XOM API for Processing XML with Java

[Adam Batkin <adam AT batkin.net>]

Michael Kay wrote:
> No, the dynamics of open source development changes that entirely. When
> users aren't paying, they can't make demands.
>
> When I started doing open source I found that incredibly liberating, and it
> enabled me to move forward at a far faster pace and produce much better
> software than I had ever done in the commercial space. 

I understand that there are some very interesting issues to be worked 
out here but they are - in my opinion - mostly philosophical and not 
technical. I'm definitely not saying this isn't the right forum or that 
you should stop discussing this, on the contrary, I find it fascinating 
to hear what other people think. The day-job half of me tends toward one 
side and the OSS hacker half tends the other way.

That said, I have an idea that might help solve the original [technical] 
issue: Someone could maintain a set of patches to the source code to 
make XOM's Elements and Nodes Iterable. This is open source after all. 
If this would be useful to others on this list, I might even volunteer 
my time and some hosting if necessary. Actually, I already have the code 
written and tested for some projects I have worked on (well, it's 
currently a light wrapper, but even with that it is still only a few 
lines long).

I hope this doesn't open up a new can of worms. Note that I am *not* 
suggesting a fork, just a set of patches (and possibly a parallel set of 
releases). And it's so few lines that the patches should be pretty easy 
to maintain from release-to-release.

Thoughts?

-Adam Batkin