[xml] Is anyone still using XPointer ranges?

[Nick Wellnhofer <wellnhofer aevum de>]

I'm curious if there are people out there who still use XPointer ranges, 
specifically things like the range-to XPath extension function. This part of 
the code base is extremely buggy and the latest spec seems to be a Working 
Draft from 2002 which was never finished [1]. The xpointer() scheme is listed 
as "being reviewed" in the XPointer registry since 2006 [2]. I couldn't find 
any other projects that are still maintained and implement this feature. Here 
are some that don't:

- Xerces: "The XPointer xpointer() Scheme is currently not supported." [3]
- Mvp.Xml: " XPointer xpointer() Scheme (XPath subset only)" [4]

Since I have no plans to work on this part of the code base, I'm thinking 
about phasing out support for this feature. xpointer() expressions will 
continue to work but without any XPath extensions for locations, ranges and 
points. Just like the xpath1() scheme which we should start to support as well.

Nick


[1] https://www.w3.org/TR/xptr-xpointer/
[2] https://www.w3.org/2005/04/xpointer-schemes/
[3] https://xerces.apache.org/xerces2-j/faq-xinclude.html
[4] http://mvp-xml.sourceforge.net/xinclude/