The W3C have published the first Working Draft of XInclude, a mechanism for inclusion in XML documents.

XInclude started life last year as a W3C Note published by the XML Linking working group. Since then it has been taken on by the XML Core group and has now been published as a Working Draft.

The XInclude syntax contains one element, include, which is associated with the namespace http://www.w3.org/1999/XML/xinclude. The spec also determines what XInclude Conformance means, and thus what XML processors will have to implement to support XInclude.

Of passing interest is the language used in the (non-normative) examples, where XML documents are referred to as "serializations of the infoset". This may raise eyebrows in certain quarters, who maintain that XML is the serialization. (On a related note see "It's the syntax..." from Walter Perry).

Paul Grosso, co-chair of the XML Core group, commented that they plan to publish a last-call working draft in the "relatively near future", and so comments ought to be submitted soon.

Send comments to www-xml-include-comments@w3.org. They will be archived on the W3C web site.