W3C Publishes XML Pipeline Definition Language Version 1.0

February 28, 2002 - A 'Pipeline' submission from ten W3C member companies describes the features and syntax for a proposed XML Pipeline Definition Language. Pipeline is "an XML vocabulary for describing the processing relationships between XML resources. A pipeline document specifies the inputs and outputs to XML processes and a pipeline controller uses this document to figure out the chain of processing that must be executed in order to get a particular result. For example, you can use a pipeline document to specify that the XML messages coming into a business transaction hub must be validated and augmented with datatype information using XML Schema, then transformed with XSLT to bring them into a hub language, then queried for various purposes... a pipeline document could be used to control the behavior of a SOAP actor, a complex publishing application, or an upgrade to new versions of XML vocabularies, [making] applications of the Pipeline language are as broad as XML applications themselves."

The Note will be brought to the attention of the W3C XML Core Working Group and the XML Signature Working Group. Declarations from the ten companies making the submission offer the technology 'Royalty-Free' under terms defined by the submission request.

From the Introduction: "There is a large and growing set of specifications that describe processes operating on XML documents. Considering how these specifications interact raises many issues. This specification will address the issues related to interoperability of applications that involve multiple processes operating on documents. This specification is not generally concerned with the XML parsing process. XML documents are here considered to be operated on as XML Infoset information sets. Parsing, with some appropriate level of support for XML Namespaces and XML Base, is assumed to be a well-defined process that is a necessary precursor to any operation over an XML document. The processes of interest in this specification are those that construct, inspect, augment, or extract from information sets. A process begins with zero or more information sets and produces zero or more information sets (it may also produce ancillary information, such as whether it succeeded or failed)..."

W3C action suggested: "This submission provides functionality that many participants of the W3C XML Processing Model Workshop identified as important for interoperability of applications. Currently, 'scripting' of multi-process applications that operate on XML documents is done in an ad hoc fashion, and there is no way to exchange or document requirements on processing order. The Pipeline submission offers a concrete starting point for an open solution that can help to avoid vendor lock-in. The applications of the Pipeline language are as broad as XML applications themselves. For example, a pipeline document could be used to control the behavior of a SOAP actor; a complex publishing application; or an upgrade to new versions of XML vocabularies. For this reason, and because the Core group is tasked with providing 'essential supplementary materials' for XML, we suggest that the Consortium refer this submission to the XML Core Working Group for consideration and further development. The Core group has both the expertise and the resources to take on this work..."

Royalty-Free License terms [applicable to the Submission]. A Royalty-Free License shall mean a license that:

• shall be available to all implementers worldwide, whether or not they are a member of the W3C
• may require that all licensees make any Patent Claims they control available to all on a no-royalty basis
• shall extend to all Patent Claims owned or controlled by the licensor and its Affiliates
• may be limited to implementations of the Recommendation, and to what is required by the Recommendation
• may be conditioned on a grant of a reciprocal license to all Patent Claims owned or controlled by the licensee and its Affiliates. For example, a reciprocal license may be required to be available to all, and a reciprocal license may itself be conditioned on a further reciprocal license from all (including, in the case of a license to a Contribution, the original licensee)
• may not impose any further conditions or restrictions on the use of any technology, intellectual property rights, or other restrictions on behavior of the licensee, but may include reasonable, customary terms relating to operation or maintenance of the license relationship such as the following: audit (when relevant to fees), choice of law, and dispute resolution
• shall not be considered accepted by an implementer who manifests an intent not to accept the terms of the Royalty-Free License as offered by the licensor.

For more information on the XML Pipeline Definition Language Version 1.0, please visit http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/NOTE-xml-pipeline-20020228/