RE: [syndication] RSS 0.91 DTD: So what now?

["Rael Dornfest" <rael@oreilly.com>]

Hi,

: Rael, I think the first thing to do is to check and double-check the DTD
: that's there and be sure it's the right one. It seems that should be
: relatively easy to determine. I would hate to think that I got the wrong
: copy or there's a transmission error, and somehow that gets replicated.

It does indeed seem to be the right version; at least it jives with the DTD
in XML::RSS's package.

: Second, I think the idea of a directory of replicates is a great
: one. I also
: think that now that we have the chance, we should include the url to that
: directory in a comment in the DTD, in case we go belly-up, or get
: taken over
: by AOL, or whatever.

So how do people reference this DTD in their feeds?  What if that server is
down for the few seconds a parser is working with a feed?

There's going to be a whole lot of shuffling as people are changing their
RSS files to use the DTD that's most available at any one point.

: Beyond that, I don't have any more ideas.

RSS needs to, 1.0 or otherwise, move away from the static DTD model and
reliance on a single point of availability (read: inevitable failure).

Rael