IE5.0 does not conform to RFC2376

[MURATA Makoto]

I believe that IE 5.0 does not conform to RFC2376 (XML Media Types), 
of which I am a co-author.

As for the XML media type "text/xml", the charset parameter in the 
MIME header is authoritative.  Encoding declarations have to be ignored 
so that transcoding is possible.

However, IE 5.0 appears to always ignore the charset parameter and use 
the BOM or encoding declaration only.  Therefore, IE 5.0 does not conform to
RFC 2376.

Proof: I made a UTF-8 XML document which also parses even when it is assumed as 
Shift_JIS.  Then, I provided the correct charaset parameter "utf-8" 
in the MIME header by configuring Apache and provided an encoding declaration 
"Shift_JIS" in the XML document.  Such mismatch is perfectly legal and 
usual when proxies perform code conversion.  I tried this document with IE 5.0.  
Incorrect characters were displayed.  Q.E.D.

FYI:  

When the charset parameter is not specified, it is assumed as US-ASCII.  The 
column "Setting Your Server Up for XML" (http://www.xml.com/1999/03/ie5/first-x.xml) 
considers this case only.

If you are using Apache and overriding by AddType is allowed, you only have to 
create a file named .htaccess in your directory and write a line as below:

	AddType "text/xml;  charset=utf-8"    xml

Cheers,

Makoto
 
Fuji Xerox Information Systems
 
Tel: +81-44-812-7230   Fax: +81-44-812-7231
E-mail: murata at apsdc.ksp.fujixerox.co.jp

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