORT_PATH'].nil? ? true :  
ENV['RUBY_LIBXML_SHORT_PATH'].downcase])
   # Only LibXML class
else
   XML = LibXML
end

Then users can set the env variable and goto town however they want.

> FYI, I moved to XSLT to LibXSLT to be consistent.  Although when I  
> started using it, I found it to be a bit ugly.  Take a look:
>
>  # Create a new XSL Transform
>  stylesheet_doc = LibXML::Document.file('files/fuzface.xsl')
>  stylesheet     = LibXSLT::Stylesheet.new(stylesheet_doc)
>
>  # Transform a xml document
>  xml_doc = LibXML::Document.file('files/fuzface.xml')
>  result = stylesheet.apply(xml_doc)
>
>
> Notice how hard it becomes to distinguish the namespaces (LibXML and  
> LibXSLT).  Compare:
>
>  # Create a new XSL Transform
>  stylesheet_doc = XML::Document.file('files/fuzface.xsl')
>  stylesheet     = XSLT::Stylesheet.new(stylesheet_doc)
>
> Thoughts?


Use of XML was actually a conscious choice on my part.  Ditch the  
puritanical or egalitarian thoughts.  Odds of two XML parsing  
libraries loaded into the same instance is rare.  I imagined there  
would be little to no contention for the XML namespace because  
everyone would've treated it as holy.  Bah!  A "User" identifier is  
holy, but XML is not (one is application, the other is library).  I  
think the above 'LibXML'-ification of the namespace is appropriate,  
however, but focus on making the library easy to use, hence XML vs  
LibXML.

Don't step on other people's dicks intentionally, but it's okay for  
the library to be assertive and to match its ambitions.  Tip-toeing  
around 'what if' is an endless rabbit hole.  We'll adapt and find a  
solution if there is a problem at some point in the future.  Cool?

-sc

--
Sean Chittenden
sean at chittenden.org