Boston, MA, USA; 5 June 2001 - Members of the OASIS TREX Technical Committee announced their decision to integrate TREX (Tree Regular Expressions for XML) and RELAX (REgular LAnguage description for XML) in order to collaborate on a unified lightweight specification for validating XML-based languages. They renamed their work RELAX NG.

RELAX was initially developed at the Information Technology Research and Standardization Centre (INSTAC) in Japan, which advances Japanese national standards for XML under the auspices of the Japanese Standard Association (JSA). TREX was created by James Clark, widely regarded as one of the most prolific contributors to the field of structured information standards. Clark decided to continue development of his schema language at the OASIS XML interoperability consortium in March 2001.

"RELAX and TREX both focus on simplicity," said James Clark, chair of what is now the OASIS RELAX NG Technical Committee. "RELAX NG will remain straightforward and easy to use, incorporating the best of TREX and RELAX."

"It's important to note that RELAX NG isn't intended to replace the W3C XML Schema Recommendation. Instead, it represents a lightweight alternative to Schema," explained Murata Makoto, one of the original developers of RELAX. "We believe that users are likely to adopt multiple schema languages, and many will find RELAX NG fills a very important need."

According to the OASIS technical committee, the specification offers a middle ground that will make RELAX NG a useful tool for many developers. The team is interested in facilitating conversion among DTDs, XML Schema and RELAX NG.

"RELAX NG fits in well with the W3C XML Schema Formal Description," added Clark. "Our hope is that RELAX NG will be a constructive influence on the future development of XML Schema."

Karl Best, director of technical operations at OASIS, applauded the decision of the technical committee to unite TREX and RELAX. "The goal of OASIS is to bring together parallel standards development efforts whenever possible, to promote collaboration and prevent overlap, " he said. "We welcome this decision by the TREX Technical Committee to unite their efforts with RELAX. "

Those interested in participating in the development of RELAX NG are encouraged to join the OASIS RELAX NG Technical Committee. More information is available on http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/relax-ng/index.shtml.

About OASIS
OASIS (http://www.oasis-open.org) is the international, not-for-profit consortium that advances electronic business by promoting open, collaborative development of interoperability specifications. With the United Nations, OASIS sponsors ebXML, a global framework for electronic business data exchange. OASIS operates XML.ORG, the non-commercial portal that delivers information on the use of XML in industry. The XML.ORG Registry provides as an open community clearinghouse for distributing and locating XML application schemas, vocabularies and related documents. OASIS serves as the home for industry groups interested in developing XML specifications. OASIS technical work embraces conformance, security, business transactions, repositories and other interoperability issues.

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For more information:
Carol Geyer
Director of Communications
OASIS
carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
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